Thankless Films, the brainchild of two young Kilkenny entrepreneurs, has made it through to the final four of a prestigious National Film Production Competition. The company, created in January this year by local men Dermot Tobin and Dave Minogue, has shot to success as a finalist in Storyland, RTE’s annual competition to find Ireland’s best online drama series.
From an initial 120 entries received by RTE, the Kilkenny duo’s comedy drama “Rent A Friend” has proven a winner with online viewers, voting it into the final four of the competition. Thankless Films is up against stiff competition from entries from Limerick, Galway and Dublin to win the overall competition. Thankless Films was launched under the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, with vital business support and guidance provided by Kilkenny Leader Partnership. Dermot Tobin had left college, while Dave Minogue, a photographer, had been unemployed for two years, when their idea to develop a Kilkenny based video production company was born.
“We had done a lot of video production work in the last two years before we finally went for it and officially launched Thankless Films in January. We knew we had the passion, knowledge and skill to produce high quality videos, but were unsure of the supports available to us to make a viable business happen. We’d like to thank Olivia Delaney at Kilkenny Leader Partnership for clarifying a lot of the initially daunting process of becoming self-employed and then helping make our business dream a reality,” said Dave Minogue, founder, Thankless Films.
“Thankless Films came to us with a viable business idea, after being referred under the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance. They are a testament to the many people out there, currently in receipt of social welfare, who have the desire and skill to become self-employed, but are in need of advice and support to set up their own businesses. We hope that the success enjoyed by Thankless Films so far will encourage others with a sound business idea to consider this route. We wish Dermot and Dave continued success,” said Declan Rice, CEO, Kilkenny Leader Partnership.
Kilkenny is urged to get behind Thankless Films’ efforts to win the Storyland competition by voting for “Rent a Friend” to win the competition at www.rte.ie/storyland The winner will then receive funding to make their final webisode in the series.
