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Category: Behind the Scenes

MUNDY SINGING THE BLUES

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 25 November 2020

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the beneficiaries of the Government’s €1.7m Music Industry Stimulus Package was less harmoniously received than Minister Catherine Martin might have hoped. Much of the discord centres around the fact that while some musicians won’t be given a red cent, other artists are... Read more »

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PANTO WARS: OH YES THEY DID

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 17 November 2020

PANTO MAY be for the kids, but there were lots of grown up people throwing their toys out of the pram over it in recent days. First up were Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick, who took umbrage at their company, Anthem Productions, being left off... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: THE DEN (RTE ONE)

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 17 November 2020

RTE HAS spent considerable time recently hyping a turkey – and for once, it isn’t a new sitcom. Rather, they have built anticipation for the return of Dustin and Zig & Zag on The Den, the staple of Gen X childhoods now given a fresh... Read more »

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RTÉ DIGITAL FUTURE?

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 17 November 2020

FRUSTRATED VIEWERS of the beloved RTÉ Player will not have found much comfort at recent Oireachtas hearings. Adrian Lynch, Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing at RTÉ, was among contributors at the Communications Committee on Wednesday. The executive was ebullient about the national broadcaster’s response... Read more »

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BOOK REVIEW: LOVE (RODDY DOYLE)

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 6 November 2020

LIKE MUCH of Roddy Doyle’s fiction, his 13th novel for adults is made up largely of dialogue. Since the success of The Commitments (published 33 years ago), the author has honed his pared-down prose style to tell stories primarily of working-class people from the northside... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: DEAD STILL

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 5 November 2020

The premiere of Dead Still on Halloween weekend proved appropriate, given that there are few scarier prospects than a new RTE drama series. The brainchild of Kilkenny writer John Morton, the show proved reasonably diverting and had some nice comedic flourishes, though it will take... Read more »

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PODCAST REVIEW: THAT GREAT BUSINESS SHOW

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 13 October 2020

A YEAR ago, former Leinster and Ireland rugby ace Jamie Heaslip asked his Twitter, “Should I start a podcast?”, resulting in a thumbs down from more than 80% of the respondents. But, true competitor that he is, Heaslip deleted the tweet and has now teamed up... Read more »

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BOOK REVIEW: THE HILL (BERNARD BROGAN WITH KIERAN SHANNON)

Behind the Scenes, 16 September 2020

THE FIRST of what’s sure to be an avalanche of memoirs from Dublin’s five-in-a-row team arrives courtesy of The Hill, an underwhelming effort by star forward Bernard Brogan and sports hack Kieran Shannon. Comically, the story is presented as an against-all-odds tale of sporting endeavour.... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: THE SOUTH WESTERLIES

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 8 September 2020

SOMETIMES WITH new TV programmes, the production back-story is rather more interesting than production itself. RTE’s new prime-time, Sunday night offering, The South Westerlies, produced by Paul Donovan’s Deadpan Pictures and directed by Simon Gibney, blows cold rather than hot, and there’s five more long... Read more »

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AUTUMN BLUES

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 29 August 2020

THE NEWLY released RTE autumn schedules promise “18 hours of new Irish drama” – much of which could be taking place in the RTE canteen. Indeed, the riveting subplots that have developed around replacing Sean O’Rourke will likely prove more compelling than any of the... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: NO PLACE LIKE HOME (RTÉ ONE)

Behind the Scenes, 11 August 2020

WITH RTE having already provided full PR services for the Department of Health and local business during the pandemic, Goldhawk recently wondered which sector was next in line for promotional treatment. This week, domestic tourism received a lengthy advertisement courtesy of the Fáilte Ireland-sponsored No... Read more »

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FILM REVIEW: BROKEN LAW

Behind the Scenes, 7 August 2020

CINEMAS HAVE gradually reopened over the last few weeks, some offering a chance to view released Irish films affected by the shutdown, like Calm With Horses from Element Pictures, or titles that were forced onto an online platform, such as Neasa Hardiman’s Sea Fever. Paddy... Read more »

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SAVING SALLY ROONEY’S NEXT SHOW

