Fairly Mad

We humans are such fickle creatures, aren't we? Well, I am.

Let me tell you about the amazing things that are happening in my life at the moment, the feature I've been working on for 3 years in finally finished and premiered. Not only did it premiere but it was the Closing Night Event at the festival and received and Honourable Mention on the night. So there's that. My short film is screening this week at two film festivals in the States, the Bend Film Festival and the Harlem International Film Festival and has festivals coming up for the rest of this year and into next year. And this blog has been nominated for an Award in the National Blog Awards... so what do I have to be complaining about?!?!

Nothing is the answer to that question.

But for some reason I'm feeling slightly empty. Somewhat bereft. I just lost a project tonight, one I've been going after for a year. I almost had it earlier this year, then it fell through, then there was another chance, but there fell through too, then I thought I could kickstart it, but that fell through too... that was the last ditch effort of a desperate man. So I finally had to say goodbye and passed on it. I was really hoping I'd get the chance to do it, but maybe it wasn't my time, maybe I'm not ready yet.

So there's a painful day coming, the day I see that film on the big screen and my name's not on it. But I'll be glad to see it shine.

I think with the end of Derelict, and the project I was hoping to move onto not happening now, I feel  adrift. In a fog. I'm not sure where I'm going. I'm hoping to hit land. But I don't know if it's going to be today, tomorrow, next month or next year. Or it feels like waiting for a train in an empty station with no dot matrix, no Tannoy and no timetable. I've got no idea when the next train is coming and every minute feels like ten.

I shouldn't moan. I should enjoy the fact that I've nothing to do. While the things I've done are off doing things. But I would much rather be doing things too. Writing. Creating. Drawing. Casting... even, dare I say it, fundraising! Experiencing the thrill of a new project.

There are a couple of ideas, three in fact, none of them are fully developed, but they're ideas I like and would be happy to move onto. But things are in limbo at the moment too. You see I got me green card. So my wife and I are moving to the states in the next 6 to 8 months.

Maybe that's why I'm feeling a bit anxious. I feel like I can't start anything new, or if I do, I can't complete it here. I'll have to leave. Although I guess have-gun-will-travel. I can write and develop anywhere and if I absolutely have to shoot in Ireland I can always come back for a couple of months.

Though I do find that my environment tends to inform the films I make. I'm often inspired, or effected, by my physical surroundings. So maybe I'll get to the states and a new idea, something I never imagined, will land in my head, as has always happened, and that will be my next film.

So maybe I should hold off. Wait. Do nothing. See what comes.

I don't know though. I'm not happy unless I've got a project.

Anyway, I shouldn't write blogs this late at night. It's the mulling hour. I should either be lying in bed thinking about it, not sleeping, or jotting it down in a private journal. But as I've said in the past, it's all part of the journey.

I might announce a new film in the next week or so. It'll be another feature film and it'll be bigger than Derelict, I know that. How much bigger? I'm not sure yet. These three vary. Just comes down to how mad am I?

Fairly mad.

The Morning After.

Sea View

I awoke, not with a sore head, thankfully, but with a view of the sea and a little stuffed toy beside my head (sent in my suitcase by my 2 and half year-old daughter, for luck). I think maybe it did bring me some luck, because the night before, last night, was a success.

We've been building toward this night for a long time, a year since we shot the film, two years since I first set out to make it, and three years since the idea first landed. So yeah, a long time coming.

I spent the day at the festival, arrived early, caught a few short films and sat in on the talk by writer Bernard MacLaverty (Lamb, Cal) which was very interesting and insightful. As a writer I always find it intriguing to get a peak into the process of others, find out what's similar to my own process, what's different. More often than not it is quite similar, and when coming from such a successful writer, encouraging.

I had a couple of hours before my own screening, enough time to allow the nerves to build sufficiently. Spoke to a few filmmakers in attendance. Which is always nice. As an indie filmmaker you're often off on your own island doing your own thing wondering if you not doing it all wrong anyway, so it's nice to hit the mainland and see that there are many others in the same boat, headed in the same direction.

People started to arrive from the film, some of the actors, the crew. It was good to see everyone again. It was something of a reunion, which was nice. Of course I was grabbing snippets of conversation where I could, before someone else would arrive and I'd be pulled off in another direction, which was fine by me, served as a distraction!

I poked my head into the Awards Ceremony, where we got a Honourable Mention, very nice! Thanks for that. Then it was time for the screening. Everyone was ushered into the hall. Dave Byrne, the director of the festival, gave an opening speech and then called me up. I rambled something... kinda forget what?! But an introduction nonetheless, and the screening began.

I was able to finally relax then. Once it was one screen it was at last out of my hands and into the audience's.

With Steve Gunn (Davey-boy), John Lawlor (DOP) and Elaine Reddy (Kate)

Afterwards, there was a positive reaction. Many of the audience members came up to congratulate me, said nice things. The cast were happy. So I was too! Always a worry that you wont have paid homage to the work that was put in, that somehow, in the translation and assembly, something will be lost - I don't think it was, I think everything that happened on set, the energy, the tension, the electricity, went into the lens and came out the other side intact.

So a good night in all. We're on the road now. I'm not sure exactly what is next. I held off on entering festival once the sound got delayed, so I'll start up on that again. Hopefully Derelict has some legs. It will be interesting to see where it goes next.

My thanks again to the cast and crew, first for the talent and work and secondly for their patience! My thanks again to the Underground Cinema Film Festival for holding out for the film, for accepting it, giving it the Closing Night slot and the cherry on the icing on the cake an Honourable Mention! Too kind!!!

Onward...

Thanks.

I started this blog six years ago with a similar post, one about coming to the end of a long journey, and getting ready to go on another. I have finally come to the end of the making of Derelict. After three long years of struggling, to breathe life into it, I've done it with the help of a lot of people and this Sunday I will show the film to a room full of friends and strangers, colleagues and peers, for the first time and finally see if all the work has paid off!

When I started this journey and set out to make Derelict it was supposed to be a small project to do quickly before the birth of my first daughter. My wife was pregnant at the time and I wanted to shoot something quickly, get it out of the way, and just tick along editing it while we welcomed the new addition to our family. Evelyn will be 3 soon.

Things never work out quite as you plan. If I've come to realise one thing in life is that you should always double your estimate and add 100%, and you'll be closer to reality! But perhaps it the naivete and the wishful thinking that allows to make those first foolhardy steps, the ones that there are no turning back from!

