I Need a Small Favour…

Writing related moments, for me, are often a bit like buses. There may not be one for quite a while and then a bunch of them will come along all at once.

As the dust settles on what was, for me, an extraordinary 6 weeks of theatre creativity and fun, something new arises.

But, before that, one final word of gratitude and joy to all the cast and production team on ‘Dance Night’, ‘Conception, Pregnancy and Bert’, and ‘Two for a Tenor’. An endeavour that culminated in packed houses, standing ovations, champagne corks off-stage, shots in Coady’s, and Jim Finan singing ‘One More for the Road’ down the back bar. I mean, what more could anyone possibly want?

Thank you all.

x

And now, I need a little something from you, Dear Reader, if I can possibly get it. There’s no money involved, so breathe easy on that front.

My friend, and creative conspirator, Richard Keaney, has made a short film from one of my short stories and, this weekend, for the first time, in the middle of its festival run, it is available for free public viewing at the TMFF Film Festival website. 

It’s only twelve minutes long but it doesn’t waste much of its run time and I would love you to see it. The link to it is just below but before you race to it, there’s one important thing. Even if you don’t have time right now to watch the whole film, if you had a moment to click over there and give the film 5 stars at the top of the webpage, that would be great. 

Extra Note - One or two kind people have accidentally given us 1 star by thinking you just click on any star to get into the voting. But the star you click on first is the vote you give. I think it's necessary to click straight onto the fifth star, if voting. It all registers alarmingly quickly. Thanks. 

This may seem underhand and, yes, by golly, it’s kind of is. But all it will do is allow Richard’s film to progress to the next stage of viewership in the festival and, at this point in the life of this little film, getting eyes on it is one of the great challenges. I would very much appreciate your help with this. Thanks.

Here’s the link to the film. Click Here. The image at the top will get you there too. It’s all high-tech stuff, this.

Then, having done that, and if you have time to view it (pump it up to full screen and turn the sound up) I would genuinely like to hear what you think of it. It’s rather a tricky little narrative structure. Does it engage? Does it get its story across clearly and in a diverting way? These are script questions and I’m a script guy. I thrive on feedback, and I definitely don’t need 5 stars for this part of the exercise. Hit me with it. Right between the eyes. I can take it.

I am really very proud of the film. Richard is a talented director, with an array of successful shorts and documentaries under his belt and an encyclopedic knowledge of the medium inside of his beardy head. For this project, he shanghaied the wonderfully visionary cinematographer Rafael de Almeida, who I think has done a splendid job. Actors Liam Gaffney, Patrick Austin and Claire Blennerhassett are all brilliant, the location work is spot-on, and my little story is served very well by the entire team. Go and have a look (and give it five stars, no matter what you think.)

As a story, Joey had a rather interesting genesis. I was on a bus to Dublin, in 2014, with an orchestra of teens who were heading to play National Concert Hall in front of the President of Ireland. I was hauling Sam’s drums, a very very important role. We stopped at the Applegreen Motorway Services Station, a place I had never stopped at before. I stepped off the bus (much as Joey does in the film) and stopped in amazement. Two simultaneous thoughts arrived. The first, I’ve just said it, was ‘This is amazing’ and, hot on its heels, that old familiar tingly feeling in the back of your head that signals there’s a story around here somewhere. I worked out that story in my head on the last hour into Dublin and wrote it the next day and posted it on this blog. It’s back there somewhere still. But watch the film instead. It tells it better.

I’m thanking people again but I have to express my gratitude to my good friend, Richard Keaney, for always reading my stupid scripts and, on two occasions now, actually assembling a team and pushing an amazing project right through to fruition. He deserves to sail past me into superstardom and I can’t wait for that day to come.

What’s next, Richard?

See, I had this idea…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your scripts Ken. I am delighted that Richard is able to develop them into great short films. 'Getting in' was wonderful and successful and 'Joey had never been out of the city'deserves the same acclaim. Wishing you all the best.

Ken Armstrong said...

Thank you! I'm delighted too.