Film Ireland Podcast

In the latest episode of the State of the Arts podcast (@sotapod), filmmaker and writer Des Doyle sits down with acclaimed television creator, writer, and showrunner Shawn Ryan to discuss his journey from playwriting in Illinois to creating some of the most influential drama series in modern television.
Produced in partnership with Film Ireland and supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland through the Screen Stakeholders Funding Scheme, the State of the Arts series explores the creative processes, industry challenges, and new opportunities that both Irish and international creatives face in today’s ever-evolving artistic landscapes.
In this conversation, Shawn reflects on his early years writing plays after his move to Los Angeles, where he worked on popular series such as Nash Bridges and Angel before creating FX’s first original drama, The Shield. He discusses his craft and his work on The Night Agent in some depth, his career journey, and the evolving landscape of television.
Follow the journey of State Of The Arts on instagram.
Listen to this podcast now on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Soundcloud, Podtail, Podbean and Deezer.
https://www.filmireland.net/state-of-the-arts-podcast-showrunner-shawn-ryan-the-night-agent-the-shield-s-w-a-t-with-des-doyle/

Shawn Ryan
Shawn was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated from Middlebury College, where he began writing plays. After moving to Los Angeles, he was staffed on Nash Bridges and Angel before creating and showrunning FX’s first original drama, The Shield. For his work on The Shield, Ryan received a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama, an Emmy nomination for writing, a Peabody Award, and two AFI Awards.
Other series Ryan has created, co-created, or showrun include The Unit, The Chicago Code, Terriers, Last Resort, Mad Dogs, Timeless, S.W.A.T., The Night Agent, and the forthcoming series American Hostage.
Ryan has also served on the Board of Directors for the Writers Guild of America West and was Co-Chair of the WGA Negotiating Committee in 2020.

Des Doyle
Des is a D.I.T. graduate who spent fifteen years working in the Camera Department in the Irish film industry before moving into directing. He is the writer/director of the critically acclaimed feature documentary Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show, featuring JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost, Fringe), Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife), Ronald D. Moore (Outlander, Battlestar Galactica) and Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) amongst others.
He has created a number of courses in conjunction with Screen Ireland over the last few years, which provide breakdowns of all the major US and international streaming networks and what their evolving programming needs may be. He also initiated the Pitching Programme for TV Drama and Comedy with Screen Ireland, giving a selected group of writers the opportunity to pitch directly to some of the major Irish production companies based on briefs they provide, and created the LA Writers Room Placements scheme, which allowed Irish writers to travel to LA and spend time in real-world US TV series writers’ rooms.
He has also lectured on Showrunning, US TV Production and the Future of Content at USC Los Angeles, Rowan University Philadelphia, Scriptmakers Berlin, APIT TV Producers Conference Lisbon, Northern Ireland Screen, IADT Dublin, Writers Guild of Ireland and as part of the recent Greenlight Screenwriting Labs in Galway. He is currently developing a new documentary series, which is a US/Irish co-production, as well as providing creative consultancy services to Irish producers, writers and directors with projects targeting the US or global streaming markets.
He is also the co-founder of Destination TV along with Ciarán Donnelly, a creative skills live events company that recently brought Oscar and Emmy-nominated writer/director/showrunner Jonathan Nolan to Dublin for a masterclass.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Film Ireland Podcast, contributor Will Penn chats with Irish-American harpist Joy Shannon, who's preparing to shoot a documentary in Ireland.

Her new album In The Forest Singing Sorrowless, released in late November, is inspired by the poetry of J. R. R. Tolkien and features a special collaboration with his great-granddaughter. Unfortunately there are some technical issues with this section that have impacted the audio.

Then at 28:56, contributor Dolapo Agunbiade sits down with writer-director Adam Mura to discuss his indie series Midlands Mayhem. From the origins of the concept to the realities of independent production, they delve into the making of the show and look at what audiences can expect.

Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.

https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-midlands-mayhem-writer-director-adam-mura-harpist-joy-shannon

Midlands Mayhem

Jared Ennis is a disaffected young man working in a scrapyard in the midlands of Ireland. In years prior, Ennis was a hard-partier among a group of young people in the town who frequently drink, do drugs and engage in petty crime, branding themselves The Sesh Council. Ennis is contacted by Council member and former friend Tristan ‘Canner’ Corcoran, who reveals their acquaintance, Fearghal, has been murdered. The two meet with Jessica ‘Seshica’ Hegarty, the Grand Elder and leader of the Sesh Council, who tries to bring Ennis back into the fold to investigate the murder. A local young man and former classmate of Ennis, Mad Jack Wensleydale, takes credit for Fearghal’s murder, vowing to rid the midlands of the crime and violence that the Council brings. It’s made clear to the Council that he’s not working alone.

