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!

Shaping up nicely!

Well, looks like it's shaping up to be a busy year! Starting with a reading of Ghoster in the Attic Studio, rehearsal on the 5th of January, Reading on the 6th. Organised in large part by Camille Donegan, so many thanks to her. It should be interesting and extremely helpful. I'm planning a rewrite, but I'm a little stuck with what direction to go in and I think this reading will help a great deal. I'm looking forward to it.

Straight after that I have the exhibition of course, on the 26th, followed by 2 workshops with students the following two Wednesdays, they should be fun. The exhibition will run for a month there after. 

Right after that I have the Slán agus Beannacht shoot, I hope, still no dates set yet, hopefully will get them nailed down soon. It still needs to be cast and some locations found, but I'm optimistic! More news there soon.

After that we have ADAM! Hopefully! Script is shaping up nicely and I think with the right cast it could be something special. Here's hoping we can shoot it soon after S&B. I'd like to edit them both together and get them out at the same time. I don't know how possible that is yet, well, it's possible, wether I get to do it is another thing.

Thomas and I spoke yesterday about getting back on Night, so we're going to try and hit that after Christmas and get a draft organised that we can start letting people read. And then aim to shoot winter '09. I think we can do it, but you never know how things are going to go. It's shaping up to be a busy year anyway, here's hoping at least half of all that happens... and maybe a few surprises too!!!

In the meantime I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome my new iMac into the world. The Stork delivered her yesterday...

And I have to say - I'm a very proud father!!!

Emily's Song TV Broadcast

Last minute again, but Emily's Song is on RTE 2 tonight at 11:45pm! So if you're at home and stuck for something to watch, tune in and enjoy! 

'tis the season!

At last... Episode 8!

Sorry for the delay! I got a bit lazy... I mean busy! Of course I mean busy! I've taken a break from the interviews for a bit, probably till after Christmas, until I figure out the phone recording thing!?!

This one is some ramblings on my experience making two very different short films, so some of you first timers may find it interesting and hopefully useful.

I am running a comp with this one too, where you can win a copy of both films aswell as copy of Story by Robert McKee! I'm flippin deadly, free, independent podcast giving away prizes... did you ever hear the like! You have to listen to all three parts mind, then answer a question and email it to podcast@palestoneproductions.com. udderwize we kill ze girl... not really.

That's all for now. Find the Podcast above. Enjoy.

Kill your babies

Busy day today, even in my weakened state! Had a meeting this morning in the Droichead Art Centre about my up coming exhibition, it looks like I'm going to be doing two workshops with pupils from local schools too, which is cool. 

I have to structure a day of activity taking in photography and filmmaking. I've never done a workshop before but I think I should be fine and it should be fun. I plan to take the class and shoot for a hour or so, make a documentary of sorts, mainly try to show them the process of making a film, but try to give them something they can be proud of. 

During the shooting I'll have people taking photos, pretty much of whatever they want, but try to teach them to push the angles and look for things out of the ordinary. 

In the afternoon then I'll give them a tutorial on photoshop with the images they have taken and a tutorial on editing with the footage we shoot. Hopefully we'll get through it in one piece! Probably not, but so long as it's fun and someone learns something!

I've also been writing today, did another draft of S&B. I think it's tighter. I took out a scene I really liked, it was hard to do it. I had a dream actually of how to make the script work a bit better and it included taking this scene out, I struggled with it for a couple of days and today it finally went - but it seems to have worked it makes the whole thing work and flow better, kill your babies as they say! 

We'll see though, I'm in no mental state to be making coherent decisions at the moment! Still foggy with this cold. Doctor says it should shift in a day of two, hope so, mucus was never my strong point!

More At Stake

Things move ever onward, to the grave... bit morbid! I have a flu, so feeling slightly under the weather and aching a bit. Waves of coldness, hotness and some shaking!

But otherwise life is good. Rewriting is going well on S&B. I decided I needed to have more at stake for the lead character, not just the loss of his job and way of life, but his life itself. It still needs work. It's moving in the right direction, but still needs a push. It's interesting how when writing you can be so locked into one idea and everything seems to work based on that, and then you change it and everything changes, it becomes something different. It's a fluid thing.

Still no dates set. Still no money and no one cast. But that's OK, we'll get there.

No movement on Night I'm sorry to say. As I mentioned before we had hoped to have the new draft finished by Christmas and in the hands of potential participants, but it's looking like that's not going to happen. We just can get it together. There's so much else to do. But we'll see, Never say never.