I enjoyed (most of) the journey, (most of) the work. There will always be stress, always be moments where you wish you could be anywhere else, wish you'd never started it, but the pain fades, and even if the scars remain, they become badges of honour, that say 'You Survived'.

So I just wanted to say a huge Thank You to everyone involved, all along the way, all the Cast and Crew, for tirelessly giving their passion, talent and energy to the film. To all the donors and funders who gave their hard earned cash to a promise, a hope and a story. To my family, who have always supported me and never told me to "get a real job" and to my Wife, who has suffered along side me every step of the way, made sacrifices along side my, worried for me, prayed for me, stood back and pushed me forward, I couldn't have done it without her, without any of these people.

Now, I better go before I start getting all misty eyed! But I'll say this, whatever happens with the film, if it's success or not, loved or hated, I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I had the chance to work with and meet all these people because of it. Here's to many more!

Much Love x

Honoured.

Just a quick one before bed. This old blog of mine has been Shortlisted for the Arts & Culutre Award in the Blog Awards Ireland! Which I'm very excited and honoured by!!!

A nice end to a very nice day, spent in Dun Laoghaire at the Mountain to Sea Book Festival, hanging out with Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, which was nice.

With Philip Reeve
(Photo by Sarah McIntyre)

There Is A Film At The End Of This

I promise, there is a film at the end of all this.

I got an email from Michael Bates, who plays J in Derelict, the other day, just to confirm he was coming to the premiere. I realised I hadn't been in touch with Michael very much over the past few months, and since Derelict was shot he's been off doing a bunch of other stuff - several plays, a couple of other films, as have all the cast in fact and I've been here, sitting where I am now, for a year, millimeter by millimeter, crawling my way to the end of this film... and I'm still not there yet!

Right now, we're looking at the sound again. Starting from scratch really, one week from the Premiere! You'd think I liked stress! Rocci Barrett is on board to put a basic mix together for the screening. I think I mentioned this before, unfortunately it wont be where I want it, especially for the world premiere, but dem's the breaks! It'll be good, and had I not mentioned it I don't think anyone would notice. But we will have to open the film up again and go back in to build the sound scape I was after, which of course means more time, and more money.

When you set out on these things, no matter how many times you've been through it, it's always a surprise how long it takes, especially when you're working on low, and no, budget with no real financial support. I'm sure when there's money there, and you can pay professionals to do the job right and get it done when they say they're going to get it done, it doesn't take years. Which this has, three years!

So I've been banging on about this film for three years now. I'm sure everyone is fed up of hearing about it. It's probably gotten to the stage were people are are thinking, "I don't even want to see it anymore!" (hopefully not though!) Believe me, I'd rather be finished. I'd rather it was out and I was onto the next project. But it has to be finished, and it has to be finished right, to honour the work everyone has put in and to honour the film itself.

If you're a first time filmmaker and you're reading this, getting ready to set out on your first film, I would suggest you ignore what I've just said, erase it from your mind. Because if you think that the film you want to shoot next week and have out in three months is actually going to take you three or four years, you may change you mind and not make it. But you have to make it. You have to go on this journey. Because you will learn so much.

It wont just be about the film, but the journey you will take. For a while, it will define you, and shape your life. But that's what life is all about, the unexpectedness of it all! Enjoy it. Take every ounce with an open mind and a passionate heart and be true to the vision you had in the beginning. If it's enough to see you through many years more than you thought it would, then maybe it's strong enough to see you through many more to come, maybe it's strong enough to succeed. And even if this one doesn't, now you know you have the stamina it takes to endure. Because the bigger things get, the more you will have to endure, and you need to know you can handle it.

At least, after all I've had to do and put up with, I know that much.

September 16th, Dun Loaghaire, Royal Marine Hotel, 9pm, come and see what I've been banging on about for 3 years! It's a little film called Derelict, made for not much money over a long period of time and I'm quite proud of it.

The Magic Number

This week I've been trying to shrink 30 pages of script to 15 pages, without losing anything and ending on the very same moment, having conveyed ever plot point, character introduction and moment of emotion that I had in the 30 page version. It was a little tricky.

I entered a screenwriting contest, where contestants were asked to write the first 15 pages of a script based on a logline, which was written by famed Hollywood writer Susanah Grant (Erin Brockovich, In Her Shoes, The Soloist). The logline read: "A New England Matriarch with a week left to live pledges her entire fortune to whoever in her small town fulfills her dying wish."

So that was the first challenge, find a story I wanted to tell based on that logline. It came pretty quick and ran with the first idea I had. I wanted to do a Christmas Carol / It's a Wonderful Life / The Bishops Wife type of story (strangely though, mine's not set at Christmas... and now that I think of it, there's a play mentioned in my script which is also set at Christmas... maybe i need to rethink that?!)

My character Ethel is a rich old recluse who doesn't like her family very much. She finds out she has a week left to live, but has yet to complete her will and doesn't know who to leave her fortune to. A stranger arrives on a bus to help her make up her mind.

The 15 pages I wrote ended up being 30 pages long. I wanted to end on a moment, the moment where she herself realises what she's going to do (we the reader don't know yet, but that'd OK, by page 15 the idea is that we want to find out) Within those 30 page were also all the main characters, the town, the family and lots of little moments I didn't want to lose, little plot points and character development.

So, the editing begins. I start the usual way, trimming the fat. Anything floral, overly descriptive, indulgent. Scripts should only ever be sight and sound, what you see and hear on screen. It's tempting to get into the prose, but pointless. So that pulled it down a couple of pages. Then I restructured a couple of scenes. Trimmed a couple more. That brought it down another 2 pages. But we're still at 26 with 11 more to go... no idea how I'm going to do this.

I stepped away from it for about a week and then came back with the intension of only keeping what was absolutely necessary to the story. By doing that I was able to drop a lot of small scenes, and a lot of dialogue. Show don't tell is another phrase that popped into my mind, and the idea that this is a movie, not television, so it should be more about tone, movement, less dialogue driven scenes, less exposition. By doing that I was able to imagine what was on the screen, not what was coming out of people's mouths, and I realised I could communicate a lot more much more efficiently.

I also discovered I was repeating myself a lot. I had several scenes I liked, interplay between characters, but I realised both scenes were communicating the same message, I had already said this. I decided which scene didn't need to be there, doing that required some restructuring again, but it began to flow at better.

