FNI Wrap Chat

Born in Dublin and raised in Meath, Cathal has travelled the world working on a variety of projects including news, documentaries and film and television. Cathal's older brother (a press photographer for local newspapers), piqued Cathal's interest in the trade in their homemade photography dark room: a garden shed in County Meath.

After having studied Drama in Trinity College Dublin, Cathal began working for news channels and shooting documentaries. In the subsequent years, Cathal worked on a number of documentaries and shorts including Che and Toy Soldiers, as well as shooting music videos for musicians such as Sinead O'Connor.

In recent times, Cathal has turned his eye towards film and television drama. In the last three years particularly, his work as the D.O.P on hit BBC drama series Peaky Blinders has received widespread praise, as well as earning Cathal an IFTA nomination for 'Best Cinematography.' Other notable IFTA Award achievements include his win for Viva in 2015, as well as nominations for the TG4 series An Klondike. Recently he has worked on Roddy Doyle's "Rosie" Directed by Paddy Breathnach and with Love Hates Dave Caffery on "The Ailenist" and Taken Down for Rte. Other recent credits include the features "Dark Lies the Island" "Handsome Devil" and "Papi Chulo" again with Director John Butler and the beautiful Irish Language Feature "Finky" Directed by Dathai Keane. 

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On this Episode of FNI Wrapchat is IFTA and Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Award winning Actor Aisling Franciosi.

 

Aisling most recently appeared in the leading role of Clare in The Nightingale, opposite Sam Claflin and directed by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook,) She will next be seen opposite Mark Ruffalo in I Know This Much Is True , a brand new TV drama for HBO, which this week broadcast in Ireland.

Aisling first appeared on screen as Katie in THE FALL for BBC in 2013 and then as Phoebe Griffin, the young female lead and daughter to Gabriel Byrne, in BBC’s QUIRKE on both BBC One and RTE in early 2014. Aisling was awarded the Irish Film and Television Award for 2015 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama for her appearance as Katie in season two of THE FALL in 2014. Aisling appeared in the recurring role of Kate in season two of LEGENDS starring Sean Bean for FOX/TNT in 2016 and most recently appeared as co-lead Georgia in CLIQUE for BBC3 in 2017.

Aisling appeared as Marie in Ken Loach’s JIMMY’S HALL, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2014 prior to an acclaimed general release and appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival 2015 in New York. She also appeared in two episodes of GAME OF THRONES (HBO) as Lyanna Stark in 2016/17.

In June 2014 Aisling was chosen in Screen Daily UK’s prestigious Stars of Tomorrow 2014 issue alongside actors like Maisie Williams and Eleanor Tomlinson .

She was born in Dublin in 1993, moved with her family to Italy soon after, and returned to Ireland 4 years later with her mother. She attended acting classes as a child and attended Trinity College Dublin, where she studied French and Spanish. In 2018, she moved to New York, from which we spoke to her in isolation.

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Ross Whitaker is a vastly successful documentary filmmaker. He has developed, produced and directed a number of successful independent documentaries including Katie, Unbreakable: The Mark Pollack Story, Between Land and Sea and most recently The Boys in Green for RTE. 

Ross is also former commissioning editor of Film Ireland and former festival programmer of Stranger Than Fiction at the IFI, he is well versed in the language of film and an active participant on the Irish film scene. His first feature, the self-funded Saviours, was called the “best Irish film of 2008” by the Sunday Tribune. His follow-up short Bye Bye Now won awards at multiple festivals including Silverdocs and Nashville. His work in television with Blind Man Walking in 2010 and the Prime Time political documentary The Bailout in 2011 has also drawn great praise. He is best known for the riveting and emotionally powerful documentary features When Ali Came to Ireland (2012), Unbreakable: The Mark Pollack Story (2014), and Between Land and Sea (2106). He most recently made the acclaimed TV documentary Anthony Foley: Munsterman, which provided an extraordinary insight into the events surrounding Foley as a rugby player and coach, his death, and the emotional aftermath.