I have just recorded the next Podcast, so hopefully that will be up in the next day or two. Again, it'll be in three parts. It's just me talking, about Emily's Song and Bill, For Short... as if you hadn't heard enough about them! I must get of me arse and make another film! Well I'm a getting, believe me, I'm a gettin! (Flu, remember!)

I attended a screening of both those films on Monday night in Toast, Rathmines, Dublin, with the Crewger crowd, which was good. Nice to meet the fine folk who've been posting my podcast on there site. They have a great thing going and a good vision for independent filmmaking in Ireland. They have and are creating what will be an invaluable resource for young, old and new filmmakers and a given them a stage to show their work. It's gonna be big.

I've also recently been hang out with South African filmmaker Mark Lebenon, writer of Dead Easy and writer/director of Slam Bang. A great guy with a passion for film, always nice to meet one of those! I think I've been getting him in trouble with his wife though! We get carried away talking about movies and drinking and the hours tick by oh so fast!!! Sorry Mrs. Lebenon! :)

Well, the shakes have returned, so me thinks it's time to have 2 Lemsip, 4 Night Nurse and 9 Uni Flu and sit by the fire whimpering for a while. 

Be talkin to yous!

Exhibition Confirmed

I'm happy to say that the dates and venue for my exhibition have been confirmed.

"Old Shoes & Broken Walls"

A series of work by photographer and filmmaker

Frank Kelly

20 pieces of photography

A short film - Bill, For Short

January 23rd - 2009 @ 8pm 

Droichead Art Centre

Stockwell Street, Drogheda 

Wine reception. 

This exhibition has been made possible 

by the support of

Drogheda Borough Council 

and 

Create Louth.

(Opening Night is invite only.)

Moving Forward

Slán agus Beannacht moves forward. 

I'm sure the impending holidays will slow it down some, but not to worry, perhaps I can give some actors the present of a part come Christmas Day!?! Who knows!

A casting call has been sent out, with quite a few responses in a very short space of time, which is promising. Dates yet to be set for shooting, effecting auditions and rehearsals of course . But I'm hopeful for February/March time. If so I'm hoping to have a cast together in the next 10 -12 weeks and be rehearsing right away! Will this be possible? I have no idea! But I'll give it a lash! 

In the meantime I have some re-writes to be getting on with, just to get the script the best it can be. I'll continue casting. Storyboards will keep me busy too for the next while. I have to sort out locations, most should be fine, it's mostly exterior, but there are a couple of logistically complicated interiors.  I also have to work out the schedule. And although I'm asking everyone to work for free, because there is no money, and probably wont be, I would still like to find some from somewhere, for whatever unforeseen complication might arise. Where? I have no idea!

From the limited experience I have I'm sure nothing will go according to plan and it'll be a whole lot more stressful, complicated and expensive than I ever imagined... but that's filmmaking for you, and I'm just excited to be doing something again. 

For now, Slán agus Beannacht is in the lap of the Film Gods! I hope they like it and treat it well!

Should be good!

Some news at last. 

Looks like Slán agus Beannacht might be going ahead. I've had some very welcome interest from an old friend, the producer of Emily's Song no less, to do something creative again. So we're trying to sort out dates at the moment and hopefully we can coordinate our schedule for a week to shoot. But it's looking good. 

I'm about to start casting soon. I'll be putting the word out and looking for actors. So I may have a new film to waffle on about sooner then I thought!

In other news, and away from filmmaking for a second...

I recently received funding from the Drogheda Borough Council to mount a exhibition of my photography! So many thanks to them, go to www.createlouth.ie to find out more about opportunities with them.

The exhibition will be called:

"Old Shoes & Broken Walls"

It will consist of 20 pieces of my photography, depicting  images of dereliction, looking at the crumbling remains of a once thriving industry, that existed only two generations ago and serving as reminder that we should take stock and appreciate what we have now, as it may all lie forgotten and in ruins soon after we're gone.

As part of the exhibition I will also screen Bill, For Short.

More news on all that as it comes. I'll be keeping a regular production diary for Slán agus Beannacht, hence forth to be scribed as SáB! Saves the fingers you know! And I will include podcasts about the process! Should be good.

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 7

Welcome to the last part of the Trampas Thompson interview!

As I mention on the podcast I am also running a competition in this podcast.

Just name the movie the above picture is from, where Trampas played a Zombie, and win that movie on DVD. The first email with the correct answer to podast@palestoneproductions.com wins.

