Dublin digital animation firm JAM Media to create 22 jobs

16 Jun 2011

Award-winning digital animation company JAM Media is to create 22 high-spec jobs in Dublin. The new jobs will be created around animated content creation, software development and production, with a particular focus on new platforms and devices, such as tablets.

JAM Media is producing three series that will be broadcast by the BBC, including twice BAFTA-nominated Roy, a series about the only animated boy in the world; along with surreal pre-school Baby Jake; and a brand new series, Tilly and Friends, an original series created by JAM Media. Tilly and Friends was adapted from a series of books by Polly Dunbar.

Both series were produced with development and production funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB).

“As the minister with responsibility for audio-visual matters, I am delighted at this announcement of 22 new jobs in JAM Media,” Jimmy Deenihan, TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, said.

“This is very good news in these difficult economic times and is a great testament to the hard work of John Rice and his colleagues in JAM Media in creating these new jobs. It is also evidence that Government policy in this area is working through support provided by the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and the Section 481 film tax relief scheme. Finally, I want to wish John continued success into the future.”

JAM plans to grow development, production and software business

Since its inception in 2002, the founders John Rice, Alan Shannon and Mark Cumberton have developed methods of delivering broadcast-quality animated content over traditional and emerging platforms.

The company’s ‘Head-Hunter’ software allows for photographs to be superimposed onto their immersive, story-driven content, creating a unique, personalised, multi-platform experience.

JAM Media chief executive Rice said that having secured three new BBC contracts over the past 12 months JAM Media is now in a strong position to grow its development, production and software businesses.

“Our team will grow to 46 people by October, which means that our company will be producing three series per year, along with five new projects in the development process. Section 481, IFB Funding and the BAI Sound & Vision Fund have been paramount in the company’s success so far, allowing us to create jobs in Ireland and exploit the international rights to the series we have developed.

“With R&D funding from Enterprise Ireland, the technology department in JAM Media started with the aim to create exciting, interactive content on the web and mobile devices to enhance JAM Media’s animated properties and expanded rapidly creating cutting-edge software applications around our personalisation software named Head-Hunter.

“Our aim is to continue to create shows that not only speak to an Irish audience but an international one,” Rice said.

The Irish animation sector has been going from strength to strength over the past decade, with three Academy Award nominations in 2010.

The sector is primarily an export-focused business that remains a leading full-time employer in the Irish audio-visual sector.

The overall turnover for the animation industry in Ireland was estimated at €60m in 2010, with the sector creating spend in the Irish economy on local jobs, goods and services.

John Kennedy
By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years. His interests include all things technological, music, movies, reading, history, gaming and losing the occasional game of poker.

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