Emily's Song on C4.

Emily's Song is to be broadcast on Channel 4 again, at 4:15am Monday 1st Nov. So for all you insomniacs, early risers, return partiers, parents of small babies and the general night-owl population, please do tune in... I will be sleeping!

FOR SALE €15.99

The Heartland Film Festival ended over the weekend, with the final screening of 140 on the 22nd. By all accounts the screenings were successful, people enjoyed the movie, even cheering when Indianapolis came up! Wish I could have been there!

(Among the filmmakers present were

Kevin Makice and his son Carter)

(Also present at the festival was 140 filmmakers Gustavo Ron, centre,

who was a Crystal Heart Award Winner this year for his feature film

'Ways To Live Forever' - composer Cesar Benito is using the award

as a tooth-pic!)

Heartland has always been a supporter of my work, with Emily's Song and Bill, For Short screening in previous years. And even though I have now had three films screen at the festival it's not something I would ever take for granted, it remains an enormous honour to be selected for such a great festival. I hope I can continue to make the kind of films they want to show.

However, my next film wont be one of those! Derelict, a crime thriller, is moving along and set for a January/February shoot tbc. I've written the first draft of the script, but needs work and I'm slightly stumped. I blasted out the first draft in about 3 days, just to get the story out of my head and on to paper. It's all there, the storyline, the plot, the characters, the beats I wanted - but it needs more, another layer of depth to real make it work. My challenge now is to find that layer, add it and quickly.

I have started casting, people have come on board, which I'm very excited about, but I'll wait until things are more solid before I announce any names.

Some sad news, my good friend Mark Lebenon, who I originally started working on Derelict with, is leaving Ireland and going back to South Africa. Super nice guy. Good writer, filmmaker and collaborator (what time we had to collaborate) I had hoped he would be able to work on Derelict with me, but unfortunately Ireland, and the state we're in, have not made it easy for him and his family to make a life here. I wish him, Donna, Aidan and Liam all the best and hope to see the back on our shores again in more prosperous times. Good luck Mark, I'll miss you buddy.

Couple of other projects looming on the horizon, would love to talk about them and share but some odd things have been happening lately that have made me paranoid about sharing ideas online. Some high-profile filmmakers and companies I've had dealings with have come out with projects that are almost identical to some I've had over the years and posted on here.

Maybe I'm being silly, these things happen, as they say: There's nothing original under the sun. But when a big company comes out with and ad campaign with monster puppet suits, and you think: "Hey, they look just like a design I did 3 years ago for a short film that never got made!" Coincidence? Maybe. But then you find out the company you spoke to about making that suit for said short film is the very same company that made these monsters, and you go back to your emails from three years ago and see conversations, description and concept art... you start to wonder if it's really wise to share ideas! - So there will be no more of that from me! All I'll say is that I'm excited about what's coming up and I hope to be able the share it with you soon.

Meantime:

FOR SALE: €15.99

As part of my fund raising efforts for Derleict I'm going to start selling 140 on DVD, if you would like to purchase a copy of the movie you've been reading about for near two years! You can do so by clicking 'Donate' (on the right-hand bar) fill the box with for the amount: €15.99, which will include postage and package. Include you name and address and I'll get one off to you that day.

FOR SALE: €20

I'm also selling T-Shirts €20 a pop. Click 'Drop Me A Line' to the right and we can arrange size, colour and payment (range is limited).

140 IFI 10.10.10

(Eoin McCabe {Original Songs} Me & Dermot O'Mahony {Music})

The day kicked off with the usual pre-screening jitters! Nothing new there for me. But we must embrace these things! Caught the train to Dublin, myself, Maryann and my brother Noel. Went straight to the IFI, where I met Sunniva O'Flynn, the curator there. We all grabbed a coffee and I talked with Sunniva about the film and what we might talk about during the Q&A. Then did a tech check, where everything seemed fine. Calms the nerves to stay busy beforehand I must say!

People started to arrive, some friends, Eoin and Dermot, the musical department of 140! At 1pm we pilled into Cinema Screen 3. Beautiful room, seating curved around the screen, in fact the same screen I saw Spirited Away in a few years ago! It was a small turn out, I had hoped there'd be a bit more, only about 22 people - and none of the Irish 140 filmmakers, which was a disappointment, especially considering 5 of them live in the Dublin area! And especially when you think all the LA filmmakers showed to both California screenings, actually flew me to the first one and attended the one I missed on my behalf! Oh well, I guess the Irish are... less enthusiastic about such things! But I know people were busy, working and even out of the country - a disappointment nonetheless

Started the screening with some technical hitches. Pauses in the tape due to the transfer. Happened about 4 or 5 times and for a moment I thought it might spell a disastrous end to the day! To be honest I wasn't panicing about it, if we had to stop I planned to take everyone's address and send them out a free dvd of the film. I would have also done the Q&A anyway, so people would have had some kind of experience to go home with. Kind of backwards, see the Q&A and then go home and watch the film!

As it happened it sorted itself out and after the first 15 minutes there were no more pauses. People seemed to enjoy the film. Being a typical filmmaker I was watching the audience rather then the film (I've seen it a hundred times anyway!) and no one was twitching or shifting, always a reassuring sign!

The Q&A afterwards was really enjoyable. Sunniva was very enthusiastic about the film, which was great. Good questions from her and from the audience made it enjoyable. Overall, despite some disappointments, I thought it was a successful screening and I really enjoyed myself. And of course it was a great honour to screen in the IFI.

You never know how these things will go, and you can't really be too worried or disappointed if only a handful of people show, or there are technical problems. Each experience is different and offers something unique. For me this was an intimate screening with friends in a fantastic venue with an enthusiastic host - can't really ask for better than that.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who came, to Sunniva O'Flynn for her enthusiasm and support and to the IFI.

fyi.

(140 on fyi. on e3 "You've heard

about the facebook movie, well,

What about the twitter movie?")

Building up the European Premiere at the IFI on Sunday. Had a bit of press from it, local papers, off to do another interview for local paper in an hour or so. The Irish digital channel e3 picked it up for their fyi. show, you can watch here, second story. Little mention on the Film Ireland website too. All helps to pulls the punters in! Hopefully we'll get a good crowd, I'm not expecting too much, never do, saves on disppointment! But hopefully there will be a few in.

I also did a blog for the Heartland Website, which you can read here. All about my connection to the festival, and the importance of making connections at festivals. Which will be the theme of a conversation I'll be having with Elliot Kotek and Gustavo Ron on the 18th of October, via Skype, as part of a seminar at the festival (I only wish I could be there in person!)