Spotlight on... Sean Ireland and his movie SWAY


Interview
by
Jeff Palmer

Independent film sets are a lot like after-school detention for social misfits, artsy-fartsy dreamers, and wayward eccentrics. More often than not, you end up meeting kindred spirits who share the same taste in music, books, comics, humor and, more importantly - movies. Such is the case with fellow crew member and movie misfit, Sean Ireland.

About ten years back I got a production assistant (prod ass) gig on an adult thriller titled Seaside Seduction being shot in Salisbury, Massachusetts, and one of the key crew members happened to be Sean. I remember he was a "key" because of his fanny pack stuffed with petty cash he'd dole out to runners (prod asses) like me. "We need bird seed. Big bag. Don't forget the change... and save the receipt!" Eventually we got to joking about making low-budget films, talking cinema and essentially goofing off on set as much as we could without getting caught while fanning smoke at the strippers on stage. Rough life, I know.

Anyhow, we're still in touch and I finally got around to this here interview for "Spotlight on...". Sean's got a screwball comedy called SWAY in the can and some heavy irons in the fire, but he made time for an old Prod Ass like me to catch up online. Thanks, man!

Please folks, enjoy responsibly.


by Jeff Palmer at Flicker Pictures
April  2007

Flicker Pictures: All right, Sean. First off, thanks for making time for this interview. I know you're a very busy man down there in Hollywood Land.

Sean Ireland: (I’m trying not to be flippant here…) I’m busy trying to get busy, which is what many of us are doing here.

FP: Indeed. Don’t worry about being flippant, just be yourself. Isn’t that what “they” say?

Sean Ireland: Yes.

FP: But you’re not originally from Cally are you?

Sean Ireland: No. Springfield, Massachusetts and Boston, which is where I’ve worked on most [all] of my films.

FP: Springfield, Boston, New England... you’re a Yank at heart?

Sean Ireland: Yes. I was wondering when I’m ever going to begin referring to Los Angeles as “home”. It still feels exotic, like I'm on some weird vacation from reality and I keep talking about going “home” when everything I love and do and feel right about is here in L.A.

FP: Exotic. That’s one way of putting it. So, you wrote and directed an independent film called SWAY. That was back in Springfield, correct?

Sean Ireland: Yes, at a prison in Springfield, Massachusetts. A very big prison, a location I could never have gotten in L.A. It would have cost something like 10,000 daily. We paid $1,000 for an insurance bond and they gave me the keys. That's “home” for you and this why I wouldn't want to shoot an independent film in L.A. if I didn't have to. Los Angeles is definitely the place to shoot a film and I would, but it is expensive.

FP: Gotta love that hometown hospitality. “Hey kid, here are the keys. Remember to lock up when you're done.” So, what came first, the location or the script?

Sean Ireland: The location came first. I wrote the story around the location. We had this idea--one location, everything happens there---we set the film up and shoot for three weeks in one place and we wanted an empty prison, so I wrote a story around a recently closed jail so that we wouldn't have to fill it with talent.

FP: Yeah, I saw an early rough cut of the film and man, that prison is massive! And you ended up filling it with an equally massive cast, too. How many folks were in SWAY?

Sean Ireland: We had 74 actors in the film, many of them speaking parts. It was an enormous cast, too many actually, and this is one of the things I learned: keep your cast down to a manageable size. I just wrote the script in such a way that I had several plot lines converging in the third act and so I had groups of people whose lives crisscrossed and they all end up at the prison.

FP: In a nutshell, can you explain what SWAY is all about?

Sean Ireland: SWAY is the story of a man who ends up in prison falsely accused. He takes the rap to keep his brother out of jail, but he draws the line when they tell him he must continue his sentence. He tries to flee the prison and in the ensuing chaos he takes hostages inside the jail. A hostage crisis develops and a number of lonely hearts in the city come down to the jail to support him. They unfortunately make his situation worse and eventually he is faced with a decision: stay and suffer an assault by the warden, or stage a breakout. That's it in a nutshell. Is that a nutshell?

FP: Sounds nutty to me.

Sean Ireland: It is.

FP: Tell me about the title, SWAY. Is there a particular meaning or reference behind that word? How does it tie in to the movie?

Sean Ireland: "Sway" is a reference to a condition---when you're under the sway of something and you can't get out of it---main character's predicament...life predicament. He's under the sway of forces he doesn't understand or, more importantly, can't control.

FP: And you wrote it as well as directing?

Sean Ireland: I wrote, directed, produced and I played a part.

