Those of you who couldn't attend the recent "Give Me Direction" screenwriting conference organised by the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board will be delighted to know that the IFB has released podcasts of four panel discussions, which can be downloaded from the web site.
The latest Podcast on The Stage is with playwright David Hare, who is best known for his stage productions including Stuff Happens, The Vertical Hour and Gethsemane, and he was nominated for an Oscar this year for his screen adaptation of The Reader. Earlier this year Hare also acted as judge for the prestigious Yale Drama Series Prize for emerging playwrights.
Filmbase are organising a free information session on the art of the Podcasting, at their premises in Temple Bar, Dublin, at 10.30am, on Wednesday 1st April.
The session will show how podcasting can be used as a learning tool by filmmakers and artists, and how filmmakers can use podcasting to distribute their own content online.
Topics to be covered will include:Session Facilitator:
- What is podcasting?
- Trends in the use of podcasting by artists: how music and video is being distributed online by bands.
- Trends in the use of podcasting by teachers: learning online using podcasting, with specific reference to online post production tutorials for filmmakers.
- Trends in the use of podcasting by organisations such as art galleries and film festivals.
- Online distribution methods for podcasts.
- Technical aspects of podcast distribution & preparing content for the web.
The session will be led by multimedia producer and filmmaker John Callaghan. John produces and directs short films, music videos and mini documentaries. He also runs the successful video podcast site www.TheBubble.ie and is co-owner of the video production company Mercury Boy. John also releases his own work under the name Cal-TV.
If you would like to register an interest in attending this session please email your full name and contact details to events[AT]filmbase.ie.
Want to keep up with this year's Dublin Fringe Festival, but can't get to the city?
Check out RTÉ Radio 1's coverage of the Fringe, which includes interviews, reviews, and live recordings.
The Fringe finishes on September 21st.
Culture Northern Ireland has an article about writer/director Terry George's appearance at the recent Belfast Film Festival.
It includes an audio file of the Q&A session after the screening of his new film, Reservation Road.
The latest edition of The Guardian's weekly podcast features a review of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, as well as an interview with the writer/director.
The latest Culture NI podcast is a sampling of the best from the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, and includes interviews with writer and playwright, Carlo Gebler and playwright Martin Lynch.
Toby Lichtig at the Guardian blog has an interesting article, chock-full of links, about how the rise in popularity of podcasting might revitalise the art of audio drama.
Frederick Greenhalgh of Radio Drama Revival! thinks so. His blog, which began at the end of last year, includes a range of new radio dramas. He is based in the US, where audio theatre, he admits, is still an especially "small world" desperately in need of promotion; but he is convinced that things are changing. Greenhalgh runs Final Rune Productions and is dedicated to making this happen. He reminds us that that Orson Welles started in radio, and laments the current paucity of commercial radio drama in the US:Radio broadcasters in Ireland would do well to consider how they could use this revived interest in audio theatre to bring new drama to the Irish public.
The popularity of programmes such as Sonic Theater on XM Radio and sites such as Dramapod also indicate a resurgence, though a quick look at the latter's main categories - Superhero, Dr Who, Star Trek - points to Greenhalgh's fears. He is enthusiastic about the more illustrious recent history of radio drama in the UK: "They actually think it's valuable to have written stories recorded and played on the radio for people. What's crazier, is that they PAY people to do it!"
Trish Vargo, the director of the US-Irish Alliance, has put online a podcast interview with Steve Brennan, the international editor of the Hollywood Reporter.
Steve and his wife, Bernadette O'Neil, are developing a book, and a documentary, about the history of the Irish in Hollywood. Brennan discusses his research so far, and touches upon the impact that the Irish have had on the film industry in L.A. since its inception in the early twentieth century.
The BBC reports that production company B7 has come to a timely agreement with the actors union, Equity, regarding podcast performances.
Next month an updated audio version of 1970s BBC cult science fiction show Blake's 7 will be released, which was put together by B7. This prompted a discussion between Equity and B7 over the rights of podcast performers.
The agreement provides for minimum session fees, rehearsals, overtime payments, holiday pay, assignment of rights and a royalty share on net revenues generated via podcast downloads, audio streaming via the internet and subsequent CD release.Brown also noted that Equity was examining the issues revolving around the use of their members' work on the Internet and mobile platforms: "It is one of our absolutely highest priorities at the moment," he said.
"Our normal agreements are based around the history of radio and television, so don't properly account for doing productions for these new media," Mr Brown [Equity Spokesman] said.
"They could not possibly be adapted properly because they talk about transmissions and, obviously, for podcasts and internet streamings, transmissions no longer have any meaning.
"This deal is a benchmark... through the detailed negotiations with B7 Productions we now have a matrix that we can use.
"If someone came to us tomorrow saying 'I want to do a new drama podcast, can you help me with my rights' we can say 'absolutely we can'. We know where we are going with this."
The Guardian has posted online a podcast interview with British playwright Arnold Wesker.
Wesker, recently knighted and now 75, is back in Hackney with a fresh staging of another play, The Four Seasons. It's a beautiful but disquieting tale of an adulterous love affair that draws once again, Wesker admits, on his own life.All playwrights should find Wesker's thoughts on his work and career interesting.
Just as it was getting ready to open we met at the Arcola Theatre to look back on a career in postwar British theatre, from his earliest triumphs to more difficult recent times - shunned by the National and Royal Court, infrequently staged elsewhere. In a frank and revealing interview, he talks about returning to his east end roots, his frustration about being left for dead by the theatrical establishment, and why he's desperate to put a long-cherished dream into practice: an epic historical play about Jesus as a Jew.