The two main creative minds behind the project were Adam Mura and Shane O’Baoill, who met studying film at college. They produced the series together with Adam in the director’s chair and Shane serving as the Director of Photography. Adam went to school in the Midlands and most of his friends were from the area. This included two of the main characters portrayed by William Ennis and Tristan Canning.

Joy Shannon

Joy is an Irish harpist and singer whose ethereal and haunting songs come from depths of Irish folklore. Her melodies evoke images of witch’s lairs in dark woods or the distant echoes of the voices of spirits in the ancient places of the Irish countryside.

Joy Shannon’s newest album release In the Forest Singing Sorrowless is inspired by author J.R.R. Tolkien’s poetry, with Shannon’s original music accompanying Tolkien’s wonderful words. Shannon decided to create this album during a personally challenging year, when she went through medical treatments for breast cancer. Tolkien’s works have always been an inspiration for Shannon, especially to have hope and purpose at the darkest times, so the recording of this album carried her through a difficult time. The resulting album is a mystical dream-walk through Tolkien’s landscapes, through the magical lens of Shannon’s intimate harp and vocals.

Last year, Shannon released an album called An Chailleach, or Irish for the crone or elder goddess. For this album, Shannon delved into the lore of the dark wintertime goddess of Ireland, with stark and stunning compositions. Shannon’s fascination with ancient lore, led her to this year’s album, as Tolkien’s works are similarly inspired by ancient mythologies. Through her signature dark folk, full of longing and a mystical air, her music pairs perfectly with the words of Tolkien.

The record, which has been met with critical praise, was composed while Shannon was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Shannon is set to head to Ireland in 2026 to shoot a new documentary titled The Cailleach, based on her own life experiences.
Check out her website here: www.joyshannon.com.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In partnership with RENDR Festival and supported by the National Talent Academy for VFX, we are delighted to present the first in a very special speaker series.

Recorded on location at RENDR 2026 in Banana Block, Belfast, we catch up with Irish TV and feature film photographer Helen Sloan, whose expansive list of credits includes How to Train Your Dragon, Wednesday, Derry Girls, and Foundation. In this in-depth conversation, she discusses the responsibilities and artistry of the role, and shares how she ascended in her career following her first big break on Game of Thrones.

https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-tv-feature-film-photographer-helen-sloan-wednesday-game-of-thrones

This series of talks was recorded in The Spinners Mill Studio, a podcast and DJ studio based in Banana Block offering tailored solutions for DJ sessions, small-scale events and podcasting from concept to final distribution.

Helen Sloan
Helen was born in rural Ireland. Given her first camera at age 11, she quickly came into her “fly on the wall” role, capturing snapshots of life around her. At age 18 while studying Art in Belfast, she landed among a group of circus performers - where her non intrusive style of photography and technical mind lent itself well to performance photography. She travelled the world with various troupes and performers, spending a large amount of time in Iceland. A series of melancholy portraits caught the eye of a movie producer - who invited her to work on a series of horror films. Sloan landed more and more jobs on film and television sets over the next decade - and the “Game of Thrones” came to her doorstep. Helen is responsible for the photography from the hit HBO drama having been there from the first day of the pilot, until the very last day of filming. The job covered many genres of photography; landscape, portraiture, studio posters and behind the scene documentary. She is a European Nikon Ambassador and the first Irish member of The Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers.

RENDR Festival
This is a unique event celebrating creative craft and artistry in a fully immersive two-day festival exploring the space between Creativity and Technology. Ignite your imagination with inspiring speakers from the worlds of Film, Gaming, Animation, Immersive, and more! Learn from the best, with 30+ creatives from the likes of Netflix, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios and Epic Games among others.
Witness creative uses of new technology, explore the gallery of digital art, chow down at the food village or play in the arcade. You will be transported to the future, and provide you with unforgettable and inspirational nights. Like nothing you have experienced before, our unique combination is guaranteed to provide two nights you can’t miss. Come for the talks, stay for the experience!

National Talent Academy for Visual Effects
As the newest of the Academies, the National Talent Academy for VFX provides support and opportunities for anyone interested in a career in VFX. Launched in 2024, the National Talent Academy for VFX is an initiative of Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland, managed by Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet. Their mission is to transform aspiring VFX artists into industry-ready professionals while providing ongoing upskilling opportunities for current talent.
Through comprehensive courses and programmess, we introduce participants to best practices both locally and globally, creating clear pathways and solidifying Ireland’s reputation as a premier destination for VFX. The National Talent Academy for VFX is dedicated to attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, fostering greater awareness of VFX as a viable and exciting career choice. Learn more about the work they do here.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In partnership with RENDR Festival and supported by the National Talent Academy for VFX, we are delighted to present the first in a very special speaker series.
Recorded on location at RENDR 2026 in Banana Block Belfast, we caught up with Emmy and Visual Effects Society award-winning VFX Supervisor Jay Worth, whose impressive list of credits includes Westworld, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Person of Interest, The Magicians and Fallout. In this in-depth conversation, he discusses his transition from theatre to VFX, creatively collaborating with J.J. Abrams, and building the beautiful worlds that he’s most proud of.

Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.

This series of talks was recorded in The Spinners Mill Studio, a podcast and DJ studio based in Banana Block offering tailored solutions for DJ sessions, small-scale events and podcasting from concept to final distribution.

Read more about this episode here:
https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-in-conversation-with-vfx-supervisor-jay-worth-westworld-fallout/

Jay Worth

Jay Worth is an Emmy and Visual Effects Society award winner who began his career in 1997 at Digital Domain. He fell in love working on episodic television in 2005 on Alias. He has had the privilege of collaborating with Jonah Nolan and Kilter films as well as J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot throughout his career. He has worked on over 500 episodes of television such as Westworld, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Person of Interest, The Magicians and Fallout. He has won an Emmy for his work on Westworld as well as collecting 9 other nominations spanning 7 different shows - along with winning a Visual Effects Society award for Fringe and collecting 11 additional nominations.

RENDR FESTIVAL
This is a unique event celebrating creative craft and artistry in a fully immersive two-day festival exploring the space between Creativity and Technology. Ignite your imagination with inspiring speakers from the worlds of Film, Gaming, Animation, Immersive, and more! Learn from the best, with 30+ creatives from the likes of Netflix, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios and Epic Games among others. Witness creative uses of new technology, explore the gallery of digital art, chow down at the food village or play in the arcade. You will be transported to the future, and provide you with unforgettable and inspirational nights. Like nothing you have experienced before, our unique combination is guaranteed to provide two nights you can’t miss. Come for the talks, stay for the experience!

National Talent Academy for Visual Effects
As the newest of the Academies, the National Talent Academy for VFX provides support and opportunities for anyone interested in a career in VFX. Launched in 2024, the National Talent Academy for VFX is an initiative of Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland, managed by Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet. Their mission is to transform aspiring VFX artists into industry-ready professionals while providing ongoing upskilling opportunities for current talent. Through comprehensive courses and programmess, we introduce participants to best practices both locally and globally, creating clear pathways and solidifying Ireland’s reputation as a premier destination for VFX. The National Talent Academy for VFX is dedicated to attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, fostering greater awareness of VFX as a viable and exciting career choice. Learn more about the work they do here.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest podcast, Naemi Victoria chats with director Kathryn Ferguson about her short film Nostalgie, which is nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, as well as being nominated in the Best Short Film category at the 2026 Irish Film & Television Awards.
Nostalgie stars Aidan Gillen and features original songs and a score by Dan Smith, the Grammy-nominated, Brit Award-winning frontman of Bastille.

Drew Lord Haig (Gillen), a faded English 1980s pop star, is unexpectedly invited to perform in Northern Ireland, pulling him out of musical retirement and into a moral dilemma tied to the unintended legacy of his work. What begins as an exercise in nostalgia turns into a reckoning when Drew discovers his music has been repurposed in ways that contradict its original intent.

The film also stars Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap) and Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters), alongside a predominantly Northern Irish cast. Written by Stacey Gregg and based on a short story by Wendy Erskine, Nostalgie explores the intersection of personal vanity, collective memory, and the political afterlife of pop culture.

Read more here:

www.filmireland.net/podcast-kathryn-ferguson-on-bafta-ifta-nominated-short-nostalgie

Kathryn Ferguson

Belfast-born Kathryn is an Emmy-nominated, BIFA and IFTA winning director whose innovative and boundary-pushing documentary work has screened globally. Kathryn studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, and in 2022 was awarded the inaugural BFI & Chanel Award for Creative Audacity.

In 2018, Kathryn's short documentary Taking the Waters premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest, and was long-listed for a BAFTA. Then, in 2021, Kathryn worked with Passion Pictures on the short Space to Be for The Guardian's acclaimed documentary series.
After a decade of short-form work centred on identity, gender politics, and community, Kathryn recently completed her debut feature documentary Nothing Compares - which takes as its subject Sinéad O'Connor's artistry and activism. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2022 then toured the international festival circuit, where it picked up multiple awards, before hitting cinemas in October 2022. It has received over thirty award nominations internationally, including Emmy, Critics Choice, IDA, and PGA Awards, and was awarded winner of Best Feature Documentary at BIFA 2022 and IFTA 2023. Nothing Compares is now available to watch on Showtime and Sky.
Kathryn's second feature documentary, a collaboration with Universal, is due to be released in 2024.

Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.