Puttnam Script Award Finalists Announced

The Puttnam Script Award focuses specifically on supporting diverse and ambitious storytelling and helping original projects become a reality. The competition is director driven and this year's theme is Lights, Camera, Action!

Of the 68 scripts submitted, four finalists have been chosen by a panel of industry experts to pitch their projects to a live audience in Schull on Friday the 26th of May.

The judging panel will consist of Patsy Puttnam – Festival Patron, Niamh Fagan – Project Manager with Screen Ireland, and Oonagh Kearney - Director Writer and Moderated by 4th Jury member David Power – Head of Development at John Kelleher Media.
The winner will be announced the following day at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday 27th May.

Our Finalists:

The four finalists are: Jason Forde, Joe O’Neill, David O’Reilly and Rachel Walshe. The winner will receive €25,000 towards production of a 10 minute short film to be shot on Cork’s Wild Atlantic Way and the Premiere of the resultant film will be screened at the festival in Schull in May 2024.

Jason Forde is highly-acclaimed award winning creative producer & director he has a track record of making quality work that has won numerous awards on the European festival circuit and has been showcased in many Irish and international film festivals.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The National Film School of Ireland . He recently produced the RTE drama “Mustard” based on the award-winning play of the same name, and a documentary on 'Bagatelle' for TG4, which has been nominated for an RTS award. His feature film, 'Five Months Gone' won first prize at the Berlinale - Berlin Film Festival 2023.

Growing up on the Beara Peninsula, Joe O’Neill developed a passion for filmmaking from a  young age. Alongside film, Joe has a keen interest in audio-visual work and experimental video.

Since completing the Film, Video, and Television Production course at St. John's College, his work has been shown at Indie Cork, Kerry, and Dingle Film Festivals. In 2015, he won the Dingle Young Animator of the Year Award.

David is one of the world's leading feature film location scouts having worked on such films as 'Inception', 'Dark Knight Rises', 'Harry Potter' and most recently 'Rogue One Solo and The Batman' working closely with the likes of Michael Mann, Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan.

His last short film – 'Kubrick by Candlelight' starring Brian Cox – premiered at Encounters Film Festival in the UK and has won many awards and nominations including Best Film at the Waterford Film Festival and Best Comedy at Fastnet Film Festival. David is currently writing a medieval Irish comedy film as well as a feature of KBC.

Rachel Walshe Actor/Writer/Direcotr’s debut short 'Measuring Stick' featured on the 2021 Festival Circuit. In 2022 her short script 'Grando' was nominated for Best Screenplay at the British Short Film Awards, and a quarter-finalist at KIFF. Her short film 'Attend to Your Own Mask First' also toured and is due to feature at FFF 2023.

Rachel's radio play 'Jumping for Joy' was selected by Near.FM in association with BAI as part of an anthology of emerging female playwrights. Other achievements include writing for the Newscheck online comedy sketch platform and finalist in the RTÉ Francis McMahon Short Story Competition 2021.

More good news to follow. www.fastnetfilmfestival.com