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Q & A with Writer/Director/Producer Paul Duane
09 Oct 2013 : by Ruairí Moore
A poster for Duane's latest documentary, 'Very Extremely Dangerous', which will release in Irish cinemas next week.
Boasting the ever-elusive triple threat of writing, directing, and producing a variety of projects for his company Screenworks, Paul Duane’s is a name that might ring a bell for any number of reasons.

‘Barbaric Genius’, his critically acclaimed documentary on the life of award-winning author, genius chess player and former alcoholic vagrant John Healy is out on DVD this week, while his most recent road-trip with ex-convict and cancer-struck rock ’n’ roller Jerry McGill takes Irish cinema screens in the form of documentary ‘Very Extremely Dangerous’ this October 18th.

Next week, Duane will appear at the Galway Film Centre on Friday October 18th for their ‘Talking TV Drama’ seminar, where he and co-creators Rob Cawley and Gary Duggan will talk through the inception of their internationally acclaimed series ‘Amber’, which will screen on RTÉ this autumn.

IFTN caught up with the filmmaker in the run-up to his Galway appearance to talk about his career path where, despite claims that he’s still developing as a screenwriter, he provided some colourful answers…

Mr. Duane, you’ve written, produced, as well as directed a variety of projects – do you have a particular preference for any of the three roles?
I think any of the three roles can be a pleasure or a nightmare depending on the project. What's ideal, maybe, is combining two – it's a lot more fun producing something when you've got a stake in it as a writer or a director, it becomes more personal and exciting, and sometimes it can take away the slight stigma that crews often feel towards producers as being slave-driving, money-grubbing types. Sometimes but not always!

What was the biggest difference between working on documentaries and fictional productions for you?
There's no real point of comparison between the work I've done as a director of drama and my documentary work. When working as a director-for-hire on big, properly-funded tv drama projects, there's always somebody there to support you, hold your coffee, bring you a sandwich, wipe your nose etc, but in the end you're just there as a cog in the machine – a big cog but still a cog – realising somebody else's vision.

Making docs, I've been out there in the middle of nowhere with camera and microphone and no back-up, making decisions on the fly and taking complete responsibility for their success or failure. Making ‘Very Extremely Dangerous’ was more like being a combat journalist than being a drama director. It demands a whole different set of reactions and responses to crisis or opportunity.

Did training/education play a role in your break in working in television?
I've never had any training as a writer, apart from a few excellent and informative classes with Eoghan Harris when I was about 20. I got a writer credit on Secret Diary of a Call Girl but it was more of a producer role – I found the source material, optioned it, found people to produce it with, brought it to broadcasters etc. I learned most of that from reading Robert Evans' ‘The Kid Stays in the Picture’, which is a pretty good textbook on how to deal with intellectual property as a producer. My writing on ‘Amber’ stopped at the step outline stage, when Rob Cawley and Gary Duggan took over as writers. My current project with Rob, ‘The National Broadcaster’, is the first feature script I've completed.

What was your first job in the industry and how did that lead to your current position?
I was employed as one of the directors when TG4, or TnaG as it was then, set up their kid's show ‘Cúlabúla’. I think that was the first paycheque I got for directing.

As to how it lead to my current position, I suppose it kept me alive for six months, without which favour I would hardly be in any position at all right now! It also proved I could work for other people and deliver a product to order, which was what I then continued to do, in other forms, for the best part of the following decade.

What do you enjoy most about being a screenwriter?
I don't think I can really call myself a screenwriter yet! I work very closely with writers, Rob Cawley mostly, and we figure out stories and how best to tell them. Then, if (as with ‘The National Broadcaster') it seems like my kind of story, I'll tell it, if it's something that has more of Rob in it, he'll tell it. So I've got a lot of co-writing or co-creating credits more than screenwriting credits. I think I am a bit too collaborative to really work alone all the time. However, when writing the feature film, the business of getting up at 7 in the morning to wrestle with the script before anyone else was in the office was always strangely pleasurable.

Can you describe your typical working day?
I am roused from my slumber by the rooster crowing atop the neo-brutalist Bauhaus haybarn that adjoins my humble abode. I go for a six-mile run wearing full visibility gear because it is still dark when I rise. I cook an enormous vegan breakfast for the Screenworks commune (we, all forty of us, live communally on a vast farm in a fashionable but difficult-to-locate townland in Monaghan). Once everyone has had their fill, the procession of commissioning editors begins, each one bringing me offers more delightful than the last. I listen to them with quiet dignity, then retire to my meditation chamber to brood and choose. After that I watch Coronation St and eat my tea.

What TV writers’ work are you most influenced by?
I don't think myself and Rob are very influenced by TV writers - we tend to talk about stuff going on in the real world rather than telly stuff. However we were both very enthusiastic about ‘Breaking Bad’ from a very early stage. We've agreed to disagree about the finale (I disliked it, he didn't). I like David Milch's TV shows a lot but I can't imagine being influenced by them, they're too different to anything we'd get the chance to do... Growing up, Alan Bleasdale's ‘Boys from the Black Stuff’ was a formative influence, as was ‘The Monkees’.

Is there anything you can reveal about the next project you’re working on?
Rob & I have been working on a feature project about the early days of live television in Ireland for a few years now, it's called ‘The National Broadcaster’, and we're tremendously excited about it. I can't say any more, because it isn't anywhere near ready to go into production yet, but we're hoping to make it in 2014.

What advice would you give to anyone wishing to become a screenwriter?
Have wealthy parents.

Paul and his ‘Amber’ co-creators Gary Duggan and Rob Cawley will appear next Friday the 18th of October in the Harbour Hotel for Galway Film Centre’s ‘Talking TV Drama’ seminar, which will also feature panels on RTÉ’s ‘Love/Hate’ and writing for a younger audience.

To find out more about the ‘Talking TV Drama’ event, visit the Galway Film Centre page on IFTN.

A trailer for 'Amber' can be viewed below.





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