Squeaker: Whats it about?

Squeaker is a film about a boy who is bullied for supposedly being gay when he actually has always felt he is - and wants to become - a girl. He meets a damaged ex-boxer pigeon fancier with whom he forms an unlikely relationship - both ultimately finding some degree of salvation and redemption.

A sort of transgendered Kes. Please donate here. Thanks folks!

Who wants to help me win a BAFTA?

I want to make another short film. A non time limited competition one this time. One that I can aim at BAFTA and Oscar feeder festivals. Since all of my funding from the last one came from people I knew I'd rather not take the crowd funding route and keep the 15% they take in fees. 

Squeaker is a short film about a boy who is bullied for supposedly being gay when he actually has always felt he is - and wants to become - a girl. He meets an ex-boxer pigeon fancier with whom he forms an unlikely relationship - both ultimately finding some degree of salvation and redemption.

A sort of transgendered Kes. Please donate here.

Still from Around Again 2012

I'd be grateful if you could DM or email me if you would like to pledge an amount towards this. If you want to just sponsor me up front then thats very welcome too. In return you'll get a credit at a level commensurate with your contribution plus as far as practicable invites to screenings, bonus features, perks, my undying affection.

Michael Parle in Fled 2013

You'll also get the warm glow (hopefully) of helping me take the last logical step before a full feature production.

Internalised 2011

Who wants to help? Donate now! Watch previous films here.

September 13 Round Up!

Birmingham Film Studios Open Evening 27th September 2013

I went to the open evening at the new Birmingham Film Studios last night. It was a good night and I was very pleased with the turn out. Some old friends and some new. I had a chat with several people that might lead to new collaborations. I love networking - you just never know unless you "work the  room" and find out who people are and what they aspire to do - what projects you might be able to create together. Its absolutely invaluable in my experience.

The green screen went white for one client!

The new green screen at BFS is fab. They're doing a knockout deal at the moment where they'll include the use of a 4k Red camera for free when you hire the green screen for a day. The cameras come with EF or PL mount so you can use your own Canon lenses but on a RED!

I'm going to be sharing a small office at BFS with James Fair who runs a 72 hour feature filmmaking project called appropriately enough The 72 Project. He is looking for all sorts of people that might want to get involved in helping shoot the latest edition of the project right here in Birmingham. He's already done other projects in Melbourne and Galway.

The 72 Project

 You can join the mailing list at the bottom of the project page if you want to get involved and keep up to date with whats happening.

James teaches film at both Staffordshire University and Filmbase in Dublin. I'm hoping that my own Stickleback Productions and James's Grand Independent will be able to collaborate together in the long term on a range of fiction, documentary and educational projects.

In other news I've been very pleased to learn that the 104 Films' Generator scheme for which I was selected earlier this year is continuing with some additional training and mentoring in Sheffield. Yippee! I had a great time at the Edinburgh Film Festival with my fellow Generation 104'ers so am delighted to be meeting up with them all again.

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Looking for Excellent Short Scripts with a 35-40 Female Lead

I'm looking for a completed short, powerful script with a strong female lead aged 35-40 years old. 10-15 minutes maximum length. Its a low-no budget production so few locations and that means effectively nothing period, horror or Sci-Fi. I'm looking for something that could be submitted to top indie film festivals such as Sundance.

The chosen script will be shot on Pannyhire's new Red Epic-X with high production values. 

Please send a short synopsis, 1 x script and a paragraph about yourself in first instance. Please do not send me back catalogue that has already been rejected by others. Email below.

You can see my previous work on my Vimeo site. Follow me on Twitter here.

Generation 104 @ Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013!

What can I say? Edinburgh International Film Festival was simply brilliant! Big thanks to the fantastic folks at 104 Films who selected me for their Generator scheme and which I'm very pleased to say is ongoing. My fellow Generator scheme participants were a great and multi-talented bunch too.

I'm going to do a full write up soon but was barely back in Brum when I received an invitation to pitch in front of another industry panel at Cofilmic in London so am now preparing for that! In between I also managed to squeeze in hosting a Q and A at the Lighthouse in Wolverhampton last night with the makers and actors from Dalston Heath - a short that should do very well on the festival circuit.

Kate Dickie and me!

Their were plenty of highlights at the festival for me but the best one was meeting the lovely and brilliant actress Kate Dickie (Red Road, Prometheus) on the first day. Kate likes the project I pitched to her earlier so it was great to meet and chat about possibilities.

Fled by Stickleback Productions

FLED by Stickleback Productions from Brendan O'Neill on Vimeo.

The Making of Fled

Here is a short Behind the Scenes video which was shot on Day 1 at the St Paul's Church location in central Birmingham. Thanks to Ed Stone for shooting and editing. Its nice to have a memento of the behind the camera activity.


Behind the Scenes of 'FLED' from Edward stone on Vimeo.