FP: Yeah, tell me a little about that role. You were some sort of evangelical bus driver?

Sean Ireland: I was forced to play the part of the agnostic bus driver who starts his own church and believes that the man holding hostages is somehow his messiah, a sign that he is on the right path, so he drives his bus into the jail in an attempt to help the man out, but he is rejected. He's a loveable loser, like so many others in the story.

FP: Well, your character isn't alone. The whole film is chock full of crazies. Okay. So you teamed up with a huge cast and crew, shot a movie in your hometown... what about editing? What was that process like for you?

Sean Ireland: The editing was very tedious and difficult and more than I anticipated, another lesson for me. Filmmakers need to budget realistically for post. I hadn’t. I presumed it would be relatively fast, efficient. It was such an enormous project [35 hours of footage] that the editor was over his head for a while. He pulled it together though and we started with a two hour and ten minute feature, too long and too big, but a good start. His name is James Notari. He’s from Vermont and is in Los Angeles now. He's an excellent editor and he worked really hard, and without his help, it wouldn't have come off I don't think.

FP: Usually when it’s too long and too big, you don’t hear anyone complaining -- unless it's a movie we’re talking about. Then it’s CUT, CUT, CUT. What stage are you at with it now? Are you gearing up for festivals?

Sean Ireland: That’s funny. Yes, we’ve had to continually cut it. It’s been a long process. We are performing one more edit [cutting licensed music out] and shaving a few more minutes if possible. It’s 92 minutes now. We’ve cut from 130 minutes to 92. Pretty good. And it plays way better.

FP: Damn. I know how difficult that can be, killing your darlings, right? But that’s the great thing about DVDs these days. You get to keep all those deleted scenes and extra material.

Sean Ireland: Yes, definitely. It’s also a process of rearrangement. It’s funny, you have this arrangement when you write it, then an arrangement when you’re shooting, and then the actual “arrangement” of the film takes place in the editing room when you have the actual story there in front of you. It’s like three stories and the final one is a product of so much more than what you presumed in the beginning. You can’t anticipate these things.

FP: Now, I know that before making SWAY you worked on several independent films and wrote a lot of screenplays. Do you think all that prepared you for taking the wheel on your own project?

Sean Ireland: Yes. I feel that with SWAY I was finally in a position to write a decent script and I’ve learned so much from the experience. It’s a good story and a fun story, and the writing has a quality to it that I’m happy with. The final product, as you know, takes a different shape, but that’s something you have to anticipate. I’ve learned so much from the filming and I’ve written so much since and I feel I’m on a learning curve. My producing partner, Jim Klock and I, we talk about that a lot. We’re on a learning curve and each film is going to be better than the previous.

FP: Nice. So, considering the final cut of the film, did you end up learning more about the story you actually wanted to tell or is the filmed version as you saw it in the script? Or maybe it's a little of both?

Sean Ireland: I would say it’s a little of both. You have to make concessions all the way and that's not easy and sometimes the story has to be reset sort of. It’s weird, but often the story takes on a shape you have to kind of settle with. There were scenes that I thought would have helped explain the story more, but we had to skip them or cut them for time. But yes, you learn so much and the great thing is, you come away with a quality independent film because you work hard in crafting it in editing and this is how filmmaking works. It’s everything at once--the writing, the filming, the editing of the material you got and the lucky stuff and the partial stuff and whatever else serendipitously comes up.

FP: Totally. You have to go with the flow. So were movies something you wanted to make growing up or did you get the filmmaking bug later in life?

Sean Ireland: Much later. I was 33. You make it your vocation and age is not important.

FP: Agreed. Now I know you have a warped sense of humor and laughter is the best medicine, but do you see yourself filming something more dramatic at some point?

Sean Ireland: I totally do. I would love to make a serious film. Somehow, everything I write degenerates into humor, but if I have a chance, I would love to make a more lyrical film with a style very different from SWAY.

FP: Before I ask what's next for you, how can people see your film SWAY or learn more about it?

Sean Ireland: The film will be out this summer and available on our website www.TheMovieSway.com. It will also be available on my partner Jim Klock’s website, Southern Gentlemen Productions. We’re finishing it up this summer and putting it out there with new music, a really fresh package. It’s going to be great.

FP: Sweet, an official DVD and all?

Sean Ireland: Yes. And we’re going to begin trying to sell it in earnest. We have a few distributors we’ve talked with. We’re also going to begin a festival circuit.

FP: Sounds like a plan. Oh, before I forget, any particular moments on the SWAY set that kept you up at night? Were there any accidents or complete disasters?