And just make sure you were listening! I also want you to tell me the name of Trampas' company with which he developed a new fire gel - and... as if that weren't enough! What part of his body did he set on fire for the first test?

Thanks for listening. I hope everyone who tuned in enjoyed this interview. I'll be taking a break from the interviews for a bit while I line up the next guest. In next weeks podcast I'll talk about my experience making my two short films, Emily's Song, a €25,000 budget short - and Bill, For Short, a no-budget digital short - and I'll talk about the difference between both, the advantages and disadvantages and what I learned form doing them so differently.

Thanks for listening. 

See you next time.

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 6

And we're back...

Part 2 of the Trampas Thompson interview.

You can find out more about Trampas on his site, his IMDB and his company, Action Factory's site.

Click the pic to listen...

Enjoy.

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 5

Here there be Pirates,

I'm back, with a new podcast and a great interview with Hollywood Stuntman, Trampas Thompson.

Trampas has appeared in all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, all three Resident Evil movies, he's taken direction from Steven Speilberg in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he's been punched by George Clooney in Leatherheads, and even had his head smashed through a window by Robert DeNiro in What Just Happened?

Here Trampas talks about his experiences as a stuntman, how he got into the industry, groundbreaking advances he is making with his own stunt team and he gives advice on how anyone interested might break in themselves.

Click the pic to listen!

(Don't forget, The Pale Stone Podcast is now available for free download and subscription on iTunes)

Pale Stone Podcast on iTunes

Did I mention that the Pale Stone Podcast is now available to subscription and free download on iTunes?! 

Well, it is! Just search Pale Stone Productions Podcast in the iTunes store, click subscribe and have every new podcast delivered to your iTunes automatically and for free!!!

Enjoy!!! And thanks for listening!

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 4

As promised, never let it be said I'm not a man of my word... here is Episode 4. I continue my conversation with Maryann Koopman. This is the final part of this conversation. Next week - Trampas Thompson.

Click the pic!

Enjoy!

The Week in Review

It has been a while since the last week in review, so I guess the title of this particular blog should read "The month in review!" 

I have had a good excuse though, I had my wedding on Friday! And as my wife is American we had had a lot of American guest over for the event. So time was something I didn't have.

Just a couple of things of note. As you'll see below the new podcast is up, next one coming soon and I have finished my next interview! So I'm on track. I'm hoping everyone who's listening is finding it informative and entertaining.

I also wanted to announce that Bill, For Short has been selected for competition in the Heart of Gold Film Festival in Australia! So that's good news! The festival takes place in March, I'm hoping I'll be able to make it down for it. I've been wanting to go back to Australia since I got home 7 or 8 years ago!

Thomas and I will start again soon on the second draft of NIGHT and we're excited to announce that we have found our leading man... however, I can't tell who it is just yet! We have to confirm a few things first... like are we actually going to be able to shoot this thing!?! 

I believe we will.

I'm back to work soon on the two short script ADAM and Slán agus Beannacht. I'm going to see about shooting them early next year. I'm also writing two new ideas for shorts. I don't know if I'll ever have time to make them! Maybe I should start selling them? Anyone in need of a short script?!

So, that's all for now I think. If anything else pops into my now frazzled brain I'll be sure to let you know! In the meantime, take care and I'll talk to you all soon.

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 3

Hello all,

Sorry for my delay with getting the second part of the Maryann Koopman interview up, but I had a wedding to attend... my own!

But we're back on track now. Here is part 2 of that interview, with part 3 to follow in the next day or two.

Enjoy!

I have just finished record my interview with Hollywood Stuntman, Trampas Thompson, who has worked on all three Pirates of the Caribbean Movies, all three Resident Evil movies, Leatherheads and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull... among many many others. It's a great interview and I'm looking for to putting it up.

Pale Stone Podcast Episode 2

Episode 2 is up! 

Here I interview Maryann Koopman. 

Former film researcher and co-ordinator of 

the Heartland Film Festival in America.

This is part one of the interview, with 2 more parts to come.

We discuss the behind the scenes of the film festival world, 

Independent film and there's plenty of info 

and tips on entering film festivals.

Part 2 coming soon.

Enjoy!

 

Oh, and Happy Halloween!!!

Episode 1 is Up

Episode 1 of the Pale Stone Podcast is up!

This is just an intro, not much advice imparted.

But I hope you enjoy nonetheless. 

Next week: Maryann Koopman. 

Former Film Researcher and Co-ordinator of the 

Heartland Film Festival in the US.

With advice on the dos and don'ts of entering festivals!!!

Should be good.