Then I decided to hold off on some revelations, that gave it dramatic impact. So I didn't need the scene of the old woman finding out she was dying, I was able to let the audience find out the same time her family does. So I'm not repeating the same piece of information, and you get the double impact of finding out she's dying and seeing the family reaction. The emotions are concentrated and so more powerful.

I brushed through it again for bad dialogue, more exposition and clichés, of which there were many. I also looked at the page structure, how the words sat on the page, and asked myself if I could end each page on a moment that made the reader want to turn? Could I end the page where a scene ended? More often than not this was possible, it makes for a more enjoyable read and it tightens the screenplay.

So, once all that was done the magic number appeared at the bottom of my screen, 15. And when I looked I found the page ended right at the bottom of 15. I had done it! Nice feeling!

So I'll send it off, no idea how well I'll do, but if you're not in you can't win. And even if I don't place, I've learned a bit and I've kept the cogs oiled, and that's never a bad thing.

Look What Came In The Post

Quiet enough couple of weeks, though there has been plenty to keep me busy. I entered a script competition to write 15 pages based on a random logline, so been working on that. I think I got it to where I want it to be, storywise anyway, and it ends on the right note. Trouble is, my 15 pages are 30 pages long! Got some editing to do.

Still working on Derelict. The sound has yet to be complete. Ran into some delays, more complicated than we thought, so we still have a lot of work left to do. We're aiming for a basic mix for the premiere, which is unfortunate and frustrating, but can't be helped. I think it'll sound fine, but it wont be the mix I wanted, or will eventually have. We'll go back in after to premiere and give it the full treatment.

But we'll be down to the wire, Rocci Barrett has stepped in at the 11th hour to help and complete the mix. But he's away on his holliers right now! He'll come back and put five days in. Hand me the sound on the 11th. I'll give it to the Element on the 12th. They'll have it for a day. I'll most likely get it back on the 14th. Screening is on the 16th! Oh well, it's not unusual, same thing happened on Emily's Song, that was down to the wire every step of the way! One screening we showed up with the finished film in our hands and gave it to the projectionist as the audience gathered! Wouldn't recommend it! Not good for the blood pressure... though beer tastes a whole lot better after the screening!

Premier Poster - Large

Posters arrived, they look fantastic! Very happy with how they turned out. Decent quality. At €20 each I could only afford 2 of the large posters, so hopefully they don't get robbed! I may very well have to raise some more funding for the film to finish it. Among other things, distribution, festivals, entry fees, tapes. I just discovered to get the film put onto HDCAM, which a lot of festivals are looking for these days, is going to cost me €450!!! Jaysus Lads!!!

Small Poster - Original Design

I went after the Film Board for €5000 and they said no, I thought I could do without and figure another way round, but as it happens, that's the amount I'm going to need to get it finished and get it out! It's an expensive game this filmmaking lark!

The Premiere is approaching fast! Three weeks on Sunday! TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE! Please come along!!! Say hello if you're there. I'll be there with the cast and crew. It's also the closing night of the festival so there's going to be one hell of a party afterwards!

'Raise My Hands' is continuing it's run, we are screening as part of the Harlem International Film Festival, the week after the Derelict Premiere, Sep 19 to 23. Wish I could go, Harlem sounds like fun!

Not much else going at the moment. All is quiet. Making plans for the move.

Going Underground

Going Underground

Some great news yesterday, Derelict has found it's World Premiere. It will screen as the Closing Night Film at the third annual Underground Cinema Film Festival, which takes place September 13 to 16 in Dun Loaghaire.

This is a young festival, that has been building momentum since it began. Founded by Dave Byrne in 2009, the festival supports the Irish New Wave of filmmakers. My peers. The people out there chipping away, trying to make their movies, against all the odds, and largely succeeding.

It's great there's a place that supports us, encourages us and celebrates our work. So I can't think of a better place for Derelict to have its World Premiere.

The film is nearing completion... yes, I know I keep saying that! But I promise it is. Turns out the sound edit was a much larger job than we first though. Chris is doing a great job, but as you can imagine, doing it on his own, during his spare time between his day job and gigging as a DJ, it's a tall order. But fair play to him, he's getting it done.

A couple of people got to see a preview of the unfinished film. So far the reaction has been very positive. One person had this to say:

"Damn fine work... fresh, potent and raw, it is powerhouse cinema..."

Terry McMahon - Director of Charlie Casanova.

Thanks Terry. I appreciate Terry's words, because it was a letter he wrote on his website, a personal declaration that basically said "To hell with this, I'm making a fucking movie and no one's going to stop me..." (paraphrasing) that inspired me to do the same.

Emmett Scanlan as Charlie Casonova and Director Terry McMahon.

So I stopped messing around and set out to make Derelict. Now I'm not as experienced as Terry, as educated in film and I'm not as well connected. So it took me a little longer! In the meantime Charlie has come out, been hugely successful and caused a shit storm in Ireland, second to none. It's really shaken things up, maybe even changed things - for the better I would say. I doubt I'm going to be as successful, or shake things up nearly as much, if at all, but if I make a tenth of the mark Terry's film did I'll be happy.

Nominated

In other news - You might have noticed a new badge over to the right --> Yup, this blog, on the go 6 years now, is on the long list of nominations for Best Blog in the Arts and Culture Section of the Blog Awards Ireland!!! Extremely flattered, honoured and excited about that! (I didn't think anyone read this blog ;) I may or may not go any further, but it's still very nice to be recognised! Thank you!

Hands Up

Raise My Hands has screened at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard as part of the Hollyshorts Film Festival (see previous blog). Elliot Kotek (writer/producer) said they did a fantastic job on the projection and that the film was well recieved, great to hear! Wish I could have been there.

This also arrived in the post. Nice to get something like this, most festival don't do it. But it's nice to have a little momento. I like the line "We believe you have a potential for success and will make a great contribution to the film community." Very nice of them to say so, I hope I can!

Certificate of Nomination - Tokyo Short Shorts International Film Festival.

BBC Baby!

Lastly, the piece I did for Michael Woods The Great British Story: A People's History, was included in the show, which you can watch on BBC iPlayer if you're in the UK (and if not, you can download Tunnelbear to watch it, if you're so inclined) My piece is 48' in, it's the piece about Drogheda and Cromwell. I loved doing it. It was lovely to be asked. My thanks to Michael Wood and Rebecca Dobbs for finding me and allowing me to be a small part of a great show.

Article in the Drogheda Leader Newspaper

Addition - The full interview for the above article:
Interview by Ian Watters at the Drogheda Leader.

