Maria O'Brien

Dublin City University, School of Communications, Graduate Student

Followers

Following

Mentions

Public Views

Address: Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

less

David Sorfa

University of Edinburgh

Aaron Gerow

Yale University

Murat Akser

University of Ulster

William Brown

University of British Columbia

Andrea Pinotti

Università degli Studi di Milano - State University of Milan (Italy)

Mark R Johnson

The University of Sydney

Mauro Grondona

University of Genova

Stefano Baschiera

Queen's University Belfast

Natalie L Wreyford

King's College London

Nicola Lupo

LUISS Guido Carli

InterestsView All (9)

Uploads

Papers by Maria O'Brien

A political economy of tax expenditures for the audiovisual industries in Ireland: a cultural policy research perspective on section 481

O'Brien, Maria (2020) A political economy of tax expenditures for the audiovisual industries in Ireland: a cultural policy research perspective on section 481. PhD thesis, Dublin City University., Nov 1, 2020

This thesis interrogates the notion of a national cinema/national industry in contemporary times.... more This thesis interrogates the notion of a national cinema/national industry in contemporary times. It explores the concept of cultural/industrial policy towards the audiovisual industries in Ireland. It specifically focuses on Section 481, a measure that incentivises audiovisual production through the provision of a tax expenditure. This expenditure is a cornerstone of the audiovisual production industries, granting a generous 32 per cent tax relief on eligible spend. Consequently, it is now a significant part of the funding structures for various forms of audiovisual production, including national and international film and TV productions. Through a policy research approach, this thesis examines the complexity of funding national cultural production in an environment that is increasingly global/transnational, interrogating the notion of the commodification of the nation-space within the context of the supranational framework of the European Union (EU). Given Ireland’s EU membership, the design and operation of the expenditure are subject to State aid rules, which take into account both the cultural and industrial role of audiovisual production. This thesis takes a political economy approach to analyse the aims and objectives of Section 481, using the concept of spatialization (i.e. the commodification of space) from the political economy of communication theories of Vincent Mosco, developed from the writings of Henri Lefebvre. This approach enables critical analysis of the role of culture and by extension, cultural policy in both an Irish and an EU context. It is concluded that, problematically, Section 481 is usually explicitly framed (and evaluated) as an instrumentalised economic policy, in keeping with the shift to a creative industries discourse (from Nicholas Garnham) prevalent in Ireland. In addition, this thesis identifies underlying tensions, between cultural and economic/industrial rationales underpinning policy developments at both national and EU level, with the recognition that such tensions can be symbiotic and productive. It is contended that Section 481 should be framed and consequently evaluated, as both a cultural policy and an industrial policy

The Political Economy of Local Cinema: A Critical Introduction

This volume is the third book-length publication of the research programme Media and Education in... more This volume is the third book-length publication of the research programme Media and Education in the Digital Age (MEDA), after Media and Education in the Digital Age. Concepts, Assessments, Subversions (Peter Lang, 2014) and Storytelling and Education in the Digital Age. Experiences and Criticisms (Peter Lang, 2016). MEDA is an interdisciplinary programme whose main goal it to coordinate, collect and circulate research on the disparate domains in which the development of new technologies has an impact on education. Launched in 2012 at Arcada University of Applied Sciences (Helsinki, Finland), the main mission of MEDA is to support critical education and pedagogy. Based on the epistemic coordinates of critical theory and social constructionism, MEDA includes several projects inspired by a variety of disciplinary and methodological approaches. In addition to the epistemic coordinates, these projects have two common tasks: to identify the important challenges to critical education and pedagogy and to suggest the contours of adequate responses. One of the main projects in this programme is MEDA-Cinema. This project originated from the desire to improve the education of Swedish-speaking Finnish filmmakers by looking at the impact of globalization and digitalization on cinema. The main research questions of this project focus on two dimensions: the relationship between cinema and cultural identity and the political economy of local cinema. The essays in this collection focus on the second dimension or, more precisely, on the organization of material and immaterial resources necessary for local cinema to endure as a valuable and vibrant alternative to other forms of cinema. In line with the mission of applied research, the main normative goal inspiring our project is rather practical: to support local cinema and the education of local filmmakers in addressing the cultural effects and challenges brought about by globalization and digitalization. The essays in this collection pick up particular aspects of these challenges and invite the reader to problematize local cinema as a cultural form that is both vulnerable and valuable. The publication of this volume has been made possible also thanks to funding provided by the following institutions (in alphabetical order): A.F. Lindstedts & Svenska handelsinstitutets fond för handelsutbildning, Fonden för Teknisk Undervisning & Forskning, Svenska Kulturfonden. More information of MEDA and MEDA-Cinema are available at https://rdi. arcada.fi/meda/en/ Contents

Download

Irish film finance rebooted: the new Section 481

Journal of Irish Studies, 2015

Introduction 2014 saw the winding down of one of the most popular tax write-offs for Irish indivi... more Introduction 2014 saw the winding down of one of the most popular tax write-offs for Irish individuals, as the Section 481 state film subsidy transitioned from an investor-led to a so-called producer-led structure, following a review of the scheme by the Department of Finance. In reality, the incentive might be more appropriately classified as exchequer-led, as State largesse continues to underpin the scheme, by some measure the most significant market support mechanism subsidising film, TV drama, documentary and animation production in Ireland. Since its inception in 1987 as Section 35 of the Finance Act 1987, the relief has played an important role in attracting private investment into the Irish film industry. It is relevant that the introduction of the relief coincided with the Irish Film Board's six year hiatus before its reinstatement in 1993. This juxtaposition underscored a shift in film policy away from the encouragement of low-budget, indigenous arts activity and toward...

Download

Public Service Media in Europe: A Comparative Approach, edited by Karen Arriaza Ibarra, Eva Nowak, and Raymond Kuhn

Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

Public Service Media (PSM) is subjected to influence from a number of forces, including but not l... more Public Service Media (PSM) is subjected to influence from a number of forces, including but not limited to the technological, the economic, and the political. However, PSM (and in its prior incarnation as Public Service Broadcasting, PSB) has, since inception, been at the forefront of changes in society. Nevertheless, it is evident that the shift to the digital has brought about significant changes in the broader conditions within which PSM across the European Union operate. The survival of PSM across Europe points to the significance of the ideology underpinning the provision of media content that has a societal role. As the introductory section to this edited collection outlines, "the primarily cultural and identitybuilding role that PSM played for many years had become insufficient at the beginning of the twenty-first century to guarantee its continuity without debate" (2). The complex web of social, political, and regulatory conditions within which PSM operates across Europe is elegantly unravelled in this edited book from Routledge. What is particularly significant about this collection is the coverage of a range of issues from the historical justification for PSM support from the state to the all-pervasive digitalisation.

Download

The Secret of Kells (2009), a film for a post Celtic Tiger Ireland?

A political economy of tax expenditures for the audiovisual industries in Ireland: a cultural policy research perspective on section 481

The Political Economy of Local Cinema: A Critical Introduction

Download

Irish film finance rebooted: the new Section 481

Journal of Irish Studies, 2015

Download

Public Service Media in Europe: A Comparative Approach, edited by Karen Arriaza Ibarra, Eva Nowak, and Raymond Kuhn

Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

Download

The Secret of Kells (2009), a film for a post Celtic Tiger Ireland?

Maria O'Brien

Uploads

Papers by Maria O'Brien

Log In