Clippings

More for my own benefit, and indeed for the interest of others, I've decided to compiled my news clippings here.

IFTN 1: "Jason Byrne Leads Emily's Song"

IFTN 2: "Shooting Wrap on Emily's Song"

IFTN 3: "Emily's Song Wins US Award"

IFTN 4: "Emily's Song Selected for Oberhausen"

IFTN 5: "Emily's Song Honoured at Oberhausen"

IFTN 6: "Jason Byrne is Paddy Muck"

IFTN 7: "Bill, For Short Screens at Electric Picnic"

IFNT 8: "Bill, For Short Selected for Heartland Film Festival"

Crewger 1: "Bill, For Short Selected for Heartland Film Festival"

Crewger 2: "The Pale Stone Podcast"

Crewger 3: "Crewger Links to Pale Stone Blog"

The First Pale Stone Podcast

Here, at last, is the LMFM interview with Daire Nelson. 

Click below. Enjoy.

(From now on the latest podcasts will 

be posted on the right below the intro.)

The Moon Blog

I want to link you into a friend of mine, at least, we were friends through college 8 years ago, but we've been back in touch recently. Stephen Mooney, he's a comic book artist. His stuff is great. Check out on his site and his blog:

www.moondog.cc

www.moondog-themoonblog.blogspot.com/

You'll enjoy it.

The Week In Review

What have I been up to? Well, I got married on Tuesday, so that was something! But being  as this is my professional blog I wont go to much into my personal life! Needless to say I'm very happy and excited about it!

In other news: 

Thomas and I are still working on Night, at least, we're trying to. Thomas is as busy as ever lecturing at College, particularly as the college is going through so many changes, what with the state of the economy and lack of funding. (Why is it when the economy is in trouble the first thing the government cut is education?!) Hopefully we'll get back to it soon. It's going well and I'm looking forward to getting it finished. 

I'm also working with a new writer, Caroline Farrell, on a beautiful short script she wrote called ADAM. More on that soon. It's the first script I've worked on outside my own or those with Thomas and it's proving to be an interesting and enjoyable process. 

I did a rewrite on Slán agus Beannacht. Opened with a punch. Tightened it up. It's a better script for it. I may look into shooting it next year. It's a complicated one though. I think I can do it for nothing and still make it a moving and effective film. But it has a large cast for a short and at least two complicated scenes, one involving someone in intensive care strapped to a life support machine! I may have to lose that one!?! But I'm sure if I put out a casting call I'll find the people I need to make it a reality.

I'm waiting to see how things pan out for the rest of this year, especially with Night, before I decide what I'm going to do next. The idea is to get a feature film made, so that is number one on the list, but I do like the shorts I'm working on. If the script for Night isn't finished by the end of the year and if the momentum doesn't pick up in the new year I may move onto shooting them sooner rather than later. It's all about momentum.

I'm also in the process of organising a reading of Ghoster with a theatre group (more on who and where later) with a view to turning into a stage play. However, I have absolutely no theatre experience, I've never even been to a play! So I'm not sure yet how viable that would be. I'd still like to make a feature with it. The reading will be helpful no matter what way I go. More news soon.

Some new stories in the works: A horror story called Scarlet Street and a piece of nostalgic drama called Leavio. If I ever find the time they might become screenplays one day!  

That's all my news for this week. More soon. Stay tuned for news and announcements. I'm sure it's all about to kick off any day now!!! Thanks for reading. Bye for now.

Linking in

Little mention on Crewger here. Thanks again to Brendan and the all the folks for linking people in. Hopefully I'll have some exciting news here soon for you. 

Week in review tomorrow. I promise! I missed last week, but I guess there were a few posts in between. I'll try to think of something exciting between now and then! If you hear a grinding noise off in the distance that'll be my brain.

More tomorrow.

Advice/Stories/Thoughts

I have been posting on FilmmakersNetork.ie for the last few months, it's been fun. It's a great place to ask advice, offer advice and share experiences.

I happen to think much of my advice has been pretty good, it's all truthful, so it must be of use to some people. So I've decided to post it all on my blog, not here though, cos this be the news page... but click on 'Asides', just to the left there, and you'll get all my post from the forum.

Hope you find them interesting and useful.

Enjoy.

Frank

Live On Air

Just back from the interview with Daire Nelson on LMFM. It went very well. I enjoyed it immensely. We talked about Bill himself, the film, my career so far and what's to come. 

(My folks taped the show, so I'll try to make a digital transfer and post it here at a later date.)

