Northern Ireland Screen has laid out a plan to grow the UK region’s kids content industry—and it includes building more relationships with other countries, especially its neighbor, the Republic of Ireland.

In its new report, titled The Full Picture, Northern Irish screen agency presents the broad strokes of a four-year action plan to continue growing the industry’s economic impact, skills development and international presence. Animation and children’s content is a big focus of the 56-page report. The genre outperformed NI Screen’s expectations, generating about US$73 million, beating a target of roughly US$59 million.

NI Screen’s strategies for sparking more success in kids content include:

• Continue to develop relationships with European partners to raise funds from multiple territories.
• Prioritize all-island production opportunities in cooperation with Screen Ireland.
• Continue to support the development of animation and children’s projects, including live action, unscripted, animated feature films and other children’s content beyond animation.
• Help expand the animation sector beyond servicing just the preschool market.
• Prioritize the creation and ownership of IP alongside continued support of service work projects.
• Continue to build relationships with BBC Children’s for animated and children’s scripted content and live-action projects.
• Continue to support the Creative Animation funding scheme as a strong talent-development opportunity and explore an animation short-film scheme to support more established talent.

It’s notable that the region’s screen agency is looking to collaborate more with its independent southern neighbor, the Republic of Ireland. Much attention has been paid to Ireland’s animation industry, which has taken off thanks to a generous tax credit (32% to 40%) and strong animation schools.

So far, Northern Ireland Screen seems to be on the right track. The report highlighted that projects supported by Northern Ireland Screen generated more than US$640 million for the region’s economy over the past four years, exceeding the org’s target by roughly US$47 million. And some standout kids projects have already managed to build global partnerships during a difficult economic period, like Sixteen South’s Odo and The Coop Troop, Flickerpix’s Luna in Dreamland and Score Draw Media’s Yukee, according to the agency.

But the region has its own significant challenges, too. Its reliance on the BBC as a kids content commissioner is a problem, since the broadcaster has been ordering fewer projects. Plus, with Sky Kids not commissioning originals anymore, local producers increasingly need to look internationally for broadcast partners.

The report indicated that the industry also needs to build up its capabilities to deliver 3D animation, and needs to explore YouTube more as a way to build audiences.

“The Full Picture…reflects that we know that Northern Ireland Screen is only one cog in the wheel and that our future success is dependent on energizing partnerships,” said Richard Williams, chief executive of Northern Ireland Screen.

Image courtesy of Sixteen South.