03 Aug Guest Blog | Bear Print Films
KSF Artists of Choice, is open to artists across the disciplines of dance, theatre, musical theatre and film. Over the next few weeks, we will post guest blogs from some of our 2016 grant winners about how the grant has impacted their work. Applications will be open in early 2017.
Names | Bear Print Films - Megan Devaney and Finbarr Crotty
Project | Out of his Misery
Year Awarded KSF Grant | 2016
What does the KSF grant mean to you and your project?
MD: Receiving the Kevin Spacey Foundation Artists of Choice Award is a massive vote of confidence. It’s giving us a chance to get out there and make the kind of production that we want to make but is only doable with funding.
FC: The KSF grant is a great avenue for emerging filmmakers. The resources aren’t really there for young filmmakers and this really gives people the opportunity to get out there and make films. To get shortlisted was fantastic but then to go on and win was really something.
What inspired your project?
MD: After we graduated from the National Film School in Ireland a group of us set up a writers club as a way to keep us creating new scripts every month. We based our writing around themes and from the theme of bus “Out of his Misery” was born. Within that it is very much inspired by my rural upbringing in Ireland and the comedy that is ever present there.
Talk about your journey prior to the receiving the award. What kind of difficulties or roadblocks did you encounter along the way? How did you overcome them?
MD: I think that one of the biggest difficulties since finishing film school was that all of a sudden if you wanted to make something you didn’t have the immediate access to the gear and insurance that you had before, so you’re immediately more limited with what you can do. It’s definitely something you take for granted when you have it. We were lucky to have built up a strong group of friends through film school that kept us making things, whether that’s writing scripts or parodying Rihanna music videos.
What would you say are the most defining moments of your career thus far?
MD: Receiving the grant has definitely been the most defining moment of my career so far. Even if we hadn’t received the grant, the interview process alone has been amazing. At this stage in my career it’s a huge honour to have had the chance to pitch a film to a panel of the calibre that the Kevin Spacey Foundation provided.
FC: There have been a few moments over the years that have stood out like our student films gaining attention at festivals but the KSF Award definitely tops it. It give us the opportunity to make this film with our first proper budget since college and having the Kevin Spacey name attached to the project should gain the project a lot of attention.
Do you have any advice for emerging artists?
MD: I would just say keep making things, applying for things, and don’t write yourself off, you never know when something could work out, and that thing could just be the Kevin Spacey Foundation.
FC: Always keep looking for work. Always keep looking for funding. Always say yes to whatever you think may further your career.
Read more about Megan and Finbarr’s project here.
Megan and Finbarr discuss their project here.