How Hollywood Found a Home in Ireland

Ireland has become one of the hottest spots in the world for American film and TV productions. Shows like Netflix's "Wednesday," Apple TV's "Foundation," and even U.S. game shows are now being filmed there. Last year, production spending in Ireland hit a record $632.7 million — a 26% jump from the year before. The country's beautiful landscapes, helpful tax breaks, and skilled workers are drawing Hollywood further and further from Los Angeles.

Actor and host Rob Lowe put it bluntly on his podcast last year. "It's cheaper to bring one hundred American people to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox," he said. Lowe hosts the trivia game show "The Floor," which now films at Troy Studios in Limerick, Ireland. Some people in Ireland's film industry were annoyed by his comment, but many admitted it captured the real reason so many productions are leaving Los Angeles.

The numbers back that up. Last year, 45% of all U.S. films and scripted TV shows were shot outside the United States, up from about 33% in 2022. Ireland's tax credit program gives back 32 cents for every dollar spent on eligible costs like paying actors and crew. That kind of savings is very attractive to studios trying to stretch their budgets.

Ireland has long been a draw for filmmakers because of its varied scenery. The rocky island of Skellig Michael stood in for an alien planet in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," and a beach in County Wexford was used to recreate Omaha Beach in "Saving Private Ryan." The country offers everything from ancient castles to modern city streets. That makes it easy to film stories set almost anywhere in the world.

People in Ireland's film industry call this surge the "green wave." Producer Ruth Treacy says the boom really took off after the COVID-19 pandemic. "Definitely post-COVID, it's gone absolutely crazy in terms of the number of productions happening here," she said. Her company helped co-produce the 2024 film "The Apprentice," and she notes that many productions are using Ireland to stand in for American locations — and it's working well.

The roots of the green wave go back decades. Ireland has always been a nation of storytellers, with a long tradition of passing down history and mythology through stories. The government set up the Irish Film Board in 1980 to support homegrown movies, and the agency was relaunched in 1993 as Screen Ireland. Since then, it has worked to attract international films while also supporting Irish stories told by Irish artists.

One major turning point was HBO's "Game of Thrones," which filmed its first season in Northern Ireland in 2010. The show became one of the biggest TV hits in history and helped train a whole generation of skilled Irish film workers. "A lot of high-level Irish crews today got their start on big productions like 'Game of Thrones,'" said Screen Ireland executive Michael Byrne. That experience made Ireland's workforce even more appealing to outside productions.

Ireland's animation industry has also boomed thanks to the green wave. The country now has nearly 50 animation studios employing about 2,500 people, many of whom work with Disney, Netflix, and Nickelodeon. One of the most celebrated is Cartoon Saloon, founded in 1999 in the medieval city of Kilkenny. It focuses on hand-drawn stories from Irish folklore and has earned four Oscar nominations.

American productions often use Ireland to double for U.S. locations. The forests around the Powerscourt Estate were used to play Appalachia in "Cocaine Bear." Production designer Susie Cullen worked on four back-to-back movies set in America but filmed in Ireland. She even recreated a famous Broadway restaurant on a soundstage in Dublin, with a local artist painting portraits of the film crew on the walls.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is how many American game shows now film in Ireland. The company BiggerStage co-partners with Fox Entertainment and produces six prime-time American game shows there, including "Beat Shazam" and "The Floor." Ireland even became the first country in Europe to offer a special tax credit just for unscripted content like game shows. In total, BiggerStage produces about 100 hours of American prime-time television in Ireland each year.