His most recent projects: The feature doc, Katie nd the tv soc special, The Boys in Green, on RTE had the nation viewing in huge numbers in recent months, The story charts the rise of the Irish National football team over a ten year period from 1986 to 1996 under Jack Charlton. 

Check out some of his work here on IMDB.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3145173/

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On this special episode of FNI Wrapchat is Irish Oscar-nominated  director Lenny Abrahamson.

Sponsored by our friends at Film Equipment Store, Wildcard Distribution, brought to you as always by the Headstuff Podcast Network. Mixed by Stephen Bedford and FNI Wrapchat theme tune by Pat 'Connor.

Lenny is from Dublin and is an internationally renowned film and Television Director and Screenwriter. He is known for directing such acclaimed independent films as Adam & Paul (2004), Garage (2007), What Richard Did (2012) and Frank (2014) all of which contributed to Abrahamson's six Irish Film and Television Awards.

In 2015, he received widespread recognition for directing Room, based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. The film received four nominations at the 88th Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Abrahamson.

Lenny studied physics and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. While at university he directed short videos with the Trinity Video Society, which he co-founded with Ed Guiney. He graduated in 1991 with first class honours (gold medal). His first short film, 3 Joes, won the Best European Short Film Award at the 1991 Cork Film Festival and the Organiser's Award at the 1992 Oberhausen Short Film Festival. He directed numerous commercials for television in Ireland, the UK and worldwide

His latest work 'Normal People' a TV adaptation of Sally Rooney's lauded novel is currently broadcasting on Rte, BBC and Hulu in the United States to critical acclaim. Here we chat about the reaction to Normal People, his process, the LIVELINE call in... His future career ambitions and we ask questions from our community on social media.

head over to www.WeAreFni.com to register for our online chats FNI@HOME TOMORROW WED 6th, weekly, with brilliant Film and Tv professionals every Wed evening.

Tomorrow we are joined by the Director of Michael Inside, Frank Berry.

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Please share with a friend or colleague. Available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.

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#StaySafe #StayInformed #StayPositive

 

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On this weeks Fni Wrapchat is Screenwriter of Calm With Horses Joe Murtagh. This episode is brought to you by Film Equipment Store on the Headstuff Podcast Network.  

Calm With Horses is distributed by Element Distribution and is currently available to rent on various streaming platforms including Volta, iTunes, BFI Player etc. 

Joe Murtagh is a London born Irish writer. He comes from a family of carpenters and labourers, though it's been said that Joe himself "couldn't hammer a nail straight", and after some site experience, he would wholeheartedly agree. So he's making a good go of writing.

Joe's first feature film, CALM WITH HORSES (adapted from the short story of the same name by Colin Barrett) premiered at TIFF 2019 (DMC Film / Element Pictures / Film 4) and was directed by Nick Rowland with Cosmo Jarvis and Barry Keoghan starring. He is currently developing a number of features including DREADFUL NED (DMC) with Michael Fassbender attached and THE KITCHEN (DMC/Film 4) which will be Kibwe Tavares’ debut feature.

For television, Joe is developing an original series called THE WOMAN IN THE WALL (Troika/Motive) and is currently writing an episode of Enda Walsh’s new series THE TROUBLES (Blueprint). In 2018 he wrote an episode of Mika Watkins' TV Series ORIGIN (Youtube Red/Left Bank Pictures). Joe was a 2016 Screen International Star of Tomorrow.

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With over 30 years of experience in all aspects of media including journalism, public relations, scriptwriting, and programme-making, Hugh Farley has worked for RTÉ, BBC, Channel Four, ITV, NHK (Japan), and SV3 (Sweden) amongst others.

A Fulbright scholar, he was the first Irish citizen to be accepted by New York University’s filmmaking programme in 1985. His documentary work includes; We Shall Overcome which won the Best Documentary Award at the 1998 Celtic Film Festival. In recent years, he has worked extensively in drama, directing the popular series Fair City, Ros na Rún, Hollyoaks and the very popular Red Rock for Virgin Media/Tv3. His work was nominated for three Irish Film and Television Academy awards in 2006.

Most recently, Hugh has recently wrapped on a kids historical drama for Rte, which will be screened this year.

