Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Duff
Hi Alex, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up in rural Limerick gave me mixed feelings towards a creative lifestyle. I lived on the border of Kerry, attending school in the county and visiting the nearby town of Listowel for their annual writer’s week along with learning about their successful writers like John B. Keane. I studied many local creative works during my time in school, and the school itself often promoted creative mindsets through music, drama, and writing. I was one of few students who would be excited when we were assigned to write a short story for homework. I always got a boost of adrenaline when I could brainstorm a new idea, whether it be a more realistic story where I could take inspiration from my own life, or a piece of exaggerated fiction where I could improvise more. Such education made me realize my mindset leaning more towards the creative route (which was also evident as I almost failed math). I would always write for my school’s creative writing competitions, and even won a few small prizes.
On the other hand, my home town was dominated by labor-intensive work. Pub owners, farmers and shopkeepers were the main residents, and I often found myself working at Glin Castle, a nearby venue owned by actor Dominic West. I worked as a gardener and occasional waiter, and my mother frequently worked as a head chef there. Evidently, there was the indication that these sorts of occupations were to be expected, and a creative future was almost seen as a myth. Even when I first expressed my creative interests to my family, there were hesitations. My mother in particular felt a future in film (my greatest creative interest) would either fail or result in me working a lackluster job in the industry for the rest of my life. My siblings also opted for practical routes (business and science) meaning I was destined to be the odd one out.
Years of debating back and forth occurred. My mother nearly convinced me to work a computer related job as I had shown interest in programming. However, a small internship at Avvio Digital Marketing made me certain I did not want to be at a desk behind a computer for all of my life. Time came to start researching universities, and my mother would regularly take me on lengthy trips to university open days in places like Maynooth, Trinity and UCD. She attended several lectures with me and was intrigued by Ireland’s growing film industry. She began to respect that there was potential to be successful by going such a path, and when visiting UCD, we both took interest in a new course, a Bachelor of Arts and Humanities course in English, Drama and Film. It would allow me to pursue my passions but still have a practical English degree to fall back on should I fail in the creative world.
In the end, I attended UCD. I will admit I was a little put off that the film modules were entirely theory based, focusing more on watching and analyzing films rather than making them. However, I was grateful for the knowledge and terminology, and even more grateful for drama that let me perform and direct for various modules. Throughout my English modules, I took multiple creative writing modules where students and lecturers would often review my work. I got used to accepting criticism along with learning which styles and genres best suited my talents (comedy was not one of them, sadly). I took all these skills and comments to mind when I joined UCD’s tv society, who were dedicated to making short films among other media. With my new skills and a new team and equipment to back me up, I was able to co-write and direct their Halloween project, a short film called ‘UCD Rugby Project’ (inspired by The Blair Witch Project). The society grew in recognition, to the point where they hosted their own film festival. Finally, I could take full creative freedom and I wrote and directed my own film, an experimental drama called ‘Three.’ I used some society members as crew, and chose outside talent as my main cast. These included IADT student Michael Antonio Keane and newcomer actress Aine Ni Neill. Throughout filming and post-production I did encounter the basic challenges of filmmaking, including communication and planning, and there was a mixed reception to my film. However, I was happy. I had finally taken my first step towards a creative lifestyle and had learned valuable lessons and skills in the process.
Outside of university, my creative talent has been even more successful. I started working as an extra on film sets as a way to explore my interests and also earn money. To this day, I still work on our local soap opera ‘Fair City’, where my character now has a name and several lines of dialogue. Other extras work included Amazon Prime’s ‘Silver: The Book of Dreams,’ Acorn TV’s ‘Harry Wild,’ and the feature film ‘Baltimore,’ a biopic about IRA member Rose Dugdale. Along with this, I have starred in several short films, including multiple collaborations with Griffith College where I played lead roles in films titled ‘Touch’ and ‘The Phone Call.’ In Summer, I auditioned for a short film, ‘Nothing Nice to Say,’ directed by Ashley Parsons, where I played a supporting role. I had never even considered acting before, but was quickly coming to realize it is beneficial to experiment with all angles in the film industry and acting gave me an unexpected passion.
My novel, The InterFlight Sensation,’ is now available in digital and print editions on Amazon. The novel is a Young Adult/Teenage Sci-Fi fantasy following interdimensional travel. It was a passion project started in 2021 that was originally just meant to be something for myself. When my father read the first draft, he stated it was publishing material, inspiring two years of rewrites, beta reading, and editing. In March 2024, after a final round of readers had given their criticism, I finished the final draft and submitted it to Amazon. I chose self publishing as I am a strong advocate for making literature affordable for younger readers. In my country’s current cost-of-living crisis, I do believe we all need as much happiness and entertainment as we can find on our sparse expenditures.
