Looking for a location for RTÉ short film

I am producing an RTÉ funded short film this summer and the main location is of vital importance. The story is set in a care facility/institution. The main requirements are that the building is old but well cared for and has plenty of twisting and turning corridors. A door leading to an enclosed outside yard would be an advantage. Can anyone suggest a suitable location in the Cork area? Perhaps a school or convent? We will travel further afield if needs be.

Tags: film locations, short film, RTÉ

Paul Thomas Anderson blog

The director of Boogie Nights, Magnolia & Punch Drunk Love is currently in production with There Will Be Blood a story about family, greed, religion & oil (no it's not about the Bush family!) centred around a turn of the century Texas Prospector. Little Boston News - www.littlebostonnews.com is a photoblog of the shoot. Worth checking out if you are the type of person who watches all the extras on a dvd

Tags: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, photoblog, film blog

Splanc! Documentary Fund

Currently there is a call for submissions for Splanc! which is a TG4 and Arts Council initiative to produce arts documentaries in the Irish language. This year's scheme is focusing on Litriocht Bheo or contemporary literature in the Irish language. Six half-hour films will be commissioned. The average budget for each is €30,000. Application forms are available to download at www.tg4.ie

Deadline for submissions is July 31st.

I produced a documentary which was funded as part of last year's Splanc! initiative. I found TG4 excellent to work with and would highly recommend the experience. For a director or producer who has had some successful short films it can be a stepping stone to television funding.

Tags: documentary, arts funding, TG4, Irish television

The Golden Bear goes to....

(we were so close!)

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. There are thousands of film festivals in the world and the only thing that they have in common is that films shown in the festivals are selected by programmers. Mere mortals in other words, people like you and me. People with wildly differing tastes. I have produced films which have won awards at some film festivals while others will not even screen them. Anyone who has attended Cork, Kerry, Galway & Dublin film festivals will realise that each emphasises different values in filmmaking: animation, documentary, experimental, story, recognisible actors, production design, film vs video etc.

It can be tricky trying to find a festival that suits your film - and expensive to send it to all of them. Do some research. Some festivals have explanatory titles such as the Add A New Soundtrack To An Old Silent Movie Festival (www.4ff.it, deadline July 15th), Document 4 - International Human Rights Documentary Festival
(www.variant.randomstate.org/Doc4.html, deadline August 4th) and Norwich International Animation Festival (www.niaf.org.uk, deadline June 16th)

Here are some upcoming festival deadlines. Check websites for guidelines and application forms.

Cork Film Festival - www.corkfilmfest.org
deadline for entries: June 30th

Kerry Film Festival - www.kerryfilmfestival.com
deadline for entries: July 16th
(note: there is a €20 fee for Kerry)

Foyle Film Festival - www.foylefilmfestival.org
deadline for entries: September 4th
(note: Foyle accept digital formats for documentary only. All other categories, fiction, animation etc. MUST be screened on 35mm film print)

Boston Irish Film Festival - www.irishfilmfestival.com
deadline for entries: August 31st
(note: there is a $50 entry fee)

Aubagne International Film Festival - www.cineaubagne.com
deadline for entries: 30th October

Tags: Berlin Film Festival, film festivals, film festival deadlines

Why don't you come up sometime and see me?*

As a film producer, and former employee of Cork Film Centre, I am regularly asked "how do I get started?" by aspiring directors/screenwriters/actors/cinematographers. The answer is "get experience", which can be a catch-22 situation. There are many enthusiastic people in Cork who will gladly give up a litle bit of time to be involved in a film shoot. And there are often productions that could use that extra pair of hands. These two groups of people rarely meet. One of the functions of this blog is to help film people in Cork, with different talents and levels of experience, get in touch with each other. So please post comments.

I will also be posting information which may be relevant to Cork filmmakers such as festival deadlines, script awards, information on bursaries and film schemes. So stay tuned, folks!

* oft misquoted line, originally spoken by Mae West in the 1933 film, She Done Him Wrong

Tags: Film producer, Cork, Ireland