How did you come to be involved in the doing the piece for the series?

The producer of the series, Rebecca Dobbs, saw a simple clip I posted on youtube a few years ago of the view crossing the viaduct by train. She really liked it, did a little research, discovered more of my work and got in touch. It was quite a last minute thing, they were editing the series and I think realised they had no footage of Drogheda, quite a significant town in the story of Oliver Cromwell, so they asked me to go out the next day and get the footage to them in four days. Tall order, but I was able to do it.

What topic were you asked to film for it?

The series is called 'The Great British Story: A People's History' and it looks back athrough history from the people's point of view, and how people today know history and the stories they recite. So they asked me to find out what the people of Drogheda think about Oliver Cromwell and the massacre that happened here.

When did you film it and where?

I filmed it in June and I shot all over the centre of town, they were mostly interested in what people had to say but also asked me to film shots of the town to get a sense of the place. So I filmed around Millmount, West St. and shot as many of the local monument around town as I could.

Did you have much contact with the makers about it and did you meet or speak with Michael Wood?

I didn't meet Michael Wood unfortunately, I dealt mainly with the producer, though there was one phone conversation where he was in the room relaying information to her across a desk, which was quite funny. I'm a great admirer of his work, in fact I had recently bought a book of his while researching a different project. So it was an honour to be involved in one of his films, even in such a small capacity.

This series is about exploring the United Kingdom's past from the perspective of ordinary people. How did you go about finding these ordinary people for your piece?

Camera in hand I walked the streets. It was surprisingly difficult to get people to talk actually, I guess people get shy once they see the camera. They're happy to talk off camera, then when I switched it on they would run! But I got some good interviews in the end. I also spoke to Some people at the Millmount, Margaret Clinton and Liam Riley, who were extremely helpful. 

How long did it take you to film and how many people did you interview?

It was three days of filmming and I spoke to just 6 people - Tommy Winters, Johnny Thornton, Wendy Tinsley, Declan McCromack amd the affore mentioned Margaret Clinton and Liam Riley. 

Was it difficult to get people to speak openly with you about the topic? 

Once I got people talking no not at all, and people were quite articulate and educated on the subject, which was great. I had such a short period of time to do it in though, I wish I could have spoken to more people.

Will you be doing any more such work for the BBC?

I hope so, I'd certainly like to, it was extremely enjoyable. They were happy with what I gave them and used quite a bit of the footage. So, you never know.

Hands in Cement

Just back from a great, if not somewhat unexpected, trip to Boston. I say unexpected because my US visa came through, and because some forms I needed took so long, some other forms previously acquired and submitted were about to expire, which only left me five days to get over there to activate it! So I got my visa last Wednesday and flew to Boston on Thursday! Everything worked out and we made the most of the trip, Boston's a great town.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Meantime, Raise My Hands continues to ride high on the festival circuit. Screening this week as part of the Hollyshorts Film Festival. And to add to the honour, we're screening in Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the most famous movie theatre in the world (the one with all the famous hand and feet prints out front.) Very excited about that.

Jimmy Stewart - My personal hero.
(Sid was Sid Grauman, founder of the theatres.)

The first time I ever went to Hollywood, which was in 1998 actually, it was probably the first stop I made. I wanted to see the hand prints, in particular Jimmy Stewart, who I has always been my favourite actor. I don't remember if my hands were the same size or not! I also compared my my hands to that of Clint Eastwood, never imagined the same hand would appear in a short film I was involved in years later. Funny how these little things come round.

Close To The Summit

I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks, been up to my eyeballs with US Visa stuff, which has been a head melt, but is now, hopefully, sorted. Meantime - - the lads at the Element have bee work tirelessly on Derelict and I'm happy to report that I signed off on the grade today!!! HURRAY!!!

Final Checks on the Grade at Element today in Dublin
(Have to admit I changed the image, it was only afterwards I realised it was the last shot in the film that was up! Idiot!)

Film looks great. Very happy with it. I left with a large smile today. Had some time to kill so grabbed a coffee in the National Gallery, where I made an entry into my notebook, last page, which was fitting considering the first page was also Derelict! Back during inception, when the idea was forming. Now, the reality is almost complete. This thursday I meet Chris O'Grady to finally hear the sound mix. Hopefully there wont be too much left. I'm looking forward to getting it done and getting it out. But the summit of the mountain is in view, at very long last!

Raise My Hands is still riding high on the festival circuit. Official Selection at the Hollyshorts Film Festival in Los Angeles in August, and we get to screen in the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is pretty cool, quite a historic place! That's the one with all the movie stars hand and foot prints in the cement out front! So I'm excited about that.

From the notebook:

The sketch is what the first location looked liked.
It was to be more Experimental, but we ended up
going more traditional.

Most of the names changed,
Tony became J, Joe became Daniel
Ed became Tone, Smithy became Davey-boy
(and turned into J's brother)
Sandra became Kate Laurence stayed the same
and Son Andrew became Daughter Louise.

Shadows and Whispers

Parts 10 & 11 of my ongoing horror/suspense/fantasy/adventure/whatever it is - story! 

Part 10: Knocking on Doors.

In the sky the murder swarms.

Beth paces. Tony watches through the binoculars. He sees the three stop at the tree line. The murder circle above them.

"What's happening?"

"They're coming... wait... they've stopped."

Beth approaches the window.

"Why?"

"I think they're hiding from the crows."

"Let me see."

Beth takes the binocluars and finds them. Above them hundreds of crows begin to land on the trees.

"What are they waiting for?"

Then, a distance away, on the other side of the trees the giant crow flies into the air. Beth gasps and backs away form the window. Tony doesn't need to ask why. He can see the giant bird.

"Look at the size of that thing!"

Making the Grade

I was at the Element today with john Lawlor (Derelict DOP) to look at the grade. Alan Foley was the man with at the wheel, he did a fantastic job, film looked great and my nots were minor. Over all I was very happy. Looks as I imagined it. So I can't really ask for more... well, just a tiny bit more!


Sound is ready for my to listen to, so looking forward to that. Then we'll be ready to put the two together and finish the job I started two and half years ago! These things always take a lot longer then planned! And I say finished - finished one part, begin another,  that may take up just as much time!


Here's a track from the film's sound track, by Dermot O'Mahony, for your listen pleasure.


