Maurice Linnane – writer/director
Maurice Linnane has been working in film and television since leaving college in 1984. After several years as an editor he made his debut as a director saw him at the helm of an MTV Rocumentary on U2, back at the beginning of the band’s Zoo TV world tour. As a result Maurice spent two years on the road, ending up as the Artistic Director of that media intensive escapade. Apart from becoming a frequent collaborator with Ireland’s most famous musical export Maurice has worked with pretty much every other Irish artist of note, most recently directing a major DVD release for the one and only Christy Moore. Internationally, he has directed work for such as The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and Nora Jones. The Brooks project involved following the singer around the world for over a year as he performed outside of America for the first time. The resulting programme was a huge success when aired in America on NBC. He has also produced music specials for PBS - ‘A Celtic Celebration’, a documentary on U2 called ‘A Year in Pop’ for ABC. In November 2002, he completed the set of American Networks with the CBS broadcast of ‘U2 - Live from Slane’.
As well as working in conventional television, including dozens of hours of live television, Maurice has forged a reputation in the world of museum video installations. In 1996 Maurice’s design concept for Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum beat off competition from no less than George Lucas’s world famous Industrial Light and Magic to produce and install a celebratory film honouring the Museum’s inductees. He has also designed and directed pieces for the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York and from 2000 through to 2002 designed, wrote and directed the entire audio-visual experience for Harley-Davidson’s ‘Open Road Tour’ centenary celebration.
Other career highlights include writing and directing an award winning documentary on the life and career of DJ Carey (one of Ireland’s most famous sportsmen); producing and directing a platinum selling live DVD for the Grammy winning Foo Fighters (Everywhere But Home); shooting the first ever performance of Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s opus ‘Smile’ in London’s Festival Hall. He recently finished writing and directing a feature documentary on Irish music legends Horslips - ‘The Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts’; he continues to produce the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame’s induction movie on an annual basis; he is currently working on a major science based documentary for international release; he has just finished shooting the National Symphony Orchestra for a new eight part television series – The Mozart Sessions; in September he directed almost 10 hours of live music television from The Electric Picnic, the fabulously eclectic boutique music festival, and he fills in his downtime making commercials and by producing and directing a bi-monthly music programme for mobile telephones.
Maurice is currently in pre-production on a film project based on a script co-written with Barry Devlin. All going well ‘A Kiss for Justin’ will be Maurice’s first feature film.
Some relatively recent multi-camera victims:
Brian Wilson
Sinead O'Connor
The Frames
The Rolling Stones
BellX1
Garth Brooks
The Thrills
The Rapture
José Gonzales
Alabama 3
Gary Numan
Neil Young
Elbow
Anthony and the Johnsons
Teenage Fan Club
Pet Shop Boys
The Waterboys
The Blue Nile
New Order
Super Furry Animals
Rufus Wainrwight
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Franti
Director
Bassment Jaxx
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
U2
Broken Social Scene
Josh Ritter
Amy Winehouse
Damien Rice