One film set looks pretty much like another - the trucks, the lights, the Production Assistants (PAs) rushing around with walkie-talkies. But often, what's most interesting is going on beneath the surface. On the face of it, the Irish shoot of My Green Freedom, a two-part TV miniseries produced by Magma Films for the German broadcaster RTL this autumn, looks like a typical Irish shoot, with a mixture of local and foreign technicians. But the difference between My Green Freedom and Amongst Women, say, is that the Irish crew members are Galway-based. In a film and television industry which has historically been totally based in the capital city and its environs, there's a sense that the Western movement initiated by visionaries/agitators such as Lelia Doolan and Bob Quinn in the 1980s is increasingly coming to fruition.

Hard figures are difficult to come by, but it's estimated that there could be around 300 people working in the audiovisual sector in Co Galway now, with facilities companies like Telegael, production companies such as Magma and Eo Teilifis, and a range of ancillary activities all providing opportunities. Under the ministership of Michael D. Higgins, the setting-up of the (since renamed) TnaG, the establishment of the Film Board in offices in Galway city and the arrival of Roger Corman's B-movie studio in Tully have laid the foundations for the current level of activity.

"One of the most crucial things that happened in the West was Udaras's decision to invest in training for the industry," says Maire Ni Thuathail, managing director of Eo Teilifis, which produces TG4's flagship soap opera, Ros na Run. "Without that, it wouldn't have been possible for Corman or ourselves or any of the other companies to do what we're doing.

"We provide about 37 continuous weeks' work a year, for around 80 people," says Ni Thuathail. "The demographics of that are interesting, in that a high percentage of those people are female, most of them are under 25, and very few of them are over 30. Most of our people are from the area, and most of those who aren't are native speakers. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the important thing is the language, and our crews want to use Irish as the language on set."

There was an understandable touch of schadenfreude in the West at one point this summer when the Dublin area was experiencing a dearth of productions, while several films and television series were shooting in Galway. As it turned out, it was just a temporary lull, and Dublin-centred production activity has resumed. The reality is that the majority of productions will continue to take place on the east coast, but there's less and less reason why internationally-focused companies can't operate out of Galway.

"The difference is that we look further than London," says Ralph Christians, an established German producer who, together with Louise Casey, brought his company, Magma, to Galway in 1996. "There's not enough understanding here of the opportunities in European television. In Germany, the major television companies went public, and have billions to spend as a result." Christians has a droll perspective on those opportunities. "Everywhere in Europe now, you have Champions' League and domestic football four or five nights a week. That means there's a big market for `women in jeopardy' dramas on the other channels, and that's what we're doing with My Green Freedom."

Magma is an impressive operation by any standards, a scripting and production company which provides programming for TV3 and TG4 but is also responsible for big-budget animation series for European and US television. The company has two 26-part series for international transmission in 2000, including the prime-time series Pigs Next Door, which will be broadcast by Fox Family Prime Time in the US, with voices by the likes of John Goodman and Jamie Lee Curtis. Christians has just secured financing for its latest 26-part series, based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. "If we ever get rich, it will be based on rights and equities," says Christians. "The important thing for us is to keep people, so we employ them full-time, as part of a long-term strategy."

Magma has a good relationship with TG4, but Christians is dismissive of RTE. "It's totally bureaucratic. We've had one drama proposal with them since September 1998, and we still haven't had a response - and that's just for development finance! In comparison, we had a discussion last year with German television, and we're now in production on that particular project. To have no local support is sometimes a great disadvantage."

In Galway, and Ireland in general, the animation industry is going the wrong way, says Christians. "There are some very innovative people in TG4, but there's too much of a `jobs for the boys' mentality, and as a result, companies are too small. To develop an animation series, including the making of a trailer, you need about £80,000, which is why you need larger companies."

Ni Thuathail agrees that larger production entities are needed across the board. "The international trend in the industry is towards consolidation. We have an alliance with Tyrone Productions in Dublin, which has worked out very well."

