Julie Ryan

Ryan is the managing director of MK1Studios Productions,[4][5] which she founded to promote diversity, inclusion and innovation through storytelling.[6] MK1 is Dublin, Ireland based,[7] with bases in Cork, Ireland and Los Angeles, California.[6]

Ryan began her career in the media industry in the Irish TV company TV3, where she trained in the sports department as a reporter. She also spend a period moonlighting as an autocue operator, continuity announcer, news librarian, and even spent a stint as a sports anchor in Dublin radio station 98FM.[8] Ryan then began her film career as a freelance producer of non-scripted television, working in the US in this area for 10 years.[5] In 2012, Ryan stepped up to the role of producer on The Fear,[9] an Irish hidden camera TV show in which members of the Irish public are pranked in various locations around the country.[1]

Ryan made a name for herself in 2016, when her feature film The Young Offenders[10][11] was a breakout success both nationally and internationally,[12][13] after winning Best Irish Feature Film at the 2016 Galway Film Fleadh,[14] alongside A Date for Mad Mary.[15]

Following her success with The Young Offenders, Ryan went on to produce several critically-acclaimed international co-productions, including Irish-Polish co-production I Never Cry (2020),[2][16] which won the Grand Prix and Cineuropa Award at Mons International Film Festival in 2021;[17] indie feature A Bend in the River (2020)[7][18][19] Intruder (2020)[20] for Channel 5,[21] and The Holiday (TV Series - 2021).[22]