Thanks to Daire for finding the time in his show to fit me in and help promote Bill, For Short, the support is most appreciated. And thanks to Sinead Brassil for everything.

It certainly is odd to find myself in a radio station talking about this film, if you scroll down to the first mention of Bill it was something that almost didn't even happen. But now it's out there it seems to have taken on a life of it's own. 

It'll be interesting to see where it leads me next.

Thanks again LMFM, thanks for the support!

Video Killed the Radio Star.

I'm being interviewed on radio tomorrow about Bill, For Short.

Tune in to LM/FM on 95.8 Fm at 12:15 pm approx.

You can also listen online by clicking below.

Enjoy.

The Week in Review

I really should make more of an effort to blog more, at least once a week, I've only written 20 blogs all year! That's it, from now on, every Friday, there will be a new blog. 

So it's friday. The week in review... balls! This means I have to come up with something worth writing! 

Well, work on Night is progressing well. We had a writing session this morning that was very tough but went well. I think I'm finding that we're morning writers. We get about three good hours in and then we're zonked! I mean, I can write for hours by myself, but it's much more leisurely, I can set my own pace, take breaks and take it slow. But when Thomas and I write together it's pretty full on. But it's good.

The local paper did an interview with me about Bill, For Short that was in this weeks paper. I'd add a jpeg or something but my computer wont let me upload files over 2kb! It's a joke, but it's one it's last legs. The disc drive stopped working, then the ethernet connection, now the screen stays black when I wake it up from sleep and I have to re start it to get it going and the internet connection keeps dropping... and it's only 2 and half years old! That was €1300 well spent! Great investment. Go Mac!

Anyway, the interview in the paper just talked about how I couldn't attend the premiere of the film in Indianapolis because I'm getting married, to Maryann, who I met at the same festival two years ago after see picked my film when she worked there! It's all very romantic!

News on Emily's Song again. It will be screening in November in Australia across 8 screens nationally as part of a Heart of Gold Film Festival retrospective. So that's great news. It means Emily's Song will be seen by many more people. So that's over two year ES has been screening around the world. And it will continue to do so, as we also sold to minimovies.com.  

I think that's everything. Tune in next Friday for the new weekly Pale Stone Productions update.

News

Here's an article from Crewger.ie. Crewger is a new website for independent filmmakers. 

Bill's Got Heart

I'm proud, excited, delighted, thrilled to announce that Bill, For Short has made Official Selection at the Heartland Film Festival.

It's more then I could have hoped for or imagined was possible. After all, we shot the film in a day and a half for no money! But the idea for the film took a year to form and it came from an honest and meaningful place. 

In many ways the film is reflective of the man it was about. It was made for no money, but it came from the heart with nothing but honesty. Like my Grandfather, a poor man, never had much money but he was always honest and always loving.

The festival opens on October 16th in Indianapolis and during that week Bill, For Short will screen eight times across the city.

Emily's Song won the Crystal Heart Award at the festival in 2006. In fact I think my first blog here came just before that festival. Wow! That mean's this blog is over two years old! Anyway, It's a great festival and I'm only sorry I can't go again this year. It looks like they have a good line up of films. Their opening film is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Hopefully this will be the start of more for Bill, For Short, but even if it is not I'm excited to be a part of Heartland once again.

As I wont be able to attend I'd like to thank everyone involved for the work they did. My brother Noel for giving up his weekend to walk around in 50 year-old uncomfortable shoes in the cold and rain. To John Lawler, who's abounding energy and enthusiasm drove the film and skill as a cameraman helped capture some wonderful images. To my Mother, for delving deep into her heart and past to find painful memories that helped me get a clearer picture of Bill. And to Maryann, my fiancé, for encouraging me to tell this story, it probably never would have been done if it wasn't for her. Thanks all.

Nighty Night

Hello,

First my apologies for not having posted in a while and not posting that well when I have! Did I mention that I have moved all unrelated material to 'Asides' over on the left? So anything that is not directly related to Pale Stone Productions, stories, poems, thoughts etc will be posted there.

Unfortunately there's not much going on at the moment. Except for the fact that I'm preparing for my wedding, which is less than two months, so that's mainly what I've been doing.

I am writing a new feature script with Thomas however. It's called NIGHT. It's based on an idea Thomas had. We've been trying to get to it since July, grabbing a week when we could and a day or even hour here and there. But it's going well despite that and I'm enjoying writing it a lot. I'm very excited about it I have to say. 