Production may be the most important part of creating a viable audiovisual culture, but it's not the only one. The rise to prominence of the Galway Film Fleadh as an international showcase for Irish films, and the emergence of the Fleadh Fair as the only market event to take place in the country, are important factors in raising the profile of the region. The quarterly magazine, Film West, published by the Galway Film Centre, has gone in a few years from a skimpy, roughly-printed newsletter to an impressive and substantial publication. Pat Collins is Programme Director of the Fleadh, and was responsible as editor for the development of Film West. He's also a documentary director, who made Necklace of Wrens, about the poet Michael Hartnett, and is currently in production on a film for the Film Board and RTE about the tradition of Irish funerals.

Collins makes a distinction between the level of activity in Galway city and in Connemara. "The amount of activity in the city is actually very limited," he says. "There would be a lot more happening in Connemara, where you have steady employers like Ros na Run and the Corman operation. In the city, it's only beginning. But it's important to expand our thinking beyond TG4," He believes that RTE's Independent Productions Unit "has certainly shown an openness to the regions, although it would be a good idea if they actually came down to the regions sometimes." He regards the Galway Film Centre, which provides training and resources, as crucial to film-making in the city, and expresses some concern about the trend towards larger, more corporate structures. "There has to be some space for the more individual, artistic voice."

As for the presence of the Film Board on his doorstep: "It undoubtedly helps that they're here," says Collins. "But it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll look more favourably on projects from the regions." Looking at the IFB's record of supporting creative documentaries, though, it does look as if Galway companies have benefited from its presence.

Whether the city can support the larger-scale needs of feature film production on a regular basis is open to question, despite the fact that a reservoir of skills has been built up over the last few years through Roger Corman's studios in Tully. "If feature films are going to be made in the West, they'll have to be made outside the existing union structures, with different ways of working." says Collins. "A lot of the Corman people have gone to Dublin and I can certainly see how technicians might reckon they'd be better off there."

Celine Curtin is a production manager and researcher, and has worked in the past both for the Galway Film Centre and for Corman. She agrees that the environment has changed, particularly since the arrival of TG4. "Five years ago there were aspirations, but now there are realities." Along with other Galway-based production personnel, she has been lobbying for a change in union practices on feature films, which regard everywhere outside a 40-mile radius of Dublin as being "on location", requiring costly per diem and accommodation payments to crews (this is the main reason why, in nearly every Irish film, you'll see Co Wicklow standing in for other parts of the country). It's a thorny issue, and not easily resolved - the main film union, SIPTU, recently accepted the principle of a second "production zone" around Galway city, but insisted that Galway technicians would then have to claim expenses for jobs they took in the capital - a logical position, but one which would ensure they'd never work in Dublin again. "We have withdrawn our motion for a second zone, but the times are still a-changing," says Curtin. "It's an industry that depends on mobility, but how big is this country? It's tiny. There's 50 years of history of production in Dublin, but we haven't quite progressed yet to a situation where people think nationally. But the reality is that the industry isn't just in Dublin any more."

Curtin is also working with producer Tomas Hardiman on setting up a Galway Screen Commission to promote the city and county to incoming producers looking for locations. "There are bad things about Galway," she says. "But the really good thing is that it's new, so you can shape the way it develops, in a way that might not be possible elsewhere."

Historically, the audiovisual industry around the world has tended to establish itself in clusters. It's no accident that the majority of Britain's media and post-production companies are crammed into one relatively tiny corner of London, or that the biggest single entertainment industry in the world is focused so strongly on Southern California. But new technologies and different ways of working offer the possibility of increased regional diversification, says Christians.

Although many local producers talk about the importance of broadcasting and film policy for "the regions", they acknowledge that, in reality, Galway is the only part of the country outside Dublin where the requisite "critical mass" exists at the moment to develop a self-sustaining industry. A recurring theme is the way in which the different elements - TG4, Corman, Udaras - feed into each other. "None of us is going to grow unless the entire sector grows," says Ni Thuathail. "I would very much support what Celine Curtin is doing. Ten years ago there was nothing here, but there has been tremendous growth since then."