Cost Estimation Services

Here is how this works in practice. Irish cost estimation lives or dies on Section 481 modelling. Our cost estimators run every production through the Revenue Commissioners' qualifying-expenditure framework. 32% rebate on Irish and EEA-resident crew costs plus the 40% regional uplift for shoots based outside Dublin and Cork. This includes and against the cultural-test certification process administered by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. We build budget templates in Movie Magic Budgeting and Hot Budget, layered with Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) collective bargaining benchmarks for crew rates. SIPTU/Irish Equity scales for performers.

Here is the short of it. IATSE 891/600 rate cards for visiting US technical crew, and the Section 481 cap structure (50 million EUR per project). Our cost data covers every major production base. Ardmore Studios Bray, Ashford Studios Wicklow, Troy Studios Limerick, Linen Mill Studios Banbridge. Plus the gear-rental rate cards from TVM Ireland Dublin. Pyramid Camera, ARRI Rental Dublin, and Camera Hire Belfast, and the post-prod benchmarks at Windmill Lane Dublin, Egg Post Dublin, and Frame Store Dublin.

Here is the breakdown. Cross-border productions add bilateral cost-modelling tangle. When a project shoots both Republic and Northern Ireland. Common for productions covering the GoT Antrim Coast plus Vikings Ashford locations, or pairing a Belfast Titanic Studios stage build with Cliffs of Moher exteriors. We run parallel EUR and GBP cost models. Layer in HMRC's UK Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (34% with potential 40% indie uplift) for the NI portion, and account for NI Protocol customs costs on gear moves across the border. Our 95% guess-to-actual accuracy rate is driven by historical data from comparable productions across the past decade.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Foundation, Vikings, Banshees of Inisherin, Belfast, The Wonder. Normal People. Plus steady calibration against Met Éireann weather data (the rain factor that drives Atlantic maritime climate cover-set budget reserves) and ferry-charter costs for Skellig Michael, the Aran Islands, and Achill Island runs. Cost-savings opportunities average 20% through Section 481 maximization, regional uplift routing through Galway/Cork/Kerry/Donegal/Limerick rather than Dublin, and post-prod locked to Dublin or Belfast Irish/UK pipeline rather than imported services.