New Shorts Focus 18/19 selection decisions
Date Posted: May 14, 2019
Three short projects have been chosen to go into production through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Shorts Focus 18/19 scheme. The three projects went through a period of development with three other writers under the guidance of Ness Haynes, a locally based script consultant. The three projects are ‘Caroline’ written by Tom Floyd, ‘Going Under’ written by Catherine Rees and ‘Miss and Missus’ written by Katie Murphy.
New Shorts Focus is a BFI Network initiative to develop the work of new and underrepresented new and emerging writers. The three projects selected are:
Caroline
‘Caroline’ is the story of a woman on the eve of her 40th birthday, alone on a climbing holiday in the Mourne Mountains. In her hotel she randomly encounters the man who sexually assaulted her at school, staying there with his teenage son.
Writer: Tom Floyd
Tom grew up on the north coast of Northern Ireland. He studied Film at the University of Kent and Screenwriting at the London Film School. Since graduating he has written short films which have played in festivals around the world, and he has developed feature screenplays with production companies and producers in London and Ireland. He lives in Bangor. CAROLINE is his next project as writer-director.
Going Under
Going Under is a comedy short following Kerry, a young actress full of ambition.
Kerry has landed her big break.
This is it. The dream.
Or so she thinks.
All that glitters is not gold.
Kerry quickly learns that an actor’s life is not as fun and glamorous as she thought.
If she’s going to survive she needs to go from underdog – to top dog.
Not all the drama takes place on the stage.
Writer: Catherine Rees
Catherine is a writer and actress from Belfast. She trained on the BA Acting course at East 15 Acting School in London and currently lives between both cities. She was selected for the Soho Theatre Writer’s Lab and the Lyric Hammersmith Development Lab where she developed her first monologue play. Catherine has always been interested in script writing as well as acting and theatre making and has a passion for writing comedy. Her work has been performed in fringe theatres in London. She co-wrote and co-developed Project A- a play about the abortion laws in Northern Ireland. ‘Going Under’ is Catherine’s second short film script, with her debut short ‘ Breaks’ being produced in Summer 2018.
Miss and Missus
‘Miss and Missus’ explores the ever-changing dynamics of female friendships as we grow through life’s stages. Best friends Kathryn and Aine try to maintain their common ground amidst motherhood, marriage, single hood, career fails and everything in between.
Writer: Katie Murphy
Katie is a writer and director from Belfast. Her most recent short film ‘Transit’ screened at the 2018 Belfast Film Festival and in various film festivals around Europe. She works in Belfast creating video content in-house for a local company, as well as on a freelance basis for local brands and businesses.