Behind the Scenes, 31 July 2020

A DECISION by the UK government to provide Covid-19 insurance cover for the film and TV industry will put considerable pressure on Pascal Donohoe, Catherine Martin and Leo Varadkar to bend to pressure from Screen Ireland, IBEC, and Screen Producers Ireland to follow suit …... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: HAWKS AND DOVES (RTE1)

Behind the Scenes, 8 July 2020

THE NATIONAL broadcaster had something of a coup in drawing Michael Portillo back for a second look at the Irish revolutionary period. Long before reality TV stars went to the White House, Portillo like Alastair Campbell went the other direction; reinventing themselves as benign media... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: SOCIALLY DISTANT (RTE ONE)

Behind the Scenes, 6 July 2020

LEAVING ASIDE Frank Feighan’s bizarre comments about “cocaine snorters” in RTE, this week’s ‘comedy’, Socially Distant, certainly begs the question of what exactly the commissioning editors are on. Unfortunately, James Cotter’s lockdown effort – broadcast on Monday – was predictably quarantined from any outbreak of... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: INSIDE IRELAND’S COVID BATTLE (RTÉ ONE)

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 1 July 2020

AS WELL as documenting life for patients and staff in St James’s Hospital during the Covid-19 crisis, RTE Investigates: Inside Ireland’s Covid Battle inadvertently provided a fascinating into how the Irish media have covered the pandemic. The abject nihilism that has characterised the Indo’s coverage... Read more »

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REMOTE EARNING

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 26 June 2020

ONE OF the ironies of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the need for public bodies to find inventive ways to spend idle money that might otherwise be clawed back by government departments. Back in April, the training division of Desiree Finnegan’s Screen Ireland, came up... Read more »

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FILM REVIEW: ARTEMIS FOWL

Behind the Scenes, 12 June 2020

WHEN DISNEY announced a few months back that, since cinemas were shuttered, its $125m adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl would ‘drop’ on their new Disney+ streaming platform, it was either a smart move to boost the new platform or a sign that ‘Fowl’ was, in fact, a... Read more »

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WHO PROFITS FROM ‘NORMAL PEOPLE’?

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 20 May 2020

WHATEVER ONE thinks of it, the Beeb’s TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People has shown there’s life in the old maxim – sex sells, whether it’s Connell’s neck chain or digital streams. Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s Element Pictures production for the BBC and... Read more »

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JAMES MORRIS’S MEDIA PARK

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 15 May 2020

THE €26.5m deal struck by James Morris, Alan Moloney and Gary Levinsohn with South Dublin County Council for 48 acres in D22, west of Clondalkin and Lucan, brings to an end the first phase of a four-year campaign to set up a large entertainment-media campus... Read more »

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TV REVIEW: IRELAND ON CALL (RTÉ ONE)

Behind the Scenes, 1 May 2020

DURING THE Covid-19 crisis, RTE’s hastily-assembled filler show, Ireland On Call, has become the Department of Health’s Pravda. Indeed, with the series embedded in the department – from where it’s broadcast live twice a week – a more fitting title might be RTE On Message.... Read more »

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EOIN COLFER’S SMALL SCREEN PLOT

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 23 April 2020

GOLDHAWK’S LAST visit to the cinema Calm with Horses was to see on at a near deserted multiplex on March 13, its opening weekend. While it was the last weekend cinemas were open, it was already clear that punters were socially distancing ahead of government... Read more »

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BOOK REVIEW: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY RORY BEST

Behind the Scenes, 3 April 2020

GOLDHAWK HAS just finished Rory Best’s autobiography, rather prosaically called My Autobiography, and it seems like his plan for the book was the same as Ireland’s plan for the last two rugby seasons: stick to a tightly controlled game plan on paper, only to come... Read more »

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BOOK REVIEW: CONCLUSIONS JOHN BOORMAN (FABER & FABER)

Behind the Scenes, 1 April 2020

BORN IN Shepperton, England in 1933, the filmmaker and Co Wicklow resident since 1970, John Boorman, has had a long innings. His latest work of memoir, a valedictory book, contains a telling story about an actual innings, or rather a fictitious, heroic innings where he,... Read more »

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RTE’S BOB GELDOF HAGIOGRAPHY