Meantime, I've been throwing out a stream of consciousness story on facebook, as you may have seen below. It's been fun. I enjoy writing it. Helps me relax. I have no idea where it's going. I don't even know if it makes sense at the moment, probably not yet. I think it needs to get going and I need to start explaining a few things... I will when I figure those things out! It's been fun just throwing it up there, I would usually write this way, but this would be the draft no one would see, the first draft, that would be rewritten and rewritten. But you know, life's too short. And I don't expect anyone would ever publish this stuff anyway, or fund my films, so I just have to do it for myself, share it, and maybe one or two people read it, see it and enjoy it.


Anyway, here's the next part:


Part 9: Another.

Huddled among the trees. They speak in whispers.

Night Is Near.

I've been writing a daily story over on my facebook page the last few days, quite enjoying making it up day to day. No idea where it's going, which is part of the fun. People seem to be enjoying it, so thought I'd throw it up here for those who aren't friends on FB. Each day is a new part. As a blog bonus I've included Part 5 here first! 


See what you think:


Night is near. There is a storm coming. A dull muffled crack sounds above the clouds. The power is out. Prayer is all that's left. In the distance he stands. Waiting for dark. 

Night is near. And there is a storm coming.


Part 2:

John stands outside his house. Watching the fading light over the distant hills. The street lights are out. With the cloud darkness comes all too quickly. The warm light from candles and a fire calls him in. Church bells ring out. Father Landy? What is he doing? No one's going to mass tonight. Everyone knows what's coming. Still the church bells ring. Jack gets his coat.

"I'm going out." His wife steps into the hallway from the kitchen.
"You can't."
"Just to the church, see what Father Landy is up to."
"John, don't. Wait till morning. Please."
"I'll be back in 20 minutes, don't worry. Keep the door closed, OK?"
"Be careful."

John takes a gun from inside his coat and checks the clip. Puts it back.

"I always am. Look, I wont be long. I promise."
"I'll watch for you."

They kiss. He leaves.

Day 1

The last of the projects I've been working on over the last three years fell through yesterday. I guess it was a long time coming really, I just finally accept defeat. So everything has come up empty, a ton of shorts, TV show ideas, feature film scripts. I still have Derelict on the way of course. But nothing for the future. I had two main projects I had hoped to continue with, Iscariot, which I was working on with my old writing partner, Thomas Kennedy, but after three years of writing endless treatments and beat sheets and going around in dizzying circles to the point where we had no idea what we were writing anymore, we realised that it was going nowhere and so stopped.

The main project, which fell through yesterday, was a book by one of my favourite authors. The opportunity came up to buy the film option, so I went for it with gusto and very nearly had it. But it just proved to be too much money at the wrong time. I was loathed to let it go, but I had no choice. So, for the first time since I started trying to make films I have a clean slate. I'm at square one again.

I must admit I've been feeling pretty low about it the last couple of weeks. I'm sure if you read my rant below you'll know it began with a great deal of anger and resentment. Then came despondency and the feeling that I wanted to quit. But I knew I wouldn't. I have decided not to keep trying in Ireland. It's just proven futile. It's a small place and it seems all positions have been filled. But that's OK. I'm hoping to move soon anyway. Yesterday I felt pretty miserable. Writing the email to the author was hard. I had been working on the project for almost a year, and even though I didn't have the rights, I was reading the book over and over, making notes, making plans, drafting in people, researching, and all the things you do at the start of a project.

I could have gone through with it, if I could have had a guarantee of development funding from somewhere. The Film Board expressed an interest and encouraged me to apply, saying they like to reward this kind of effort, but they have proved that they can't be relied upon. I just couldn't trust them enough to take the risk and I wasn't sure where else that kind of money would come from. A friend of mine, long in the film industry, said an interesting thing to me after the IFB rejected Derelict, "It doesn't take much to encourage", it's true, had they even given me one fifth of the small amount I was asking for I'd be in a very different frame of mind, and situation, right now. But there you have it, nothing to be done.

So, I hit send and sunk into a deep depression... well, that is to say, I moped around for the rest of the day! My wife was very nice to me, cooked a nice meal, bought me some nice beer, said I could watch whatever I wanted on TV, bathed our daughter and put her to bed, all while I was moping around down stairs. I watched Grand Designs, it was one I hadn't seen before, so that cheered me up and I went to bed in better form. A thought had started to form.

Then this morning I woke up to a lovely email from the author, understanding and encouraging, as ever, as he has been through this entire process. He has always had my back, which was lovely coming from someone I admire so much. I felt the somber mood lift quite quickly then and I was left with the realisation that - I'm free. I am no longer tied to anything. For the first time since I sat out to make films ten years ago I have a clean slate. I can go make whatever the hell I want.

So this is Day 1.

From here on out I'm starting anew. The last ten years has been film school. I'm walking out the front gates a graduate of life lessons. Derelict was my theses film and now I'm starting my career proper. No more bullshit. No more relying on other people. If  I've learned one thing over the past decade it's that, you can only rely on yourself. People just get in the way, stall and stop you. So I'm going it alone, I'm producing my own stuff, as I always have, but most definitely and defiantly from now on. I think what's held me back in the past is my reliance on other people, or the thought that I needed other people to open certain doors for me. I've proven, to myself, I don't need other people. I can open my own doors.

So I'm feeling good about it. Excited. I feel like I did when I started, like anything was possible and no one was going to stop me. Of course, back then, I was green, I needed help and so asked the wrong people and allowed them to stop me. No more. I have ten years experience. I have six films under my belt. And I know a little bit more about the world.

Pushing Hands.

Raise My Hands has a busy June, with screenings at the Maui Film Festival, the San Francisco Black Film Festival and currently at the Short Shorts Film Festival Asia in Tokyo, with a screening just passed and two more to come - on the 23rd and the 28th.

Elliot Kotek truly is the man behind this little film, while based on Scott McDermott's incredible idea and images, Elliot was the driving force behind the project as in film form, and has remained so for over two years, even when I thought any chance of it getting out there was lost, he was the brave one who said "To hell with the rules - Let's send it."

The idea for the film came after I'd seen Scott's exhibition and it reminded me of an idea for a documentary I once had to only filming hands and tell the story of the persons life while watching the hands - so say - a midwife's hands - "these hands have brought a thousand babies into the world" - that kind of thing. I mentioned this to Elliot and he suggested asking Scott about it, I had grand ideas of getting the stellar cast back together for a live shoot... eh! Yeah right! Elliot suggested just using the photos to create a montage.