I could say when we hope to shoot, Thomas and I will co-direct, but I'd just look foolish when that doesn't happen! So I'll keep it under wraps until I know for sure. At the moment we're just trying to get the second draft done.

I don't want to say much about it though, story wise, at least not yet, except to say that it is dark and violent noir like thriller. So it's very different from anything Thomas and I have ever written before. We do tend to gravitated toward drama and comedy. 

However, on my own I tend to go for the darker stuff, BLOOD DIRT MONEY, the terrible first feature I wrote that brought Thomas and I together was in the same vein as this one. BAD MOON and NEVERMORE are both dark and violent. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying this one so much!

We should have this draft finish soon I hope. Stag parties, Weddings and honeymoons might delay things, but hopefully not too much! 

We also have something special planned for this particular script. Something I've been thinking about doing for a long time and something that always comes up when a new script is finished. But I wont tell you. I'll just show you when it's done. It'll be posted here first.

OK, that's all from me for now. Hopefully more soon.

Here's an interesting interview with Chris Nolan on The Dark Knight. I've added it because he talks about Noir. Enjoy.

SDGI Finders Series

I went to the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland Finders Series event  a couple of nights ago. Tomm Moore picked up the SDGI Finders Series Award for his Animated Feature "Brendan and the Secret of Kells" 

It was a fairly dull night over all it must be said. I'm sure other people had a wonderful time, but I think I would have rather been anywhere else. But it had its moments I suppose. Met some old friends, made some new ones. John Carney gave a short speech, which was funny. Michael Apted did too and then made the presentation. I met him at the Heartland Film Festival, he's a nice man.

The award was set up between the Irish Director Guild and the American Directors guild. Where every year they select one filmmaker and their feature and fly the to the states for meetings with distributors in hope to find American distribution for said film. Last year "Kings" went and was successful. So it's a great prize.

There was some footage of the film shown last. I have to say it looks wonderful. It really is like nothing I've seen before. I hope it does well for them, but I'm sure it will.

a few links:

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/

http://blog.cartoonsaloon.ie/

http://sdgi.ie/index.php

Electric Bill

Here's a look behind the scenes on Bill, For Short, the short docu-drama I shot in February of this year. 

If you're heading to the Electric Picnic at the end of this month you can see Bill, For Short, as well as Emily's Song, Paddy Muck and Polls Apart. They will all be screening in the External Sounds tent.

Keep an eye out for Jason Byrne and Colum McDonnell in the Comedy tent too.

Goodbye and Blessings

No, I'm not going anywhere, it's the name of my latest short screenplay (or at least the english translation of it.) I have just recently completed a new short Screenplay entitled "Slán agus Beannacht".

It tells the story of a rent collector, who has been walking his route for 30 years and now stands to lose his job due to escalating violence on the streets.

The theme is that of the change in Ireland in recent years and talks about how we have lost values and community because of fear, greed and convenience.

No shooting plans as yet. More will be posted soon.

Don't Let The Turkeys Get You Down.

Not all news is good news as they say. RTE said no to our series idea via standard rejection letter, no reason given at all, which is annoying. So we're not sure why they didn't go for it, idea, setting, characters, us as writers, all of the above. It would be nice to have had some feedback, so we know what to avoid next time.

We will continue working on ideas. In fact Thomas and I are meeting soon to go over new series ideas and an idea for a new short, which, like Bill, For Short, will be shot digitally and for no money. So we're both excited about that. Don't let the turkeys get you down as me ol Da always said.

I am still waiting for news on The Race and Ghoster, both of which are on the slow foot, which is as frustrating as ever. I'm about to start a new draft on Ghoster, just letting some new ideas ferment for a bit.

In the meantime I've started work on a new story, not for the screen, entitled "The Cats of the Crescent". I'm well into it and I'm really enjoying it. I try and get to it everyday, which is sometimes impossible, but usually get about 2000 words written each sitting, sometimes more sometimes less. I'm at the 20,000 word mark at the minute and aiming for 80-100k, so about a fifth of the way there. Not that the word count really matters at this stage, it's a first draft and will most likely change quiet a bit. But I guess word counts are like road markers or rest stops. It's good to have them along the way, breaks the journey up and sometimes you arrive at you destination before you thought, other times you still have a few mile to go before you've made it.
It's nice to write and not have to worry about trying to film it at the end! It's a bit more liberating. So more on that one later.

And work will soon begin again on this...



So stay tuned.

