A husband and wife duo from Headford look to be onto a winner with their new comedy drama – what might be described as an Irish twist on the classic cop show, Cagney and Lacey.
Quinn & O’Grady is the story of a hardnosed Garda, Jo O’Grady (Sharon Sexton), who joins forces with local Reserve Garda, Mary Bridget Quinn (Ríona O’Connor), to investigate bizarre happenings in the village of Blackhill.
And it has made the cut for the sixth series of Storyland, the RTÉ collaboration with Northern Ireland Screen – one of five twenty-minute dramas, commissioned from over 200 applicants.
Quinn & O’Grady was produced and directed by husband and wife Ivan McMahon and Molly O’Driscoll of Two Hungry Fish Productions, a small operation based in Headford.
The couple met years ago at Roger Corman’s Concorde film studios in Inverin. Both were with TG4, which was in its infancy at that time. Molly operated cameras for TG4 news and Ros Na Rún, where Ivan was assistant director.
She recalls her time working in Connemara with fondness, reflecting on those days she remarked “great bunch of people, great fun”.
The husband/wife duo, both hold a Masters degree in screenwriting. Molly currently lectures in the Huston School of Film and Digital Media with NUIG and Ivan is First Assistant Director on the television drama series Jack Taylor, featuring Game of Thrones star Iain Glen.
“It’s all go,” admits Molly, who manages to balance lecturing with a side of television drama production, feature film production and raising two boys, Robert (10) and Gregory (8).
Indeed this is the second comedy production for RTÉ Storyland by the husband and wife team. They previously created a four part web series – the Outlaw Concy Ryan – for the 2011 RTÉ Storyland competition.
Storyland itself is an award winning commissioning project that aims to bring original stories to audiences and showcases creative talent across writing, acting, producing and directing.
The effort by RTÉ encourages aspiring television and filmmakers by showcasing their work on a multiplatform site which reaches 4.2 million streams per month and 1.7 million downloads.
This year’s finalists include a gripping crime drama Costigan; a chilling dystopian drama Dinosaurs, a dark coming of age drama Hot Knives, and another comedy Smitten – as well as Quinn & O’Grady.
The story was developed with the help of writer Janet Hayes, and together they spent two months drafting the story. When all was preened and perfected the team cut together a production package and sent it off to RTÉ.
Judges were tickled and shortlisted them for the 2016 Storyland Competition. They were called to interview before panellists from RTÉ and Northern Ireland Screen.
Not ones to be coy, this Galway couple had them “falling over themselves laughing” by the end of it, successfully securing their place in the competition.
“We were thrilled,” Molly says, as she recounts being told the good news.
RTÉ provided €30,000 funding and as such are executive producers of the show. They were instructed to create a pilot with a view to develop a series.
This year’s Storyland format focuses on one twenty-minute production in contrast to previous 2011 format which required teams to create four six-minute productions.
Molly finds the current format more favourable. “It allows room for the character to breathe, time to generate the story, engage the audience and set up the world,” she explains.
One of the most notable aspects of this short comedy drama is the fact that it goes against the grain by boasting two female leads.
“I think we need that; foregrounding female protagonists,” Molly maintains.
The five Storyland finalist productions will feature on the RTE Player website for five months – and with 4.2 million views per month, that a potential of 21 million views.
The post Family duo turn Headford into little Hollywood appeared first on Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune.