Who Will Answer the Call?

Feeling drained this weather, I'm getting wiped out during the day for some reason! Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the work, I don't know. 

Thomas and I met this morning to write. Went well. He had an idea to rewrite Puca as a short animated piece. Distilling the essence down from 16 minutes as it stood to 5 minutes, as per the requirements of the Irish Film Boards Frameworks application. 

We managed to do it and got a 4 page script entitled 'No Man's Land'. 

Unfortunately as the day wore on it began to sit uneasy with me. I kept going back to the original script and thought about all the amazing scenes we crafted that we would be loosing and it just felt too much of a compromise for me. So I'm pulling out of it. 

I wish Thomas all the best and I have no doubt if it goes ahead it will be a great short. But I just love the original too much!

Went to Dublin today. Renewed my membership at Filmbase and entered three scripts into their Awards scheme, the original Puca, Slán agus Beannacht and Adam. So hopefully one of them will lure  some interest.

I've been thinking a lot about another project too, I wont say which, but trying to get it going this year, perhaps shooting in August. I don't know if it's possible, but there's no harm in trying I guess. I just need the right people behind it. Fit, willing, able bodied young soldiers willing to do battle for me. Who will answer the call!

That's all for now. Nothing else to report. twittering like a mad thing! I'm addicted, you should sign up and follow! It's a whole new side you've never seen.

The Universe is Reading.

Ask and ye shall receive. It seems the Universe was listening... or at least reading! 

Thomas called yesterday about Night, wanted to organise a schedule to get back to writing it.He must have been reading! Not like him! I'm not sure what we can do yet, hopefully something. Perhaps even email writing, we've never done it before but it seemed to work well when I was working on Adam with Caroline Farrell. We'll see. 

We also talked about breathing life back into Puca, but this time as an animated film. I think it work work well, how we would do it is another question entirely. But we can apply for Frameworks funding and see how we go from there.

I decided to email JJ rather then wait, figuring he would be too busy himself to think of it. I was right! He is busy. But we managed to lock down some dates for shooting Slán Agus Beannacht, which is great news. So we're aiming for the last of March, start of April - 30th to 3rd. 

So I'm back on track with that, a deadline always helps! So I have actors to cast, locations to find and money to raise! I will keep this blog updated as I go. 

I can announce that three actors have been cast in smaller roles.

LtoR: Shane Murray Corcoran, Noel Kelly and Eric O'Brien. 

Noel is my brother, so a bit of nepotism there! ;) Shane and Eric of course appeared as Ralph and Fintan in Emily's Song, so I've always been looking for something to do with them again. 

So exciting news. A new film on the horizon. A new story brought to life. In two months I'll be on a whole new journey. 

More news on Cast etc. as it comes. 

Seven Houses

I've begun work on two new ideas. A new feature script and a new documentary feature, following on from themes I explored in Bill, For Short - and inspired by the reaction from audiences and the connection people found, and seemed to be hungry for. I've decided to explore the idea further. I'm still not sure what angle to take, but I have a few ideas.

The feature script came from a conversation in emails with a friend about golf! From it sprung an idea for a screenplay... not necessarily to do with golf mind you! But we'll see. I think it could be a good script.

S&B and Night have stalled again. Been waiting since before Christmas to get S&B going and since June last year to finish Night. It's just not happening on either, and it's due to the fact that the other people on the projects are simply too busy. They're great guys and great workers and all exceptionally talented and I know they want to get them done, it's just unfortunate they're so busy.

In saying that, if I got a call today from either with the desire to move forward of course I will. Theirs no ill will on my behave, just a simple desire to get these films made, rather then sit around with a script and head full of ideas. But as it stands I think it's time I cut my losses and got back to my own stuff, stop waiting and spending energy on something that's dead in the water. 

Been thinking a lot again about Ghoster and coming at it from a different angle. Again, a lower budget way of attacking it without having to rely on people who are too busy to commit. There are ways it can be done. I've thought about doing smaller before. But was advised against it, for fear it would effect the over all quality of the piece. It took that advice, and it had a great effect. The film doesn't exist. 

I had hoped to shoot Ghoster winter past, and I think I probably could have if I had not allowed myself be distracted by greener grass. I'm fed up of this hop scotch way of working, jumping to a from script to script because one goes a little stale. As I've learned from the films I have made, you need to stick to one thing to get something done. If I'm building seven houses at once, and the guy next to me is only building one, come winter guess who's going to be warm and dry?!

Anyway, I guess another way of getting things made is to stop blogging and start working! So I better do it. I also have to prepare for  the workshop on Wednesday. A couple of the kids from the school came to the exhibition on Friday... we'll see what happens!?! 

Just The Tip

Just in from the opening of the exhibition. I must say I think it went very well. Nice turn out. People seemed to enjoy the images and the film. Ed Gordon gave a great speech, which people seemed to enjoy and I sold a few! 

I think I touched something in people with this exhibition, so many people came up to me with stories of Fathers, Uncles, Grandfathers, Grandmothers who work in these factories. I think I have only scrapped the top of the ice-berg on this on, and I may have to dive deeper to find out what really went on behind these walls.

It was a great night in all and I'm glad I did it. 

People to thank: 

Noel Kelly and John Lawlor for helping me make Bill, For Short (the short film we’re going to watch later) which led to this exhibition.

The Drogheda Borough Council and Create Louth for sponsoring the event.

Marcella Bannon, Tony Conaghy and all here at the Droichead Arts Centre for their support and this space. 

Fran and Denise Caffery at Kodak Prints.

Ed Gordon for taking time out to come down and open the exhibition.

My Mother, Father and Lorraine, my friends and everyone here for attending and of course -

Maryann my wife for her continued support, belief and patience. I would not have made Bill, For Short if she hadn’t pushed me and these photo’s would probably still be hidden in a folder on my computer if it wasn’t for her.

Dodgy DVDs - Terrible TVs - Bad Borders

Building up to the exhibition now, Friday here we come! A few last minute arrangements to complete and of course last minute cock-ups! What an event be without the last minute cock-ups! 

One: The dvds I burnt dropped frames, so it's skipping like crazy at the end. 

Two: I don't have a TV set that can register the final freeze frame in the film without shaking. 

Three: The framer put the wrong colour border on all 20 of the photos. 

Four: I just found out that the wine is not inclusive in the fee! 

But that's OK. I think I know what the problem is with the DVD and the projectionist assures me it can be dealt with, and I trust him implicitly. I'm sure I'll find a TV set tomorrow, if not, well, I guess people will have to put up with a shaky image, not ideal, but thems the breaks. The framers owned up to his mistake and rectified it immediately so we're back in business and I picked up the photos today with the right colour border, they looked great and i'll be going back there for business! As for the wine, well, I guess a few extra quid wont hurt at this stage.

It has cost more then I had anticipated. I figured that the councils cheque would cover half. After everything it covered about a third. But I should have guessed that would happen. There's always something unexpected that crops up. Always figure it'll cost twice what you put down and you should be safe! 

But I'm looking forward to it. Ed Gordon has agreed to come down and open the exhibition for me, so that should add something special to proceedings. My brother Noel, who appears in the film is quietly freaking out at the prospect of 100 people looking at him on the big screen and is having cold sweats daily! I feel he may make a run for the pub before the screening happens - I might be joining him! 

More after the proceedings and hopefully more news on other projects soon.

Podcast Ep10

Yes indeed, we're 10 episodes old!!! It's a happy day, who woulda thought we'd come so far! And to celebrate this momentus occasion I have podcast an interview I did today on LMFM radio, as previously advertised! 

Hope you enjoy it. Click on the side bar to listen. And Congrats to Tadeusz Cantwell from Bray on winning the competition! There's more prizes to be given away, keep listening!

Late Lunch

Back on the radio tomorrow to promote Old Shoes and Broken Walls. 

Tune in to LMFM 98.5 Fm at 2pm, the Late Lunch Show with Gerry Kelly and Deirdre Hurley. I'll be talking about the exhibition, Bill, For Short, my work and more I'm sure. 

You can also listen online at www.lmfm.ie. 

If you miss it I'll be podcasting it at a later date.  

Pale Stone Podcast Ep9

Yes, it's up, at last, it almost seemed like it may never appear again, but alas no, I'm back with another podcast. I've explained the reason in the podcast so I wont go into it here again.

More info on the making of Emily's Song and Bill, For Short and some news of what I'm up to. Plus the second podcast competition... unbelievable, I can hardly pay my gas bill yet I'm giving away free stuff! Where else would you find it! Listen in to win a copy of Story by Robert McKee and Emily and Bill on DVD!

Enjoy!

Reading in The Attic

Last night I had the reading at The Attic Studio of my feature script Ghoster, it was a thrill to be quite honest. I really enjoyed and it was supremely useful, in two hours I got more answers to my own questions then I could have possibly got in six months of mulling over drafts! 

It was very well cast, and thanks to Camille Donegan for helping me with that, organising the actors and arranging my visit. 

I found it to be a very welcoming and warm environment. I felt safe. My ideas felt safe. I knew going in that the script was far from perfect and needed a lot of work, but of course, that was the point of the exercise. Still, didn't stop me from being nervous or worrying what people might think. I now know what it must feel like for a parent to go to their child first school play and have to watch them perform. So full of hope and fear! But my fears were soon lost.

The reading was a nerve wracking. I was watching the audience as much as I was the actors, so I was somewhat distracted. But the rehearsal the night before was an absolute joy. Made me wish it was the real thing and all these actors were my cast and it was first night of rehearsals for the actual film. Some day perhaps.

Instantly I saw my characters come to life, and in ways I never imagined. Some of the cast embodied the characters perfectly and it was as if the character had walked off the page. Some brought something completely different that was equally as exciting, it gave something fresh and new to the piece. It opened up new avenues for me and started a whole new thought process and provided me with the energy to see it through to the end. So here's hoping we get to shoot this thing!

My thanks to everyone at The Attic, thanks to those who have created such a safe and essential place for actor, writers and directors to try new things. Thanks to all the actors who took part in the reading and to those who braved the cold to watch and fill in questionnaires, all of which I found very useful and will continually refer to... well, maybe I'll burn on or two! You know who you are! ;)

I would highly recommend doing this. Gather together a group of actors from your local theatre group, or where ever and have them read your script. It will bring to light so many things, everything that's working and everything that is not. It is an invaluable tool to help the development of a script. Do it.

Here's a list of the cast members. 

Narrator: Joe McKinney
Fred: John Burke
Kevin: Steve Gunn
Connor: Keith Ward
Marco: Padraig Murray
Captain: Ken Fletcher
Caper: Ciaran O'Grady
Maz: Dafydd O'Sea
Alco: Rory Mullen
Banjo: Declan Gillick
Alex: Camille Donegan
Meehan: Gerry Shanahan
Skinner: Brian Fortune
Cathy: Elaine Reddy

My Thanks

Value from the Void

A few days before the reading of Ghoster, but I'm thinking about the exhibition at the end of the month because I've had a nice review from Elliot V. Kotek, Editor-in-Chief of Moving Pictures Magazine. 

"Frank Kelly's images are remarkably reminiscent of the important work of James Nachtwey and as crisp as the architectural oeuvre of Julius Shulman - Kelly's rare ability is revealed in his new series "Old Shoes and Broken Walls" in which the photographer shows the war-like devastation of neglect and the proclivity for progress to dismiss those places (and, by implication, the people) that society perceives as derelict and downtrodden. On this occasion, Kelly's lens documents both the beauty and the gravity of obsolescence, evoking value from the void."

Elliot V. Kotek

Editor-in-Chief

Moving Pictures Magazine

The exhibition opens on the 23rd of January at 8pm and will run  for a month. So drop into the Droichead Art Centre on Stockwell Street in Drogheda if you want to see what he's talking about!