2021 in Review

What a year it has been!

I started out 2021 as an aspiring screenwriter. I had not been optioned yet, had just won my first big competition (rather than just a placement or selection), had just settled in to my home in the Wicklow mountains after a few tumultuous years on the run and on the go… and I was beginning to think that this screenwriting thing was really, really going to be my career for the rest of my life.

30 was looming, after all.

There had always been this idea, this far-off dream, this notion that I wanted to live off my writing when I was 30 years old. 30 is a good age to retire from a day job, right? 30 is the age at which an artist ought to have established herself, right? Only… I’d been a bit busy in the 30 years leading up to this magical moment. I’d had all the … you know… abuse and human trafficking and domestic violence and stuff… so… yeah.

I didn’t think I could hit that goal. Didn’t think I had it in me to quit that day job, to make that jump. And after all, I thought as 2021 was just beginning… after all - I’m not even optioned yet, let alone produced. None of my scripts have sold, how can I even think about making this my career.

And then that magic email came through. “I’d love to make it”, he said. “Can I option it?”

My reply came swiftly and in all caps.

It went a bit wonky, then. The whirlwind began for real. I optioned BlackBird in February 2021, optioned In Your Name in March. Then, I set off to write The Unfinished Heart in the summer, which took 2 months of intense work (and sore hands from typing 140k words on top of my day job). But when that was done… there it was, all of a sudden. There it was, looming, and threatening, and altogether terrifying. The big one. The big, big 3.0

I went on Alex Byrne’s show Le Chats to announce the title for the memoir. And just like that. I was 30 years old, a twice optioned screenwriter with 2 books on the way. I was working on commissions, edited scripts from as far afield as Australia, was making SO many new friends and acquaintances… and my day job fell away, fell by the wayside and has not been mourned even once.

The Hustle was born then, out of necessity and a discussion with my dear colleague Gavin Ryan. That gave birth to my lecturing at Griffith College. All of a sudden, I was not only a published author, twice optioned screenwriter, but also a guest lecturer at a major college.

And then… Then came Kiki, then came David. Kiki strolled into my mirror like she’d always lived there, stuck her tongue out at me and dared me to tell her story. “Bet you can’t”, she whispered. “Bet you can’t because you’re me. You’re not brave enough to tell this story, are you?”

She was right. I wasn’t. Which, of course, meant that I had to.

I sat down on a Tuesday evening to write It Was You. It was done by Wednesday.

Then came the decision. This was one story I could not leave in the drawer or give away to someone else. This was the most personal story I had ever written (yes, even more personal than my actual autobiography). This was the most intense, most emotionally jarring, the most heartbreaking thing I had ever put to paper. And I knew I had to own it. Keep it.

Make it.

I had no choice. I mulled it over, thought it through, sat on the decision for a few days. Called my friends, asked for advice. But the decision had been made the first time Kiki stuck her face in my face. It Was You was going to be made locally, produced by me, with a cast of my choosing… I was going to own this movie and if it was the last thing I ever did.

Whatever it takes, I kept whispering. I still whisper that to myself.

3 people appeared on the horizon as if the universe had planted them there. Shane Robinson: one of the best actors of his generation. Sam Uhlemann: the director whose vision aligned so perfectly with mine it actually physically hurts my brain sometimes. And the miracle man who has become one of my closest friends in the few weeks I’ve known him: Mijrin Al Hajri.

And boom. There it was. It Was You had a POC/trailer. And then, it was Christmas. And now it’s New Year.

And now? Now I’m working on Aicearra, there’s a feature in the works that we’re going into production with at the end of February, It Was You is on the horizon for the summer, The Pier is an anthology that is unlike anything that’s been attempted in recent years (with a team of 5 directors, 10 cast, all set in one location), I am in talks about creating a project in Romania for the autumn… So yes. 2021 was a good year, I think.

2022 will be even better.