If I remember correctly I suggested Elliot writing a piece for it, as he is a poet, and he and a female narrate over the images. So he went off an did that, sent me a beautiful poem with two recordings of himself and Celia Amandaz-Fox and I cut the film together against a stunning track form Dermot O'Mahony, who has scored my last 4 films and is a genius!

Elliot's poem talked about the people on the screen. So my challenge was to connect them to Mandela, to find a through line that would also tell Mandela's own story. I always had the idea of moving the photos around the screen, pulling in and out, cropping them, creating abstract shapes, to give movement. Then I landed on the idea of using titles on the screen, which was graphically interest but allowed me to solve my problem, to find the connection, and so I picked certain words in the poem that also touched on aspects of Mandela's life, hinting at a history before seeing the man.

Quincy Jones
Image Copyright Scott McDermott © 2012

I'm proud of this film. I'm glad I was a part of it. And I'm thrilled it's been seen around the world, thanks to Mr. Kotek's dedication. I'm going to take a leaf out of his book for my next film.

Looking for Balance

The Original 'Fawlty Towers' rejcetion letter -
Sometimes, the people in the know - Don't know shit!

Yes, trying to find some balance. The scale has certainly been tipped one particular way for a very long time. How to remain hopeful when the odds are stacked against you is our eternal struggle, isn't it? Everyone's going through it. So I can't expect things to change just because for me, I don't, I just hit a wall last week. I'm still leaning up against it, catching my breath having slammed into it. The thing about hitting a wall is it forces you stop, think and reevaluate, maybe even change direction. New strategies are needed. A new plan of attack. A new line of defense. Time to regroup.

What I have been reminded of though is the amount of good will out there and the amount of people behind me, pushing me on, wishing me well. I had a huge, and very encouraging, response to my outburst. A lot of people reminding me that they're on my side and have belief in me. Which is very nice to know.

It reminded me too of the amount of support I've had here in Drogheda too, my hometown. From family, friends, the community, the local newspapers and radio station, the council and arts organisations, both Create Louth and the Arts Centre. And a lot of individuals who can always be relied upon to show up at fundraising events, even if just for five minutes to push a twenty or a fifty into my hand and wish me luck. I can't, nor should I, stay grumpy for too long knowing that that kind of support has followed me. And I am eternally grateful to all those people.

I would say to any filmmaker starting out, first look to your local community, the list mentioned above, friends, family, local council, arts funding, community fundrasiers. Let the local media know you're out there doing stuff. Don't get to bogged down in the national stuff, by all means apply, but don't rely. Keep moving forward and prepare for disappointment and frustration, it's all part of the game. At some point you will feel like quitting. But if you love film enough, that feeling wont last long and you'll be on to your next project, reinvigorated and raring to go.

One film I had hoped to make was a werewolf film. An old school monster movie, set over three nights about a group of people thrown together and trying to survive the weekend. It cheers me up every time I'm feeling down. The script is about 6 years old, so it's been in my head a long time, and because it's set in my hometown I have it visualised to no end. Every angle. Every set piece. And when I'm feeling a bit down I go for a walk to all the locations and I visualise the action and it makes me very happy indeed. Nothing like visualising giant wolves tearing people apart to make you feel better :)

For know, I'll lick my wounds a little longer. Get up off the wall. Climb back up the hill and see if I can find another way in. Write a few scripts. Shoot a few indies.

Film is Dead. Long Live Film.

Change is in the air. It has been for a while. But in the whirl wind it was hard to see how thinks might be after the storm. Now things are starting to land and a reshaped landscape is beginning to emerge.

For a start; fans are now financing films. They're cutting out the middle men. They're cutting out the bullshit. They're taking film back. Seeing it as art once again, rather than a business. The people who have stood in the way, as the authority, are being side stepped and we, the artists, are going straight to our audience, with help from our audience and they're saying 'Yay' or 'Nay' with their credit cards. Up front and in person.

Kickstarter, and websites like it, have exploded and have, perhaps unexpectedly, changed how we do things. Just as the internet did. Just as digital technology did. It's incredibly exciting. Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) is even on Kickstarter for his new film 'The Canyons', written by Bret Easton Ellis (writer of American Psycho). He has described this moment as "how film was a hundred years ago." It's a new frontier, and we're inventing as we go. The old ways are fading. The dinosaurs are dying out. A new species is taking over. One that's online, and independent.

No one really knows how things are going to pan out. How the landscape will look next year, let alone in two, five or ten years. We know it will be different. Perhaps completely different.  With new ways of doing things and different platforms for making and selling different kinds of films. Maybe we will be able to co-exist. Instead of all chasing the same dream and going after the same money and opportunities as everyone else, taking the bus to Hollywood, so to speak, we'll be able to realise fully our own dreams and create our own opportunities. Having to go no further then our computer and our online community.

I posted the link to Schrader's Kickstarter campaign on facebook and a friend said he didn't like it, he thought it took away from the little guy - I disagree. I think people like Schrader realise the potential and see the future. They're aware things are changing and they're joining the charge.

Schrader especially is a filmmaker who has always been on the outside, on the art side, out on a limb and I imagine someone who still struggles to get his films made, even though he's responsible for some of the most important and groundbreaking films in Hollywood, the afore mentioned among them. So he, like many I'm sure, can see that going down this route cuts out the middle men, the suits, the people in glass towers trying to make their jobs mean something, those who delay scripts for years and years eventually killing them, just because the keep wanting to have their say. When really they should just shut the fuck up and let the filmmaker be a filmmaker and make a fucking film once in a while.

As I said, Kickstarter puts the power back into the hands of the filmmaker. It's goes from the filmmaker to the audience, directly, and it's the audience who are paying for the film, up front, because they believe in the artist or the film or both and want to support them. And I don't think it's even about the perks. A lot of people who have donated to me just want to see the film get made, regardless of whether or not they get a signed poster or DVD. They're inspired to help, the be a part of something. There seems to be a hunger for it, so rather than be handed a fast food version of a movie and told by some executive in LA this is what they're supposed to like, they're say 'No, that's not what I want,' and they're choosing to help make what they really want instead.

And I don't think that the likes of Paul Schrader stepping into the realm of Kickstarter will take away from the smaller filmmakers either. The little guy, me for example, I fundraise within my own social network. The hundreds or thousands of people who are friends on facebook, follow me on twitter and are in my inbox. Some might be lucky and reach outside that. But generally I think we smaller filmmakers stay within our own circles. The people who give do so because they believe in me and my project. They want to see me do well. The want to support that. It's goodwill, and being on the independent side of filmmaking, I've come to realise there is actually a lot of goodwill out there!