Hugh is also currently Director of the Writers Guild of Ireland

Don't miss out this very informative discussion on the future of Irish Film and Television. To find out more about the work of the guild, visit script.ie 

Mixed by Stephen Bedford, Produced by the Headstuff Podcast Network and Brought to you by our buds at Film Equipment Store and Wildcard.

FNI WRAPCHAT on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and more.

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EPISODE 💯, WOW! Where does the time go? This ep is a look back on some of our favourites over the last two years. A retrospective of tips and experiences from people working in film and television not only in Ireland but all over the world. Thanks for listening, especially at this very peculiar time in all our lives.  We really wanted to do a live show to mark this event, but it wasn't to be. FNI will, however, be hosting a live event when we get the all-clear to bring our community together to reflect on the last couple of months and look to the future.

There are so many we could have taken some soundbites from, but unfortunately, couldn't fit them all in.  Please share our show with a friend or colleague.

Featuring Highlights from Director Ruan Magan who speaks about how a Michael Collins Eircom call card got him out of a very hairy circumstance while filming a doc in Columbia many years ago https://www.ruanmagan.com/

How and when a script really rings that church bell and when you break the story with Mary Kate and Rachel O'Flanagan http://www.adramaticimprovement.com/

How to send your Trojan empathy horse into the world with Carmel Winters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel_Winters

John Butler on how close he came to walking on this first feature and how he loves Actors https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2899940/

Sean Branigan on learning from his partners attitude on rejection and where Irish Film and Tv is presently https://seanbranigan.co.uk/ and...  How Actor Helen Beehan chanced her arm and changed her life forever in her local Bettystown pub, drinking shots with Shane Meadows and solving the case of the missing handbags.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4813523/

Take care of each other out there.

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On this weeks episode (99) of FNI Wrapchat, Paul Webster is joined by Director Maurice Sweeney

For the last ten years, Maurice has been regarded as one of Ireland’s leading documentary filmmakers. In more recent years he has also begun to focus on fiction.

His Doc Trial of the Century, a historical drama series for Treasure Films was a critical hit for, Loose Horse and TV3. Other work includes drama documentary series Barbarians Rising for the History Channel and October Films.

Having worked on diverse films from drama documentary Cromwell In Ireland to creative portraits of Irish writers Flann O’ Brien and Brendan Behan and crime writer John Connolly, Maurice also recently directed his first major drama feature, Saving The Titanic, to wide critical acclaim. The film has been sold throughout the world, including America, Canada and Britain with Channel 4 and has been watched by an estimated 10 million people. It was selected for the British Independent Film Festival, where it has just won three awards, including Best Director. It has also just won Best Feature at the Celtic Media Festival in Swansea. Saving The Titanic also won a prestigious Gold World Medal award at the New York Festivals, and the Award of Excellence in a Feature Film at the Accolade Competition in California.

As a Director, Maurice has won four IFTAS. In 2010, he filmed and directed the widely acclaimed __The Forgotten Irish_, dealing with the emigration to Britain in the 1950′s. Always returning to his love of sport, Maurice has made lasting portraits of his heroes Michael O Muircheartaigh and Vincent O Brien. Other credits include the follow up to Forgotten Irish with Ireland’s Forgotten Voices.

Penance, TV Series, Blood (TV Series, Virgin Media TV) I-Dolours (Documentary)

NEXT UP***

FNI @ HOME is an online networking event 🖥 taking place next Saturday 11th April at 7pm

Stick on your webcam and mic and make new creative connections while we're all stuck at home.

👉 Register now: https://hopin.to/events/fni-network-home?fbclid=IwAR16gGQjgiTi_-a9ck8gVh01zpVRAUgSV3-JJkZNlPoY_i_SA3VBqK5I_KU

(First 100 registrations are free) 

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS, WE'VE TRIALED THE SOFTWARE AND ITS REALLY FANTASTIC.