Sean Ireland: My brother Michael smashed the bus into the door of the jail--that was a near disaster--but the worst was the very first day: we had a transvestite ready to go and she/he failed to show. We were standing there at 8am---first shot of the whole production--and he failed to show. So Jim Klock, who plays Sheriff Nettles in the film, stepped up and offered to play the transvestite. We quickly made the transvestite his twin and we had a sub plot. It was great!

FP: Serendipity to the rescue. Glad that worked out. Okay, so you have your first feature in the can and on the way to festivals this summer. What's next? Another production? Screenplay? Bus driving?

Sean Ireland: Well, I have several things in the works. I want to shoot a documentary this summer in Massachusetts. I also have a script out at an agency and I’m awaiting word on it. I’m working really hard and writing and trying to get something going. I believe the veil that separates us from real success is actually very thin… and once you break it... you have a whole bunch of new problems. Kidding. I believe that hard work and perseverance, as corny as that sounds [and it sounds pretty corny] pays off eventually. I work hard. Did I say I work hard? I’m getting a massage right now…

FP: So, you ARE a player. I knew it. Hey, James Brown is dead and we need a new “Hardest Working Man in Show Business”. Why not Sean Ireland, right?

Sean Ireland: I’ll be the hardest working man outside the walls… peering through…

FP: Quick. What's your dream project? Budget and cast aren't obstacles.

Sean Ireland: Dream project would be a movie about a pimp and a beautiful alien shot all over New York City, starring Gene Hackman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

FP: Ireland. That's French, right?

Sean Ireland: Spanish. By the way, do you have any money?

FP: Si, si. Badda-bing! Well, before we break everyone’s funny bones, if you had your druthers (I don’t even know what those are, but apparently they are good to have) what advice would you give to someone interested in making movies nowadays? Wait for the money and shoot on film? Just do it and go with digital? Get a real job?

Sean Ireland: Get a good therapist. It’s such a romantic notion [filmmaking, not therapy]. I would honestly say to shoot with digital and to shoot a lot and make lots of shorts and eventually figure out a way with a good crew of friends to shoot something for almost nothing. The truth is it’s possible now to shoot a film and just pay for food for the crew. Think about it. There are so many amazing cameras out there and great DPs looking to work and talented and hard-working people who want to participate in something good. Don't shoot a feature, however, unless you're sure you’ve got a good script.

FP: Sage advice from someone with the war wounds to prove it. Well Sean, it’s be a lot of fun catching up and I'm really looking forward to seeing SWAY when it's ready. You probably didn't think it was going to take as long as it did, eh? How many years has it been?

Sean Ireland: Well, since the final shooting [pick ups] and additional city footage it’s been about 18 months.

FP: Only 18 months? Why did it seem like forever ago you were shooting? Shows what I know.

Sean Ireland: No. We shot it in 2003, but we went back twice to get additional footage, the last time being approximately 18 months ago. It’s been a long four years this summer, but we spent a good part of the first putting it together and then we had a premiere the following summer, but it wasn't ready, so we went back. This is how it goes.

FP: It sure does.

Sean Ireland: We’re definitely ready to put it out there and move on to other projects. It’s always nice to finish something and let it be whatever it is. It’s a good film with an oddball cast and that's how we're marketing it. It’s very unique. It’s unlike most other stuff you’ll see out there and that’ll be our selling point all the way. The next project is called Jailbird: The Greatest Somebody and I’m looking forward to getting that off the ground.

FP: Then I'll let you get back to your massage. You deserve it, baby.

Sean Ireland: Thanks, Jeff. This was fun and brings me back.

FP: My pleasure, Sean. We’ll do lunch! Ciao.

Sean Ireland: Cool.

 


Massage? Dang. Rough life indeed.

Be sure and check visit www.TheMovieSway.com to watch the current trailer. Sean did mention that they are in the midst of cutting a new version, so click back down the road to see what's going on with SWAY and future projects.

Cheers,

Jeff Palmer at Flicker Pictures

 

 Spotlight on:  Coming Soon... (in no particular order)

Adam Reed on acting in Hallettsville, Bill Millios of Backlot Films ruminates on Death & Glory, Anthony Thurman (aka Slider_Alt) talks about animating The Disarmer, and many more

More interviews will trickle in as 2007 creeps along, but until then...

Previous interview links below:

Spotlight on: Richard Culver - Cine-Verité

Spotlight on: Kathy Fitzgerald of Poverti Productions

Spotlight on: Rob Fitz is the God of Vampires

 

email Jeff at

 

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