Shh, it's a secret!

Busy couple of days working on S&B. Couple more actors cast. I wont say more until I have the full list and then I'll do a full post on everyone and who they are. 

Trying to organise a fundraiser at the moment. Just starting. Might be tight. But hopefully I'll be able to pull it off. Should it happen I will also post results! 

While paying a visit to the local council offices today I found the absolute perfect location for the said same office in my script, I mean exactly as I pictured it! I must have been in there before and forgot, it must have seeped into my subconscious! Anyway, I have to try to get it! I don't know how, but I have to... contacts called upon, favours called in... whatever it takes!

Lots of what I'm going to do! Something about what I am doing...

As mentioned below I have a new film project which I'm going to do through Twitter. I spoke with my friend Elliot Kotek last night, brainstormed a little, he likes the idea but offered some suggestion on refining it, ll good, all taken on board and soon I will be able to reveal all! It's gonna be good... it's gonna be big!!!

Jeez! I'm very secretive tonight! 

Not much writing had been done the last few nights. I was on a role with the Cats of the Crescent, but it stalled. Nothing to do with block, just got busy and distracted. With S&B thundering down the track I may not get back to it until after the film is shot. Which is OK. Might be a good way to unwind, clear my thoughts for the edit. 

Nothing more on Night I'm afraid. Once again time is not on our side. I haven't spoken to Thomas so I'm not sure how work on 'No Man's Land' is progressing. When I know, you'll know.

That's all for now. Hopefully more exciting news soon, both on S&B and the mystery project. 

Be talking to ye! 

Lights, Camera, Twitter...

I'm seeking 140 filmmakers from all around the world. In as many countries, cities, towns, villages as possible to join me for a very unique film project. 

First things first, if you're at all intrigued or interested you have to follow me on Twitter!

Go to Twitter sign up and find me: frankwkelly. Then follow me. We'll take it from there. 

I don't know how long this is going to take, or if it's even going to work. But if it does I reckon it's going to be something quite special.

More information will be revealed in due course!

Gremlins and Twitterings and other such utterings

Well, the screening last night was an unmitigated disaster! First off it was storming outside, strong bitting cold wind, driving rain! Anyway, braved that, ventured on. Arrived to find that they were having problems with the dvd, skipping like crazy, every few seconds. And the spare had disappeared! I didn't have one with me so there was nothing I could do!

They cleaned it with some solution and tried it again, it seemed to do the trick. On with the show.

Tony introduced me and I introduced the film to a substantial crowd of about 70 people. Then sat down to watch the film skip like crazy again. Embarrassing to say the least. I watched for a couple of minutes, hoping it would rectify itself, it did not. So I went up to the booth and called a halt to proceedings. I didn't want to audience sitting through that. Nothing more annoying then a dvd skipping like that, well, there is, being forced to watch it! 

Apologised to the audience and trotted on my way home back through the icy wind and driving rain, back home to the fire and my wife and the dog. Better.

Just one of those things, no ones fault, gremlins in the machine. They run a very sensitive dvd player that skips on anything, unlike most domestic players that could play a ham sandwich if you were so inclined. 

It's been posponed until  the 17th, so that cool.

Meantime I have lots to get on with. I'm writing a casting call for S&B again. Need to get moving on that quickly. Shooting in 7 1/2 weeks! Yikes!

I'm also back working on The Cats of the Crescent (fantasy Novel), which I'm enjoying. I hit a wall at the end of chapter 6 about 6 months ago or more, then got distracted with Bill stuff and of course the wedding! But I sat down to it two nights ago and blasted out chapter 7 and 8 and am now well into chapter 9, about 22 pages in the last two days. So it's going well and I'm enjoying the process again. There'll be a lot of rewriting at the end of it, but I think it'll be good. Hopefully an agent and/or publisher will think the same!

Of course I've been supremely distracted with Twitter... just another thing to add onto the pile atop Myspace, Facebook, Blogger and whatever the hell else there is! Still, it's fun. I enjoyed Stephen Fry's lift adventure last night - he got stuck! It became very funny when Graham Linehan got in on the action! Very Amusing. Right now Danny Wallace is sticking bananas in a video slot in the waiting room of the Richard and Judy show! Would he be doing this if Twitter did not exist? Who knows?

OK back to work, more later.

Writing Out West

Remembering last year. April. Bannack Ghost Town, Montana. Sunny, but cold and windy and beautiful. Taking a moment to write outside the Meade Hotel on Main Street.

Burying Treasure

Some 41 ancient bodies were discovered by the river Boyne here last week. While digging foundations for a new shopping centre (Like that's really needed) they came across what is believed to be an ancient burial ground dating back 4000 years. You'll no mention of it in any national news.

Work has stalled on the site while the archaeologic excavation goes on. But I can't image it will be halted forever. Begs the question, what's going to happen these bodies? What's going to happen this site? Most likely - the bodies will be moved and the site cemented over and the shopping centre will go ahead as planned. 

When they were building the previous centre down there, Scotch Hall, another ancient site was discovered. Apparently promises were made to preserve the site and display them through glass floors. Never happened. The site are lost. Buried again. Perhaps even destroyed.

That's Ireland Baby, we're concreting our heritage and history to keep up with the Jones' even though we're completely broke. 

I don't get it. I really don't. We have such a rich and ancient culture, that we're still connected to in many ways, that is diverse and unique and beautiful, yet we continue to destroy it. Allowing the complacent politicians, the greedy land owners and the ignorant developers to bulldoze the very soul of this country. 

Right now, the way things are, the last thing we need is another shinny white building full of empty stores selling the same goods and the other 50 stores in the centre next door. What we do need is to remember who we are as a people, where we came from and realise that our routes go much deeper the the flimsy cracked surface of commercialism.

If we're going to bury our past, shouldn't be for more then shopping?

I know it's slightly off the topic of film! And perhaps I'm forcing my own political, social diatribe down your throat dear reader, but it's something I feel strongly about, perhaps something worth doing something about. Perhaps, along with the idea behind Bill, For Short and the factories, there is a bigger story waiting to be told.  

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!

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.