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Firstly BIG SHOUT OUT AND MASSIVE RESPECT to our doctors, nurses and everyone in the emergency services in Ireland. You're a credit to our country. #STAYSAFE #STAYINDOORS

** Billy mentions his standup shows in Galway in April these have obviously been cancelled until further notice. 

On this episode (98) of FNI Wrapchat is Director and Producer Billy McGrath.

Billy was a major pioneering figure in the development of Irish music (manager, promoter and PR) and comedy (performer, writer and promoter) before training with RTÉ as a TV producer / director in the mid 1980s. Both passions were to the fore as new ideas and talent were brought to RTÉ screens before Billy moved to London as features director on the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 music series WIRED (Initial TV London ‘88).

His documentary films, Most Recently 'Citizens of Boomtown' on the Boomtown Rats,  U2, The Pogues and Clannad were screened at festivals in Dublin, London, Washington, Brazil and on TV throughout the world. In the 1990s Billy again immersed himself in script and comedy. Working between London, Belfast and Dublin, Billy also kick started an Irish comedy circuit, won a European Script Award, The National Entertainment Award for Comedy, was the first course designer and trainer with Irish Screen Training (Writing Comedy for TV) plus gained project development and management experience with major production companies and broadcasters in Ireland and the UK.

Returning from London in 1998, Billy wrote and produced the history of Irish TV comedy – Gay Byrne’s Make ‘Em Laugh – for Tyrone Productions/RTE (top 10 viewed programme of the year), joined Ireland’s first commercial broadcaster TV3 as Executive Producer and soon after was appointed RTE’s first Commissioning Editor of Entertainment (2000-02) before re-joining the commercial world. Billy’s first independent commission Close Encounters with Keith Barry (a talent spotted while at RTE) was nominated for both an IFTA and Rose D’Or Award plus remains RTE International’s biggest ever success in the international TV Entertainment sales market.

In late 2005 SIDELINE was established with Billy responsible for all development, editorial content and ensuring a top-class production on screen, developing new ideas and emerging talent.

Citizens of Boomtown is now available on the RTE player. 

The extraordinary story of Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats is told in this all-access 2 part series with special guests Bono, Sinead O'Connor, Sting and a host of others.

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/citizens-of-boomtown/SI0000006786

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On this weeks Ep of FNI Wrapchat (which we recorded a couple of weeks ago), is a Distributor with a vast amount of experience over a number of years. Derry O'Brien of Network Ireland Television.

Start stockpiling episodes of Wrapchat this crazy season.

Derry O'Brien has over 40 years’ experience in international services in the music, TV and film industries and with the Irish Trade Board. Derry was responsible for the inauguration of the Ireland on Screen joint marketing initiative between the relevant Northern and Southern trade promotional agencies at both the MIP and MIPCOM television markets for 5 years, from 1991 - 1995 inclusive, a marketing initiative that survives to this day. Furthermore, as a Board Member of the Brussels-based E.U. Programme, Euro Aim for a similar period, Derry was actively involved in Euro Aim sales and marketing activities at both the Berlin Film Festivals, the Donestia Screenings and their Rendezvous Co-production and more recently at the Cannes Film Festival. Derry also served on the Board of the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission for 5 years (1999 – 2004).

Network Ireland Television is the foremost Irish-based TV distribution company, established in October 1995 with the objective of providing a sales and marketing service internationally for television programme makers and film producers and directors.

In the 20 years since its start-up, Network Ireland Television has now accumulated a catalogue of over 1,500 hours of quality English language programming and short films from a range of Irish and international producers and has firmly established itself as the major distributor of niche market material. Network Ireland Television is currently selling to over 100 overseas broadcasters, VOD operators, DVD distributors and Inflight Entertainment companies.

Fni Wrapchat is recorded at the Podcast Studios, Sponsored by Film Equipment Store and mixed and produced by Stephen Bedford.

Listen back to our over 90 episodes on Spotify.

https://open.spotify.com/show/6RTcxB35h6s7wZa4CEhdDW?si=fRi_sssVROWyHHwWmuHS5A&fbclid=IwAR3av1awp5v9F5xbbLzzO0KWoToc3XoKhhflRWJTjqE0dg7PNTgVuE9f-n4

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