Limerick is taking on Los Angeles as a world-class location for major international film and television productions.
Rob Lowe, Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews are among the stars recording gameshows for US television at Troy Studios.
The programmes are being filmed by BiggerStage, an Irish independent production company, which announced a multi-million euro commitment to create a global centre of excellence for TV production in Limerick today.
BiggerStage is attracting productions to Ireland in partnership with FOX Entertainment, MGM, Studio Ramsay Global, Talpa Studios and more recently ITV Studios.
It officially launched a global television production hub at the facility in Castletroy, months after the introduction of the unscripted tax credit in Ireland, which was a first in Europe.
The production company is also working with colleges and universities, including an initiative with University of Limerick to provide more educational pathways for skills development.
Today’s official launch also included the announcement of Format Factory, a dedicated incubator for developing and piloting original television format IP.
It will will enable producers to test, refine and scale new concepts for unscripted formats.
BiggerStage has produced several large-scale productions at the global production hub, including 99 To Beat with Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews, The Floor with Rob Lowe, and Name That Tune with Jane Krakowski for the FOX Network in the US.
It will soon record UK version of Name That Tune with Alison Hammond in partnership for ITV Studios for ITV1.
CEO and founder of BiggerStage Pat Kiely said: “We are in the middle of a really exciting evolution of television across viewing habits, content creation and platform consolidation.
“Ireland’s creative reputation, world-class infrastructure and highly skilled talent means we are spectacularly positioned to capitalise on this shift.”
He said the recently introduced unscripted tax incentive, on top of the wider audio visual incentives already in place, will help Ireland compete to attract international players and drive foreign direct investment in the sector.
He said the dividends are already visible and haves resulted in significant job creation nationally.
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said: “The launch of The BiggerStage Global Production Hub at Troy Studios will not only attract major international players to Limerick, it illustrates how Ireland has the infrastructure, talent, creativity and production expertise to lead in this space.
“Ireland’s creative industry is on a real high; never has there been a better time to expand our global offering and drive more investment into the development of creative IP, jobs, training, development and infrastructure.”