Behind the Scenes, 6 March 2020

FOR HIS latest crusade against injustice, Bob Geldof has chosen a somewhat unlikely target: the Boomtown Rats’ exclusion from the rock pantheon. Stretching across a new album, book, and now a two-part RTE special titled Citizens Of Boomtown, Geldof has gone on a full PR... Read more »

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FILM REVIEW: JIHAD JANE

Behind the Scenes, 25 February 2020

CIARAN CASSIDY’S feature documentary Jihad Jane was released in cinemas on February 14, an appropriate date for a project originally, if misleadingly titled Jihad Jane – Dangerously Seeking Marriage. A better title perhaps was the one used for Cassidy’s first run at the story, the... Read more »

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DENIS DESMOND’S DUD

Behind the Scenes, 21 February 2020

WHILE PROMOTER Denis ‘MCD’ Desmond tends to find himself backing winners in the concert game, he also invested in the movie business. The opening film of the Berlin International Film Festival has struck a bum note, however. Desiree Finnegan’s Screen Ireland film funding agency has... Read more »

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‘IRISH OSCARS’ SEQUEL FOR IFTA?

Behind the Scenes, 21 February 2020

IMMEDIATELY AHEAD of the Oscars being dished out in Hollywood, the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) unveiled its new five year strategic plan and, almost immediately, founders Áine Moriarty and Deirdre Hopkins, have got a positive review. The two co-stars have been cast in... Read more »

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JOHN ARKINS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 7 November 2019

HALLOWEEN MAY not be the most auspicious date on which to close submissions for the audit by the Work Relations Commission (WRC) of the “Independent Film & Television Drama Production Sector” – the latest chapter in the glamorous industry’s decade of fraught industrial relations first... Read more »

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REVIEWING GALWAY’S €10M CINEMA HORROR

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 5 November 2019

FANS OF Goldhawk are well acquainted with the historical horror-show behind Galway’s bijou Pálás cinema, originally promoted by Lelia Doolan’s Solas Galway Picture Palace group and very heavily backed by the taxpayer through assorted agencies (See The Phoenix, 6/10/17). A spending review has now been... Read more »

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TAXING MATTERS AT VISUAL IN CARLOW

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 30 October 2019

WHAT ON earth is going on at VISUAL, the multi-million euro contemporary arts centre in Carlow? The board has lost eight directors and there has been no chief executive appointed since Ann Mulrooney departed for the Science Gallery Dublin almost a year ago. It also... Read more »

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IFTA’S MYSTERY PLOT

Affairs, Behind the Scenes, 18 October 2019

EARLIER THIS year (see The Phoenix, 8/2/19) Goldhawk noted a potential lacuna in the diaries of the nation’s celebs with the non-appearance on the calendar of this year’s IFTAs ceremony – Áine Moriarty and Deirdre Hopkins’s annual gong-fest for our deserving film and TV luvvies.... Read more »

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GOOD TIMES AT THE GATE

Behind the Scenes, 10 October 2019

THERE HAS been a cast change at the Abbey where its head of producing, Sarah Lynch, has decided to exit stage left after barely two years at the national theatre. She is heading up the street to the Gate, where Selina Cartmell apparently can do... Read more »

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THE ABBEY’S CASTING CHALLENGE

Behind the Scenes, 10 October 2019

STILL NO sign of a new board member at the Abbey Theatre, where there is a vacancy for someone who knows how to write plays. The vacancy was advertised a long time ago, but the process is dragging on. Meanwhile, the departure of Sarah Lynch... Read more »

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KEVIN RAFTER’S BAPTISM

Behind the Scenes, 1 July 2019

LAST WEEK, the new chair of the Arts Council, Kevin Rafter, oversaw his first meeting of the board – a bruising two-day annual session reviewing policy and working through all the laborious recommendations for “arts grant funding” to organisations for 2020. (This precedes the more... Read more »

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SCREEN IRELAND’S DISTRIBUTORS

Behind the Scenes, 28 June 2019

FINANCIAL hand-outs in Screen Ireland’s 2017 annual report will no doubt be of interest to incoming boss Désirée Finnegan, who replaces James Hickey. Distribution support should catch her eye given Finnegan’s background as a senior exec in the distribution trade with Warner Brothers in London.... Read more »

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