I love seeing projects making, or far exceeding, their goals on Kickstarter, even if they are by well known artists, check out Amanda Palmers recent drive! Amazing! She wanted $100,000, alot to ask, but she got it - plus a Million on top! I love it! It shows there's a hunger out there for unique films, not the homogenised studio system drivel made to look and sound like every other movie out there. It's not to make money, not to cash in on a sequel, prequel or remake with some empty effects driven piece of junk food, it's to see something new and original.

People love good stories well told. Somewhere along the line they stopped allowing a certain kind of story to be told, or maybe a certain kind of storyteller to speak. But a new door has opened and the storytellers are finding their way back. I think we're entering a new age of film. I think we're going to see braver films get made from now on. And I for one, am very exited it's happening and even more excited to be a part of it.

Film is Dead. Long Live Film.

Official Trailer

Here at last, is a glimpse at the film, with the first Official Trailer.

I cut this one myself. Though I hope to have another, longer, trailer cut when the film is complete, with full grade and sound mix. But in the meantime, I wanted people to have a little look. It's been a long time coming! Hope you enjoy.

You can also find a HD version of the trailer on Vimeo.

A Light in the Dark

I watched 'The Artist' tonight. I thought it was a lovely film, beautifully crafted and performed. And I loved the fact that I was watching a black and white silent picture in 4:3 format made in 2011! A very sweet Hollywood love story, both within the film and to Hollywood, a Hollywood that is long gone (except for the occasional gem like this).

It evoked a feeling in me, one that I haven't felt in years, from before I ever made a film. The last time I had that feeling was on a VIP tour of the Warner Bros. studio back-lot in 2001, I think. Seeing the sets and backdrops to many of my favourite films, and knowing so many more were filmed there, and so many legends of the screen walked and worked among those buildings.

I guess it was a feeling of nostalgia, a reminder of when and why I fell in love with movies. The same feeling I had when I was a kid and dreamed of one day being a part of that. And I do mean Hollywood, a part of the linage that brought Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, John Ford, Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, The Searchers, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Harvey. A naive sense of a dream I had to make a certain kind of movie.

I think 'The Artist' reminded me that films like that can still be made. That there's still a tradition there and although everything around us is changing at blinding speed, there is still room to tell a story, a good story and to take your time with it. I feel like I've been rushing too much. Scrambling to make something, anything, and not taking the time to think, breathe, write, draw and remember why I fell in love with films, and know it's alright to do that.

I think what I should do, what I'm going to do, is stop rushing and panicking and jumping on everything that comes along just to get something done. I'm going to finish 'Derelict' and then take some time to figure out what the next step is, and make sure it's the right one for me, for the me who fell in love with movies all those years ago. I need to remember, and keep hold of that memory. That's my light in the dark.

An Open Door.

'Raise My Hands' has been selected by the Maui Film Festival (I hope they fly filmmakers in!) which is very nice! Certainly seems to be going well. Mores festivals to come. Elliot (producer) has been great with this film, he's pushed and pushed and pushed and never given up on it. I had all but, until we got into our first festival. You really do have to get behind your films, I've said it time and time again, if you don't shout about them, no one will.

My problem is that I'm onto the next one, when I finish a film, I mean finish shooting, I'm usually writing something else right away and before the edit is finished I'm thinking about being on set again (how easily we forget the pain!) Right now, while finishing Derelict, I'm thinking about what's next. Circumstance are against me at the moment to be shooting anytime soon. But hopefully not for too much longer.

I may have used this analogy before, but it still stands - I find when I'm working on a project it's as if I'm locked in a dark room on my own, hunched over a table and concentrating so hard I forget about the outside world for a time. Then I'm finished, I look up, stretch, realise how dark it is and I open the door. When I do a gust of wind blows in and kicks up all my ideas, and the all float around me. I grab at them, but I can't hold onto one for long, I have to wait for them to land and for that one idea to land on my desk, the one that's going to make close the door, turn off all lights, all but for my desk lamp, and sit down again. At the moment the door is wide open and the papers are blowing everywhere. I have one project I have to wait until August to see if comes together, if it does, that's the next one. Meantime, while doubt lingers, I two ideas I'd love to get going. But again, circumstance, everything' a bit up in the air at the moment. Sorry, I'm being vague here! Annoying!

I'm still trying to finish Derelict obviously, we're close. We have a new sound designer on board, Christopher O'Grady, delighted to have him join the team. I'll be bring the footage up the The Element next week to finally start there. So we're almost there. It's exciting. We also have an editor on the trailer, Mark Rodway, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing that and releasing it! Finally giving people a taste of what I've been waffling about for the last two years!

I need to get creative about getting the film out there. I've entered it into a few festivals already, but a lot of the festivals I want to enter are expensive, between $50 and $100, and it adds up pretty quickly - and deadlines are fast approaching. I applied to the Irish Film Board for help, but they refused. I hit kickstarter at the start of the project, so I'd feel bad doing it again! It might be an option, but I'm not sure yet. So, yeah, I need to get creative... or maybe I just need to get a job, to supplement my film habit!

But it'll come together. I'm sure of it. What I'm looking forward to now is finishing and showing people, in particular the Cast and Crew who've been waiting so patiently. Then we'll see what the rest of the world thinks!

Right, I'm signing off. Feeling a little ill tonight. Perhaps why this post is a bit messy! More soon.

Row Row.

Depression is not something I deal with daily, though it occasionally creeps up on me. I know people who do suffer daily, and I see the battle it is. I feel lucky I don't have to go through it anymore. These people are the bravest people I know. Having suffered from it in the past, I know how hard it is to get up each day, plaster on a smile for the world outside and conjure up enough energy to lie your way through the day. Those people are my heros.

I went through a prolonged bought of depression about 10 years ago, over a period of two and a half years. During that time I cried a lot, drank a lot and considered suicide at least once a week. What got me through? I wish I could say family, but I kept it a secret from them. Friends, those who knew. But it was writing and film that kept me going. Some times as a distraction, but always as a goal, a light at the end of the tunnel.

For those two and half years I wasn't the most pleasant of people, I could be grumpy, sometimes arrogant, certainly selfish and I was not the best version of myself. I lost some friends during that period. One or two I stay in touch with and still consider good friends. But I know those friendships bare some scar tissue as a result of some of my behavior. It wasn't all bad. But I was going in seven different directions and I know I left some heads spinning.