Seattle Screening of Emily's Song

Emily's Song will be screening at 7th International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Seattle, WA, USA, on July 5th & 6th.
http://www.ifct.org/ifctschedule.html

Paddy Muck - Concept Design

Jason Byrne is “Paddy Muck”

Jason Byrne (RTE’s Anonymous) has recently completed a new short comedy film entitled “Paddy Muck”. Shot on location near Swords in Dublin it tells the story of a bunch of rural Irish idiots who try to trick a bus full of rich American tourists out of their money so they can buy a new church, but not everything goes according to plan.

This Mister Bean meets Father Ted comedy, written by Byrne himself, stars a who’s who of Irish Comedy, including Colum McDonnell, Dermot McMorrow (Emily’s Song), John Henedrson (Co-writer), Reuban, Bernard O’Shea, Eamon Bishop, Willy White (Des Bishop’s - Joy in the Hood), Andrew Stanley (I Dare Ya), John Collery, Joan Butler, Eric Lalor and more.

DOP Lisa Thomson (Skeleton Crew). Edited by Andy Kemp (Panorama). Executive producer Gary Reich. Directed by Ewan Taylor and Produced by Brown Eyed Boy (the British company behind BBC’s “Little Miss Jocelyn”) in association with Pale Stone Productions (“Emily’s Song”).

The short was conceived of as a pilot for a TV show of the same name Byrne is writing with John Henderson.

Byrne has just finished recording a show for Radio 4 called “Odd Half Hour” and is currently working on a new show for BBC Radio 2 called “The Jason Byrne Show” due for broadcast in July. He is also touring with his comedy show; go to www.myspace.com/jasonbyrnecomedy for dates and info.

Emily's Song will screen at the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington in Australia, close to Melbourne. We're exciting to be screening back in Oz, having been a few festival there over the last two years.

Looking back...

I was browsing the blogs of old classmates and found some amazing art. I studied animation at college, but always knew I was destined for film! Those who carried on turned into fine artists I must say. But looking are their stuff made me want to go back a dig out some old stuff of mine.

These pages were a first pass at The Anatomist, when Thomas and I began it as a comic book. Unfortunately at the time it proved too much work for everyone involved. Thomas had just had his first child, Dan was working elsewhere and giving his nights to the project and I was unemployed, uninspired and going insane! But we still managed to write a full story arch, get four finished issues written and 12 illustrated pages started.
So here are a few for your enjoyment.


Page One. (The only finished page)


Page Two. (Without effects from here on in)


Page Three


Page Four


Page Five


Page Six.

The story still exists and is by no means abandonned. It's just on hold until we become better writers! It wont be approached this way again however. I think if we start it again we will begin from scratch.

In the meantime here's page one of a new comic book I've started on my own and using a very simple technique. I guess there's comic books in my blood! But I love doing them - when I can find the time! This is a script I wrote called Insomnia about a man who has an eye transplant and can see into another world. First two scripts are written so I'll keep plugging away at it from time to time. No real aim with this one, it's just for fun. Enjoy.

High Noon... actually it's 1 o'clock, the clocks went forward!

Hello der,

I'm happy to say Thomas and I are writing together again. We've been developing a new project for Tyrone Productions. In a search for amazingly talented and handsome new writers they realised that Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio were too expensive, as was Stephen Gaghan, David Milch was just insane and collects guns and Daniel Knauf, Doug Ellin, David Simon and Larry David were all busy... so somehow they ended up finding us.

If it happens, and everything goes according to plan, it will be a new 6 x 1 hour Comedy Drama series for RTE 2. But we have to wait and see. So far the experiences has been enjoyable. We're working with the head of development Dearbhla Reagan, who's been great and very patient with us.

It's really nice to be pushed, challenged and to get constant and instant feed back. Very invigorating indeed... even if sometimes I just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep. Like in those dreams, where you appear naked in a maths exam you haven't prepared for, so to get out of it you go asleep... or maybe that's just me?!?!

Anyway, they seem happy with what we came up with and they're presenting to RTE this week I think. So it will be interesting to see if it goes anywhere after this. it may not of course, which would suck, but it has been a good experience and an interesting learning curve. But fingers crossed eh?

Not much else going on. Still waiting to here on Ghoster and The Race. Maybe soon. You, my loyal readers, will of course be the first to know.

I'm heading off to Montana for a couple of weeks to meet the Fiancés folks! Which should be fun. I'll be staying the hometown of Gary Cooper! Cool huh!

All right, bye for now. More news soon.

Frank

My One Regret

I haven't posted in a while as i haven't much news to report, all is quiet on the frontline.

