Northern Ireland Screen hopes to find the next global talents from across the country as they look ahead into the future of the industry.
On Tuesday, the screen agency launched its new strategy detailing its ambitious plans for the next four years while celebrating the success and groundbreaking achievements of the last number of years.
Speaking to Belfast Live ahead of the strategy launch, Richard Williams, Chief Executive Northern Ireland Screen, said he hopes to find the "next Lisa McGee" as NI continues to shine on the worldwide stage.
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Richard said: "The strategy title is 'Stories, Skills and Sustainability' and it is designed to do what it says on the tin - new stories are the currency of what we do.
"You take a look at any of the projects happening and their success or failure is down to story. Why is Derry Girls so fabulous? Because the stories are so fabulous.
"We are doubling down on that and work even harder to bring in more and more of our own stories in the mix of the output of the screen industry."
Richard explained that the big differential between the way Northern Ireland Screen operates and the way that many other agencies around the world do is that they break down the screen industry into different sectors.
"This sectoral approach is going to continue and all sectors have a very strong story of success to tell over the last strategy period and our intention is to keep supporting them," he said.
"We are doubling down on skills development and doubling our skills budget which directly leads to an increase in the likes of modern-day apprenticeships and new entrant opportunities right across all sectors."
Another key factor of the strategy is the introduction of environmental sustainability as a key consideration.
Richard continued: "Sustainability focuses on two main points - one being that the screen industry in Northern Ireland remains competitive and continues to have the Netflix and Paramounts of this world coming in with big projects.
"It's about keeping going and keeping supporting the projects. We know that like all areas of society and the economy, we have got challenges ahead but Northern Ireland Screen will be as flexible as it can be and as understanding of what those challenges are and do what we can to support the individuals within the sector.
"We also will work to improve our green credentials and we have recruited a new member of staff to focus exclusively on this and we are working away on how we can achieve this."
Despite pandemic-related challenges, the combined budgets for productions supported by Northern Ireland Screen during its last strategy (Opening Doors Phase II, 2018-22) exceeded a billion pounds, with more than £330m of that staying in the local economy, surpassing the £300m target set in 2018.
Building on that success, Northern Ireland Screen’s new strategy has increased that target by more than 40% to £430m.
"This is a moment to take a breath and say look what you all achieved over the last few years which is incredible," Richard added. "For me, what is amazing is the breath of it - Netflix's The School of Good and Evil is going to come out in the next few weeks, The Northman, Dungeons and Dragons but also the TV dramas last year.
"Line of Duty and Bloodlands took two of the top three slots in terms of the record audiences in the year which is pretty amazing for somewhere the size of Northern Ireland."
NI Screen is excited about the future of the game sector which is growing at an exceeding rate across Northern Ireland. Richard is also keen to see more NI stories breakthrough on the global stage, following in the footsteps of Derry Girls.
"I just want to see an ever-increasing growth in the number of projects - I want to see more local storytellers within that. I want to see the next Lisa McGee really shine brightly whether in drama, comedy or any of the sectors."
Ministers for the Economy and Communities have endorsed the launch of Stories, Skills and Sustainability which is strongly aligned to DfE’s 10X strategy and DfC’s focus on tackling inequalities.
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