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Stepping
Stones
In preparation for the symposium on the short
at this year's Cork Film Festival, Lir Mac Cárthaigh
talks to producer Michael Duffy and directors Brian Durnin
and Damon Sylvester on the state of the short film.
WHY MAKE SHORTS?
Brian: I think most people that I know see them
as a stepping-stone; they have a certain amount that they
want three... But by your second short, there's no point doing
them unless you love the script and you think it's going to
be amazing. The amount of time and energy and expense and
stress and lack of pay... the lifestyle that goes with it
is almost...
Damon: Starving artist? (laughs)
Brian: So you have to really be into
the script.
Damon: It's a labour of love, it really
is. For me, personally, there has to be light at the end of
the tunnel. The Aroma, the Short Short, is my third
– and now I'm ready. I'm writing a feature-length screenplay
– and that's the idea. The problem with writing shorts
is you get very used to the format, so writing something that's
110, 130 pages is a huge undertaking. I would make another
short, just in the interim. It takes a long time for feature
films to get made, why not go off and do it? I think if there
were actual distribution for short films, that you could make
money off them, you'd find a lot more people sticking with
it.
Michael: I think it comes back to why
you're doing them, as well. I've done six in the last year;
I'm just about to begin work on my ninth short, and one of
the main reasons is to work with particular people. The latest
one I'm about to start on is one I wrote myself, and which
is suitable for adaptation as a feature, or as a TV series
– so there's a very clear rationale for me to do it.
The other reason that producer do it is to work with particular
directors that they want to work with again on specific films.
Cause producers don't want to do it just for the hell of it;
once you've done three, why would you do more, other than
for specific reasons? With Tilly, for example, we think
there's a feature in that.
The full article is printed in Film Ireland
99
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