Learnings – Dermot Malone
Director of King Frankie
I’ve directed commercials for around eight years. I’ve also made a short film or two. King Frankie is my feature debut. It’s been amazing and very satisfying. It’s been a dream come true and hopefully the first of many features.
The one notable thing about the film industry is how long everything takes. Making commercials usually involves shooting everything in three weeks, then you finish it three weeks later, and move on. Whereas it’s much longer for a film. It’s a couple of years from when you put pen to paper until shooting, then it’s a couple of years until it’s in cinema. That’s the biggest thing I’ve had to get my head around because I’m quite an impatient person. I like to be moving forward and doing things all the time.
Sometimes you can benefit from taking a step back and taking a breath, and not rushing a particular element of a project. Really make sure you’re happy with every draft of the script or every cast member, rather than powering through.
For example, we didn’t go for Screen Ireland development funding. The reason was because it was a two or three-year process of getting the script to a final point. I was like, “Let’s just go and do the film. We have a script we really like, let’s go.” But now I have more of an appreciation for the value in those two or three years that Screen Ireland give you. It involves really interrogating the script, interrogating each character.
Screen Ireland are a phenomenal and really unique resource that our country has over other countries. They are there to support and promote, if you let them. My advice would be to reach out to Screen Ireland. Look at the upskilling courses, the schemes… everything that they have going on.
If you look at the great Irish film successes, more often than not, they’ve come through the Screen Ireland system. It’s like any great footballer – they’re gonna come through the academy system before they’re playing Champions League football. We’re lucky to have Screen Ireland , so definitely use them.
I’m delighted with King Frankie and the script we ended up on, but I wonder sometimes, had we taken more time to craft it or interrogate it, could it even have been 1% better? Could we have added another layer?
I’ve got two projects now that I’m working on with two different writers and very much the plan is to go through the Screen Ireland system, to work with script editors, to work with development executives, to really examine the scripts.
You’re not gonna be able to make an amazing film from an average script. You can have the best film makers and best talent in the world, but that story and that script has to be an amazing experience upon reading it. That’s a big lesson. Making sure the script is as strong as you want it to be before you make it a shooting script. That’s the plan for me for the next couple of projects.
If I could go back to before I started working on King Frankie I probably wouldn’t do anything differently, I just recommend being super aware of the supports and resources that are there and take a breath rather than powering through. Patience. That’s a lesson I’ve learned for sure.
If you’d like support being more mindful in your work, being able to pause and take that breath, call our team anytime. We offer free life coaching courses which can really help.
Call us anytime day or night, at no cost to you. All of our supports are completely free for Ireland’s creative sector.
ROI: 1800 814 244
NI/UK: 0800 0903677
International: +353 1 518 0277
We also offer practical career supports through our mentorship programme & workshops. Keep an eye on:
mindingcreativeminds.ie/mentorship-programme
mindingcreativeminds.ie/events
Director of King Frankie
I’ve directed commercials for around eight years. I’ve also made a short film or two. King Frankie is my feature debut. It’s been amazing and very satisfying. It’s been a dream come true and hopefully the first of many features.
The one notable thing about the film industry is how long everything takes. Making commercials usually involves shooting everything in three weeks, then you finish it three weeks later, and move on. Whereas it’s much longer for a film. It’s a couple of years from when you put pen to paper until shooting, then it’s a couple of years until it’s in cinema. That’s the biggest thing I’ve had to get my head around because I’m quite an impatient person. I like to be moving forward and doing things all the time.
Sometimes you can benefit from taking a step back and taking a breath, and not rushing a particular element of a project. Really make sure you’re happy with every draft of the script or every cast member, rather than powering through.
For example, we didn’t go for Screen Ireland development funding. The reason was because it was a two or three-year process of getting the script to a final point. I was like, “Let’s just go and do the film. We have a script we really like, let’s go.” But now I have more of an appreciation for the value in those two or three years that Screen Ireland give you. It involves really interrogating the script, interrogating each character.
Screen Ireland are a phenomenal and really unique resource that our country has over other countries. They are there to support and promote, if you let them. My advice would be to reach out to Screen Ireland. Look at the upskilling courses, the schemes… everything that they have going on.
If you look at the great Irish film successes, more often than not, they’ve come through the Screen Ireland system. It’s like any great footballer – they’re gonna come through the academy system before they’re playing Champions League football. We’re lucky to have Screen Ireland , so definitely use them.
I’m delighted with King Frankie and the script we ended up on, but I wonder sometimes, had we taken more time to craft it or interrogate it, could it even have been 1% better? Could we have added another layer?
I’ve got two projects now that I’m working on with two different writers and very much the plan is to go through the Screen Ireland system, to work with script editors, to work with development executives, to really examine the scripts.
You’re not gonna be able to make an amazing film from an average script. You can have the best film makers and best talent in the world, but that story and that script has to be an amazing experience upon reading it. That’s a big lesson. Making sure the script is as strong as you want it to be before you make it a shooting script. That’s the plan for me for the next couple of projects.
If I could go back to before I started working on King Frankie I probably wouldn’t do anything differently, I just recommend being super aware of the supports and resources that are there and take a breath rather than powering through. Patience. That’s a lesson I’ve learned for sure.
If you’d like support being more mindful in your work, being able to pause and take that breath, call our team anytime. We offer free life coaching courses which can really help.
Call us anytime day or night, at no cost to you. All of our supports are completely free for Ireland’s creative sector.
ROI: 1800 814 244
NI/UK: 0800 0903677
International: +353 1 518 0277
We also offer practical career supports through our mentorship programme & workshops. Keep an eye on:
mindingcreativeminds.ie/mentorship-programme
mindingcreativeminds.ie/events