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About
SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE is a short proof of concept film written and created by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney and directed by Oisín Kearney, a creative partnership known for BBC Three’s MY LEFT NUT; BBC NI’s SOFT BORDER PATROL; 2022’s play THE BORDER GAME; 2024’s adaptation of THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III; and the critically acclaimed one-man show MY RIGHT FOOT. This film, financed by Northern Ireland Screen, and produced by Two Cities Television, is a story inspired by Michael’s diagnosis with motor neurone disease. Starring James Nesbitt, Conor MacNeill, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Abigail McGibbon, Ian McElhinney, and Marie Jones, the film also features musician and singer Muireann Bradley, an original score composed by ASH’s Tim Wheeler, and songs by Rory Gallagher. The film serves as a taster for a returnable series that Michael and Oisín have in development with Two Cities TV
Chair
SPONSOR
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Actor & Writer, Writer & Director
Michael Patrick (actor/writer) & Oisín Kearney (writer/director) are an award winning Belfast-based creative partnership. In February 2022, Michael was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, but he and Oisín are continuing to make work. Michael and Oisín were part of BBC's inaugural Comedy Collective scheme, where they shadowed Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and George Kane on the final season of INSIDE NO. 9. For screen, they were the writers & creators of the BBC Three comedy drama MY LEFT NUT (winner of RTS regional awards in 2021 for Best Drama and Best Writing), and they also provided storylines for SOFT BORDER PATROL (BBC NI). They recently wrote the two short films SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE (Starring James Nesbitt and Conor MacNeill, produced by Two Cities TV, with funding from Northern Ireland Screen) and HELPLESS (starring George Robinson, Saoirse Monica Jackson and Éanna Hardwicke, produced by BBC and Fabel). They have also co-written many theatre plays together including MY LEFT NUT (Show in a Bag, winner of the Summerhall Lustrum Award); THE ALTERNATIVE (Fishamble’s A Play for Ireland, winner of two Irish Times Theatre Awards); THE BORDER GAME (Lyric Belfast), MY RIGHT FOOT (Dublin Theatre Festival); and an adaptation of Shakespeare’s THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III (Lyric Belfast). Their radio writing includes BITTER PILL (BBC Radio 4) - nominated Celtic Media Festival Award: Best Drama, Sound; THE HAZARD OF THE DIE (BBC Radio 4) - winner Celtic Media Festival Award: Best Documentary, Sound; THIS ONE TIME ON THE BORDER (Radio Ulster); QUICK COMEDIES (Radio Ulster); and THE 100 YEAR OLD BACKSTOP (BBC Radio 4). As an actor, Michael starred in the stage versions of MY LEFT NUT; MY RIGHT FOOT; and THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III, as well as other work with The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Abbey Theatre Dublin, and The Lyric Theatre Belfast. On screen, he has appeared in Series 1 of BLUE LIGHTS, KRYPTON, THIS TOWN, and GAME OF THRONES. Oisín has directed several award-winning plays including LIE LOW by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth (Royal Court, Traverse Theatre, Abbey Theatre), the stage version of MY LEFT NUT, as well as THE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III and MY RIGHT FOOT. For screen, he directed his and Michael’s short films HELPLESS and SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, as well as the Sharp Short funded SLAY & PREPARE. Oisín’s background is in feature documentaries - assistant producing 66 DAYS and Oscar long-listed and Emmy-nominated ELIÁN. He directed a feature documentary BOJAYÁ: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE, which premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto in April 2019.
Actor and Star of SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE
Born and raised in Northern Ireland, James Nesbitt is now one of the UK’s most high profile actors. Starting his career on stage, Nesbitt has appeared in numerous plays including: Paddywack, Translations, As You Like It, Philadelphia Here I Come, Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay and Shoot The Crow in the West End. Nesbitt’s first major TV roles included Ballykissangel and Playing The Field, but it was playing ‘Adam’ in Cold Feet that brought him to the attention of a wider audience. Based around the lives of three thirty-something couples, this critically-acclaimed drama won James a British Comedy Award in 2000 and a UK National Television Award in 2003. His range of television roles since then has included: Murphy’s Law Monroe Jekyll The Passion The Deep Babylon The Missing Stan Lee’s Lucky Man James Nesbitt has also starred in a number of critically acclaimed films, including Bloody Sunday, Danny Boyle’s movie Millions, BAFTA award-winning Occupation for BBC One. He has also starred in Coriolanus, alongside Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler and played the role of Bofur in The Hobbit trilogy. An extremely experienced after-dinner speaker and awards host, James has hosted the British Independent Film Awards, The Travel Trade Gazette Awards, The Empire Awards, GQ Awards, The Campaign Media Awards and The Music Week Awards. In 2015, James also hosted the FIFA Ballon D’or Awards – this internationally broadcasted ceremony included a selective list of guests including current and former footballers & professional coaches from around the world.
Talent Executive, Northern Ireland Screen
Christine Morrow is Talent Executive at Northern Ireland Screen. Christine has worked in the media industry in Northern Ireland for two decades. In 2003, she began working with BBC Northern Ireland Drama as a Development Assistant, through the Extend programme. Since joining Northern Ireland Screen in 2004, Christine has worked on several short film development and production initiatives with new and emerging talent across the animation, scripted and unscripted sectors. Christine holds an MA in Film and TV Production and Policy from Ulster University, Coleraine graduating in 2011.
Actor & Star of SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE
Conor is best known for his TV roles in Industry, The Sixth Commandment, The Tourist, and Derry Girls. His stage credits include The Ferryman (Royal Court/Broadway), and Portia Coughlan at The Almeida.
Producer of SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE and Script Editor for Two Cities TV
Connor Richmond is a Script Editor at Two Cities Television and recently produced the short proof of concept film SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, written by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney and directed by Oisín Kearney. He assistant script edited AMADEUS (Sky), written by Joe Barton, and was previously Two Cities TV’s Development Coordinator. Connor has a PGDip in Script Development from the NFTS, where he was a Shadow Script Editor for BBC Writersroom. He was also a Trainee Script Editor on the development of Series 1 and 2 of BLUE LIGHTS (BBC), written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, and prior to Two Cities, he was a Script Secretary on the feature film LOLA, Script Assistant on A BUMP ALONG THE WAY, and Script Reader for Mammoth Screen and UK Film Festival. Connor production coordinated the feature film BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL, animated film SOL (TG4/BBC Alba/S4C), animated series LADYBIRD & BEE (RTÉjr), and Series 2 of PABLO (CBeebies/RTÉjr), where he worked as post-production supervisor and live-action production manager, for Paper Owl Films. Connor also runs his own company, Dogleap Productions, and has produced short films including REROOT, which starred an ensemble cast, including Siobhán McSweeney and screened at 15 festivals, including Cannes Film Awards, Animation Dingle, Cork International Film Festival, Kerry International Film Festival, London Director Awards, and Belfast Film Festival. He started as a Script Supervisor’s Assistant and 3rd AD on EMMERDALE (ITV).
Actor & Star of SO YOU’RE GOING TO DIE
Tara Lynne O’Neill is a Northern Irish Writer & Actress for Stage and Screen. She wrote and starred in her debut play Rough Girls (Methuen Drama), which was commissioned by and performed at Lyric Theatre, Belfast and later filmed and broadcast on BBC Four. Tara has also written productions for The MAC, Belfast including NINOW100, A Christmas Carol and The Elves and the Shoemaker. Tara is well known for her acting roles in Derry Girls (Channel 4/ Netflix), Disco Pigs (Temple Films/ Irish Film Board) starring Cillian Murphy and Full Circle (Sunpath Pictures).