During that time I met Thomas Kennedy, who became my writing partner, my mentor, teacher, friend and confidant. I was able to talk to him. Laugh with him. And create with him. We worked on a lot of stuff over those couple of years, good stuff, and it gave me hope. Of course, I was pushy and arrogant and wanted everything NOW! I wanted THE WORLD, Thomas just wanted to make a short film. So we took the easier option... well, as anyone whose set out to make their first film will know, not that much easier! But we got there, we made the film and at the end of it I not only came away with a pretty decent film, but something I had not had in a long time, a feeling of self worth.

I was still a little bit arrogant, I thought the golden gates would open and producers and studios would be banging down our door to make TV shows and feature films... didn't happen! It was two years before I made another film and that was a no-budget doc I shot over a weekend! But the depression had gone. I was thinking clearly. I could see straight. I had a goal and a clear path in front of me.

That's not to say depression didn't creep up from time to time and stop me in my tracks, send my down some dark path into swamp and mire. I'd find my way out quick enough, but during these time I would always find myself browsing the shelves of a local DVD rental shop. During the two and a half years almost every night I would leave the apartment and head down to the local xtra-vision, which stayed open till mid-night, and browse for an hour or more.

You see, those plastic boxes with pictures of movie stars on them were so much more then that to me. They were a gate way, a door into something very pure and as clear as a fresh water lake on Fraser Island off the west coast of Australia - the dream of a nine year-old boy. Simple. Honest. Good. Hopeful. A dream I've kept with me, safe, out of harms way, in a secret place, for 26 years. It was, is, to make films. To be director, a writer, a filmmaker.

It's a simple dream. A clear one. It's remained the same for over quarter a century and most of my life. Never changed. At no point did I ever want to be anything else. Not that people didn't suggest I move on, try something new, when things weren't going my way. But I'm stubborn like that. I dug my heals in so long ago the ground has grown around my legs. But the further I go, the harder it gets. The closer I get, the further it seems.

I'm closer now then ever to realising that dream, and like any dream that you want to make real, you have to work bloody hard at it, harder than people know, could know, unless they've done something similar. Film for me is not a job, or a lifestyle choice, it's a vocation, akin to an aid worker, a priest, a missionary. For me, it's as close to religion as I'm ever going to get. It is my religion. It's something I am, not something I've chosen. So it's not something I can just stop, decided it's not working and find another career.

In saying that, it seems life, reality, circumstance is trying to do just that. I've sacrificed hugely. I've forced my wife to sacrifice hugely. And now I hold the future of our daughter in my hands. I'm in the same boat as half the country financially, so I'm not going to get on my soap box about that. Needless to say the boat is full of holes and sinking fast.

Ironically at the same time as the end appears to be approaching, I'm working on bigger projects and new opportunities are appearing. I'm just hoping the end of this stage of life aligns with the beginning of the life I want. Because if my ship comes in, I better be ready to jump from this leaky vessel. Of course, if it sinks first, then I'm done anyway.

Reality is weighing heavily now. I still don't make money as a filmmaker. And I need to start making money. I've found myself amid those shelves again. Looking for the door. Trying to hold onto that nine-year olds dream. It's as honest and good as it ever was, but it's not simple anymore and there is less hope for it. It's a long held promise that I don't want to break.

There will come a day, very soon, this year perhaps, when I will have to decide and maybe break that promise, let go the dream. Time will have run out. I just hope those boats align. I hope the next time I'm browsing those shelves it's to catch a proud glimpse of one of my own films. For that I keep going. For work and the love of writing I keep hoping. And I am hopefully still. The wolf is at the door, yes, but my house is made of stronger stuff than bricks -it made from dreams.

Let's Get Digital.

The Derelict Digital Poster.

In other big news; the edit is complete. It's a picture lock! Quite the milestone. There is still a lot of work to do. We have the sound mix to complete, which includes sound design and adding an extra layer of depth to the film. Then we go to The Element for the colour grade and finishing of the film for screening. So we're close, but yeah, work still to do. I would like to be finished end of June, beginning of July. Hopefully we can get there! It's shaping up that way though.

I'm looking forward to getting the film complete, obviously! It's two years in the making! I'm excited to start showing people. I haven't shown it to many people, only the producers and obviously the people working on the post production side of things. I almost did, I was tempting, but then I decided to save it. I've shown people my films too early in the past. It can be helpful, but I think it takes some of the shine off of it when you're showing 5 slightly different versions of something. I'd rather unveil the piece and let it be.

I know some people are going to like it, some not, some will be surprised, others disappointed, but that's the nature film, it's the nature of the edit. You work toward the overall, you lose some good men along the way, but in the end, your goal is the mission (war analogy there, hope it worked?!... and by men I mean scene... not actors... probably shouldn't have gone with the war analogy!) All I can do is make what I think is best, put it out there, and let it find it's own audience. Then it's on to the next one... hopefully!

Poster Post.

Above are a series of posters I've designed for Derelict. I've called them the "Character" series, each pitching one character against another, and of course the larger with all the characters, and the building.

Don't know if these are going to be the final posters or if they get used beyond the internet. But they were fun to do.

Hands Up For Festival News.

'Raise My Hands' opens the Sonoma Film Festival today, ahead of Luc Besson's film 'The Lady', which is quite the honour. I wish I could be there to represent, but can't, thankfully writer and producer Elliot Kotek is in attendance. Looking forward to hearing how it goes down. I'd almost given up on that film, I really liked it and was quite proud of it when it was done, but for one reason or another it looked like it may never be releases, so I had resigned myself to that being the case. Luckily it wasn't. And after a slow start we're now riding high on the festival circuit.

As mentioned before we had Heartland, Byron Bay International and coming up we have the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Tokyo Short Shorts International Film Festival (an Academy Award qualifying festival!). Again - huge honours. I'm very excited about them. There are a few coming up after, but we can't announce anything yet. So all good.

We're in the news a little bit, you can read articles on IFTN and Film Ireland, below a clipping from one of my local newspapers, the Drogheda Leader.

In other news, I'm still finishing Derelict, still on the hunt for a sound designer. Dermot O'Mahony is working on the score at the moment, the temp was working really well, but now it's a matter of making it fit and complement the action. The Element are waiting for all the final cut to start work. I'm aiming for an end of June finish. I'm looking forward to getting it done and starting to show people. I'm happy with how the cut has turned out. Still a little bit to do, but we're almost there.

Hopefully plenty of cool news to come, on Derelict and on other projects ticking away in the background. More soon.