Dancing with the Stars producer took out loans to keep his firm afloat

Larry Bass says his company has been particularly affected due to the large scale of the shows they produce. Photo: Tony Gavin

Melanie Finn Twitter Email

April 19 2021 02:30 AM

The producer of RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) has had to take out bank loans to keep his company afloat after the pandemic closed the curtain on the hit show.

Larry Bass of ShinAwil, whose company also make Home of the Year, said that since the Sunday-night show was rested last July, his firm has received just one-hour of commissioned programming.

He said that after 21 years in business, the last 12 months had been the toughest for his IFTA-winning firm and he did not even know whether Home Of The Year would come back for another series.

“We did the Soundtrack to my Life with Kodaline on New Year’s Eve and then the rest of the series was postponed because of lockdown and we have done nothing ever since,” he told the Irish Independent.

“I’ve had to take out bank loans to keep the company open. The Government grants have helped but they barely cover it, for us to keep going and to do everything that we’ve got to do. Subsidies don’t cover your rent and other costs so unfortunately, we’ve had to resort to borrowings, but that’s life”

With a reported budget of more than €2m and employing more than 150 crew members per series, DWTS was one of RTÉ’s biggest shows during its four-season run, pulling in an average of 500,000 viewers. The decision to not proceed with a fifth series was taken by RTÉ last July and Mr Bass said he was “devastated” at the time.

Another big hit for them this year was Home Of The Year, which was filmed last summer and enjoyed its biggest season to date with an average of 380,000 viewers. While the pandemic has hit the whole arts and entertainment sector, Mr Bass believes his company has been particularly affected due to the nature of what it does.

“We’re not the only ones but we have probably been the singularly most-affected production company in the country. We have suffered most because DWTS is such a huge show, with a huge budget and then it’s gone and replaced with nothing,” he said.

“We do big live, entertainment television shows. We are suffering out here and my staff are asking me what the hell is going on.”

His company recently won the Best Entertainment Show award at the inaugural RTS Ireland Television Awards 2021 event on Virgin Media One.

“We are delighted we won that award and I was delighted with the success of Home Of The Year this year and I’m looking forward to coming out of this with some commissioned shows,” he said.

“It’s been an extremely difficult 12 months, probably the most difficult in the 21-year-long history of the company. I’m not looking for the violins here. Yes, we’ve had to take out bank loans to keep going, but so have lots of people.”

Although RTÉ has had a challenging year after a drop in advertising revenue and licence-fee income, it’s now on course to return a net profit of around €5m for the first time in three years. Savings were made from the cancellation of major sports events such as the Euros and Olympics.

RTÉ also benefited from the Government’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme so 2020 saw its costs fall more than its revenue.