It’s all happening down south these days.

Now the founders of a new Cork-based TV production company are hoping to bring original content from Munster to a global market; and it’s good news for local freelancers.

Run by Mark Kenny and Jim Robinson, Great Island is developing long-form TV drama as well as a number of animation series and unscripted formats.

Their medium-term plan is to increase the number of people directly employed by Great Island to 20, with additional production jobs created yearly.

With ten projects on the development slate, four of which are market-ready to pitch for production, Great Island will produce these TV series in Cork and the greater Munster region.

‘Cork is an untapped market’

Mark Kenny, CEO, who has produced and created a number of popular TV shows in the Caribbean, said Cork is “an untapped market full of talented writers, actors, and creatives” with plenty of opportunity.

“The locations in Cork are ideal for TV production and in the main have previously been unexploited,” added Kenny.

“There is such a varied landscape with a vibrant cosmopolitan city location as well as rural, coastal, and mountainous regions. It really has it all. The value of an individual project could be over €1 million per episode and it is our intention to maximise this spend in the Cork region.”

New Head of Drama Development, Amadeo Nikoli has experience in European lead co-productions and is a graduate of the Netflix Masters Programme in Drama Development.

Mark and Jim, who met in school, are also looking for an opportunity to open a large-scale TV production studio in Cork, an addition that Grant Thornton estimates would lead to the creation of 180 direct jobs and 160 indirect jobs.

In the meantime, they have secured studio space in the Marina Commercial Park for smaller-scale production needs.