Second Assistant Directors

Here is how this works in practice. Our second-assistant-director roster covers the senior 2nd ADs who managed cast-and-extras call-in, trailer-base movement, and hair-and-makeup-and-costume schedule integration on Vikings six seasons at Ashford Studios Wicklow (Travis Fimmel and Katheryn Winnick era), Game of Thrones across Titanic Studios Belfast and Paint Hall (the multi-thousand-extra Battle of the Bastards crowd-day running precedent), Foundation across Troy Studios Limerick (the Apple TV+ 320,000 sq ft stage site). Penny Dreadful and The Tudors at Ardmore Studios Bray.

Here is the short of it. The Star Wars Skellig Michael Force Awakens and Last Jedi units (with helicopter-and-curragh cast-and-crew transport coordination), the Saving Private Ryan Curracloe Beach D-Day reconstruction (the largest extras-call-in in Irish-cinema history). Plus the recent Banshees of Inisherin Achill Island and Inishmore unit, Belfast 2021 Troubles-era riot reconstruction crowd days, Normal People HBO Sligo-and-Dublin university-and-house-party scenes, and the An Cailín Ciúin Gaeltacht family-and-school crowd days. Training routes through IADT Dún Laoghaire, Trinity Film, plus the Filmbase Ireland and Pulse College Dublin practical workshops.

Here is the breakdown. 2nd AD workflow runs second-call-sheet authorship (the day-out-of-day cast call schedule), movement-order distribution (trailer-base to set hair-and-makeup-and-costume timing). Background-extras coordination via Lock Casting. Lisa Zambra, and Movie Extras Ireland databases (the Irish-Equity-registered union day-player roster), driver-and-transport scheduling, plus the safety-officer-and-medic call-in integration. SIPTU union coverage on the working roster, with day-rate-and-weekly-rate per the Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) industry-collective-agreement. Bilingual EN / Irish (Gaeilge) capacity for Gaeltacht productions (the An Cailín Ciúin Best International Feature Oscar nom precedent confirms the Irish-language production viability).

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Section 481 32% tax credit qualifies 2nd-AD spend through Irish-resident hires plus the 40% regional uplift on named-area shoots outside Dublin-Cork-Galway-Limerick-Waterford. EUR Eurozone with GBP NI dual-currency on cross-border productions, English-first comms with Irish-Gaeilge Gaeltacht support, plus CTA-borderless cross-border UK crew-and-extras movement.