After a year and a half of shooting, we wrapped Vultures on March 7th and I’m very pleased with what we’ve got in the can.
It’s been a long haul. A lot of commitment, a lot of compromise but most importantly, a lot of fun. There were times when our ambitions vastly exceeded our budget and resources but with a lot of help from a lot of good people, we finally got it done. Now it’s a weary sigh and a heavy heart and an eye on the next couple of months of post production and promotion. Tell people about it, go on. It has a website and everything.
The whole series has essentially been a big hobby for all of us. And at the end of it, looking back on the number of people who have worked on it, it’s tantamount to a community project. With each shoot, we’ve got better and more proficient and we hope that’s reflected in the last 3 episodes (more on that down the way). For the past 10 weeks everybody has been firing on all cylinders and we hope it represents the pinnacle of the work that everybody has put into this project. To them all, we tip our hats.
We are so proud and so thankful of the work that our entire cast and crew have put into this over the past year and a half. Without them, we would have been rightly screwed. Also, we are very grateful of the support from Young Irish Film Makers and Cartoon Saloon who have encouraged and supported us throughout this. Maybe they see in us the same young whippersnappers they once were, but the two organisations have been incredibly supportive and if we can continue to do work as they have done, we’ll be happy campers indeed.
The Adventure Of The Hidden Microfilm’ our fifth installment will make its bow online this spring. More details shall be leaked onto the interwebs in the coming weeks so keep an eye out.
Also, I can now finally and quite happily announce that there’s not going to be 6 episodes in total. There’s going to be 7. We lied. Well, not really. We just realised that to do justic to the story we needed more time to tell it and fuck it, we’re doing it for free anyway so why not? The finale of Vultures will be a two part installment and both episodes will tie us up in a nice little package when they’re released this summer. We know what the titles are, but we’ll not divulge them just yet for slightly spoilerish reasons. So yeah, ‘Tennyson Dies Of Cholera’ and ‘McGrain and Vultour Make A Porno’ will be surfacing soon. Keep an eye on www.VulturesPI.com for all updates.
From a personal standpoint, I’d like to thank a couple of people in particular. Firstly, Alan Slattery helped me hatch the idea to him when we really had no idea of what it would become. Since then he has worked non stop to make Vultures into the best damn low budget sitcom he possibly can. You couldn’t ask for a better producer and indeed, friend. Paddy Dunne has given this project his all ever since that day on a sweaty bus when I asked him if he’d be interested in writing this detective yoke with me. I’ve never had the pleasure of working so close with someone who’s had such similar sensibilities. The writing part of the process has been my absolute favourite, a true pleasure. Ross Costigan has worked his wee white cotton socks off on Vultures since October and we’re so grateful that he decided to put his life on hold for this. If it wasn’t for Ross, it’s very likely myself and Alan would have collapsed into a horrible multi-tasking mess before we got to the finish line so for that, we are eternally thankful.
And lastly, but not leastly, I’d like to thank David Thompson and Sean Hackett who have been on this project since it’s conception. Back in 2006 they were the only two actors I knew who had enough screen experience, acting chops and the crucial ingredient, availability. Coupled with the convenience of myself, it made the best sense as our central trio and ever since then they have given up so much of their time to work on Vultures. If we didn’t have the two of them, we wouldn’t have had a show. Simple as that. They are toppers. On the last shoot, it just seemed like we achieved a level of fluidity as a trio, a really good working partnership and it’s something I’d love to revisit at some stage. For now, I’ll rest. Cheers. Cheers everyone.
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