One production at a time: the local film-makers putting Mayo on camera

There is a particular kind of chaos that comes with making a film.

In a farmhouse in Carrowholly, the production team are working around actors, cameras, animals and a tight schedule. Four greyhounds are part of the cast. Two donkeys — Eleanor and Penny, a mother and daughter from Louisburgh — have their own role to play.

And behind it all is a largely Mayo-based production team trying to do something bigger than make one short film.

Somewhere in the middle of it all are producers Emer Durcan and Croía McDermott, moving from one job to the next, checking that things are happening and that everyone has what they need.

For Western Front Studios producer Emer Durcan, this is more or less how she likes it.

“When I’m on set, I’m whatever,” she laughs. “If there’s something that needs doing, I’ll just do it.”

Failing to Fetch Me

Durcan is one half of the producing team behind Failing to Fetch Me, a new short film being shot across West Mayo by American writer and director Joe Kavanagh, through his production company Fetch Me Films. Durcan is producing alongside Croía McDermott, while her husband Brian is director of photography.

The film is a sequel of sorts to Grey, a feature script Kavanagh wrote.

“Everybody liked it, so we decided to make it,” Kavanagh laughs.

The story is set in Ireland, with Irish characters, and has greyhound racing as its backdrop. But the film is ultimately about people and families.

For Durcan, the combination of the unusual cast and the story itself was part of the attraction.

“It’s a bit of a mad one,” she says.

But beneath the madness is a serious story about grief, childhood and the bond between people and animals.

“It was a beautiful analogy of how a human being, a child, deals with grief, and also the bond between human beings and animals,” Durcan says.

Filming in Mayo

The production has been moving around West Mayo, with filming taking place in Aughagower, including at Scott’s and the cemetery, before moving to the farmhouse in Rosmoney attached to Carrowholly Stables.

The Mayo landscape is not simply a backdrop. For Durcan, that is one of Mayo’s great advantages.

“It is so important because it’s part of the character in the film,” she says. “It’s unique.”

But there is another reason she is determined to see more productions happen here. Because what Durcan and McDermott are really working on is the possibility of building a life in film without having to leave Mayo to do it.

“I’ve got two kids. My husband’s the DOP,” she says. “I don’t want to move somewhere just to do my job.”

Durcan helped establish the Mayo Film Collective with Mayo County Council and Film Mayo, with the aim of connecting local filmmakers and building a sustainable industry. At the group’s first meeting, around 60 people turned up.

The message was clear: there was talent here, what was missing was enough regular work to allow people to build sustainable careers from it.

“It’s really important that we get producers on board first and foremost, because they’re the ones that are going to be here creating the work and bringing the projects,” she says. “You’re aiming for a kind of sustainability so that there’s enough productions here year-round, year after year, to sustain somebody who is a member of crew to live here.”

The hope is that productions coming into the county will employ people who live here, while also giving new entrants a chance to learn.

On the set of Failing to fetch Me, that is already happening. Much of the crew is local, with others brought in from outside the county and paired with people gaining experience and training.

“It’s so, so important,” co-producer Croía McDermott says to describe this opportunity.

Multi-tasking on set

McDermott’s own career has developed through the local production community. The Murrisk native began as a trainee, progressed through assistant director roles and recently moved into producing her own work. Her involvement in the current film is another step forward.

“I was over the moon that [Western Front] even wanted to co-produce with me,” she says. “I think there’s nothing better than a challenge. And I think ultimately there was a really beautiful story.”

“You can really tell truthfulness in writing,” she says. “And it’s definitely something that I felt with the script as well. It was really quite magical.”

On set, her job is not confined to producing. She is also working as a second and third assistant director, combining roles because of the resources available on a short film, while helping trainees learn as the production moves along.

“Busy, busy bee,” she says with a smile.

That mixture of learning, working and stepping up into new roles is exactly what the Mayo film community hopes will create a pipeline of local talent.

McDermott says there is no shortage of creative people in the county.

“I think there’s always been some really talented creative people that came from Mayo,” she says.

The challenge is creating enough work for them to stay.

There are also practical obstacles. Mayo does not have the same production infrastructure as Dublin, including access to equipment rental houses, meaning some equipment has to be brought from outside the county. Some specialist crew members also have to travel in. But Durcan sees that as part of the development process.

“You pair them with people who are being trained,” she says.

That approach is already producing results. Emer and Western Front’s latest production, Horseback, won Best Short Irish Film just two weeks ago.

And for Durcan, the secret to a successful production ultimately comes down to one thing: the team.

“It’s about putting the right team together,” she says.

If people feel supported, she believes, they collaborate. And when that collaboration works, something special happens.

“Respect for everyone on set, for the artistry of everyone,” she says. “That’s really it.”

McDermott agrees, but film-production also brings its own particular challenges.

There is a child actor. There are four greyhounds. There are two donkeys. And, as every film producer knows, the animals do not necessarily read the script.

“You have to trust the process,” Durcan says.

For her, one of the most rewarding parts of producing is watching something that existed only on the page become real.

As productions ends, the cameras stop, the greyhounds and donkeys go home, the equipment is packed away and the crew moves on to their next jobs.

A bigger project

But for Durcan and McDermott, the hope is that the work continues.

The aim is not simply to have a few films shoot in Mayo each year. The long-term ambition is to have a functioning industry here — with producers, crew, training, facilities and eventually studio infrastructure.

Durcan is lobbying for a film production studio to be developed in the county, while the Mayo Film Collective is working with organisations including Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.

The production of Failing to Fetch Me is therefore another small piece of a much larger puzzle. And there is something fitting about the fact that this particular film is being made through a collaboration between local and international filmmakers.

Kavanagh may be coming from the US, but his story is being brought to the screen in Mayo, with Mayo-based producers and crew.

For Durcan, it is evidence of what can happen when local filmmakers are given the opportunity.

“It’s the first time that somebody from overseas has commissioned us, really, to produce something of this scale for them,” she says.

Because the real project is not just this film. It is the idea that the next production can be made here too. One Mayo crew member gets another credit. One trainee moves into a bigger role. One producer brings another project to the county.

One production at a time.

And perhaps, eventually, Mayo will not simply be the place where filmmakers come to shoot. It will be the place where they come to make films.