Emily's Song is continuing to play at festivals around the world. It is currently touring in America as part of the International Film Festival of Cinema and Technology. We also recently screened in the Bangkok International Children's Film Festival and at the Kurz Film Festival in Cologne. And although things have slowed down with Emily's Song we are still getting requests to see it from other festival, which is nice.

No news on Bill, For Short, but the festival I've entered don't close their doors for months to come, so I reckon it will be a while before I hear yay of nay. But it's getting a good responce from the few who have seen it, I'm happy to say.

I'm currently helping my friend John Lawlor with his college films, which is loads of fun. We shot a fake commercial for an iPod, which involved a 1985 Steve Jobs in a Back To The Future tie-in, it was funny.

We also completed a 9 minute comedy short this week called "My One Regret." About a guy who has the worst day of his life, where everything goes wrong. I'm the guy!


Me in "My One Regret" a film by John Lawlor.

It involved diving into bathtubs, summer-salting out doorways, running around town and generally acting like a buffoon! But it was fun, I enjoyed it and so far the results have been getting big laughs. Especially from my Dad, who watched it today and almost had a heart attack he laughed so hard at one particular scene! So was worth it for that alone!

Again it comes down to having fun, gorilla style, with digital technology in the "Shut up and Shoot" school of filmmaking. Perhaps the stuff I'm doing right now isn't high-art and I don't expect it to win any awards, but hell, it's good fun and getting home stiff and sore from spending the day rolling around like a fool and laughing is a good feeling, I'd recommend it to anyone!

I'm starting to write the next in our series of "Shut up and Shoot" films, another comedy, which is a bit more complicated then the last three, but should be loads of fun and hopefully very funny. I'll keep you posted on what's to come.

On the grander projects, I have finished the second draft of "Ghoster" and I'm happy with it. There are still some changes I want to make. I feel like I need to get deeper into the characters and the subtleties of their relationships. I'm only touching on it now, but I could take it much further.

"The Race" is still being sent around and we're looking at the possibility of shooting it in Australia! I'm talking to a producer down there who is interested in it. Hopefully some more news there in the coming months.

I'm back working on another draft of "The Wolf of Nevermore." I'm excited about it. I made a lot of changes and I think it skips along at a much better pace with a lot more going on. I've been dying to make a Horror film since I started writing, but a certain kind of horror, there's a type of foreboding atmosphere I want to capture. That feeling you get when walk through a forrest at dusk, just as the sun has dipped behind the horizon and darkness is coming and you suddenly realise you're not quite sure how to get out, panic rises... I love that feeling and I think I know how to get it with this script.

Well, that's all from me for now. It just leaves me to congratulate Darren Thornton for his continued success on "Frankie," it has been doing amazing business. Having won at Cork and Galway it has gone one to recieve the UIP Prix at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, which automatically qualifies it for the European Film Awards. So well done there, long may it run.

I also just wanted to say that I'm delight the guys won the Oscar for Once! I loved that movie and I found it very moving to see those guys on stage recieving that little gold statue! And I was excited to see Daniel Day-Lewis pick up the Oscar!

That's me! Hope all is well readers, whoever you may be?! Please feel free to leave comments, ask questions, I'd be happy respond. Thanks!

Bye for now
Frank

FINISHED!!!

Hello Hello Hello...

I'm happy to announce that my new short film:Bill, For Short, is complete!

Well, almost, a few minor sound tweaks, but it's done. It came it under the 10 minute mark at 9'40", so I'm happy with that. And I'm happy with it in general. I like it. I think it's a nice piece. It has a certain feel to it, a pace that's quiet and reflective and I feel like it moves along nicely and delivers the message I was hoping it would. Both from a personal perspective, looking back at my Grandfather's life and from a technical perspective, as an experiment to see what we could shoot in 2 days with just 3 people and no money.

Unfortunately I'm not going to post it!!! I know I said I would, but I'm going to enter it into festivals, see if it does any business and one of the rules to enter festivals is that the film not be publicly screening anywhere, whether online or on TV.

So in the meantime here's the poster!


My brother Noel played the part of me in the film and John Lawler was the Cinematographer . I wrote, directed, edited, composed and performed the music and did the voice over.

I have to admit, I love digital technology. I think if I had the opportunity to make a feature film I would chose to shoot on Film, but for just getting out there and making something digital is the way to go. I feel very lucky to be a filmmaker right now.

Hopefully I'll have more news on the film soon. Right now, I have to get back to work on the next draft of Ghoster... more news there soon.

Best
Frank