Currently, I am helping with the launching of Darker Days Productions, a newfound production company. I co-wrote our first screenplay, ‘Out of Sight,’ which I am also producing. Principal photography is complete, with a release date being negotiated.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, and I am really feeling the pressures of my life choices now that I have graduated university. While in education, I had that feeling of protection that I always had something to do with my time and my filmmaking and writing aspirations were still something of a hope and dream. I also had a financial grant to help with university expenditure. Now that I am graduated, I need to devote my whole life, and a lot more time, to creative work for multiple reasons. I am always battling against my practical-minded counterparts, including the majority of my family, who don’t see a future in the creative world. I try to keep busy and always have work so they can see my progression. The constant suggestions for me to drop this style of work and pursue a safer option like teaching also takes its effect. When there is no work in my life (which can be often) I often wonder if they are right, and on multiple occasions I have almost decided to switch lifestyles.
Financially, the road is also rocky. Now that I have to provide for myself completely without any support, reality has set in. The only consistent income I have is from extras work, and it is often a lottery on whether I’ll even get an roles. Jobs like screenwriting, directing and producing are mostly being done on a voluntary basis, and it can feel upsetting to put in weeks or even months of work for no income, only relying on the hope that you may get somewhere with your project. Even trying to sell literature is exhausting. My novel sales are almost non-existent, which mostly doesn’t bother me as I wrote it for myself rather than to make a fortune from it. However, part of me was probably dreaming that I would instantly take off in a Stephen King manner and be earning millions in days. The battle is always continuing inside of me on whether I can make it in this world, and how much time it will take before anything may happen.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Darker Days Productions is an up and coming production company started by Karma Boleyn, whom I did some background acting with. The organization was started in 2023 and was meant to produce a Web Series called Party ‘Favour,’ but the series was disbanded due to creative differences. Karma and myself took a step back, learning from what went wrong and speaking to the cast and crew, who were not involved in the disputes and we hoped to work with again. Taking a break until 2024, Karma decided to launch Darker Days Productions with a short film she had been planning, a thriller called ‘Out of Sight.’ The film follows several circumstances of women and girls of all ages going about their daily lives before a series of suspected abductions. A release date for late 2024 is being discussed, and we were delighted to still have the majority of the crew from ‘Party Favour’ agreeing to work for us. Combining this with new actors, and we are excited to launch Darker Days Productions in a cleaner manner.
At Darker Days Productions, we love to give people opportunities to work in any area they wish, and not be bound by what they have done in the past. I have mainly specialized in screenwriting, but took a producer role in the creation of ‘Out of Sight.’ I had always been interested in fully producing rather than being a producer/director hybrid, and fully delving into production was very interesting. I still gave creative input, but had logical responsibilities as well including monitoring advertising, communications and location scouting. We are excited to give anyone the same opportunity to reach outside their past comfort zones, be it an assistant director who wants to act or a gaffer who wants to direct, we encourage everyone to tell us their interests and we will do our best to fulfill your wishes.
‘Out of Sight’ is our first project but many more are on the horizon. Darker Days Productions are willing to make anything with a dark twist, ranging from horror to dark comedy and beyond. Some of our current screenplays and idea include historical drama thrillers, slashers, action and even black-and white film.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
To be honest, I am yet to visit Culver City, but I am interested nonetheless. By far the most interesting thing about your city is that it was the home of Metro-Gold Mayer. This company played a huge role in my childhood and was a major influence on my creative interests. I can still remember waking up early on the weekends so I could watch an old James Bond movie before my siblings came along to hog the television. My father opened my eyes to several MGM franchises, and I still have fond memories of the time even if he didn’t follow film to the extremity I did. While other children were watching Scooby Doo and Phineas and Ferb in the mornings, I was watching Goldeneye and Child’s Play. The MGM logo was forever put in my brain by these nostalgic moments, and the fact that I am getting involved with people from its home town is insane to me.
As I haven’t been there in person, it would be unfair to say I dislike anything. I am an Irish man with sensitive skin, so I’ll just say your weather looks too hot for me.
Pricing:
- The InterFlight Sensation (Digital): €8.74
- The InterFlight Sensation (Paperback): €13:75
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duff2390/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alex.duff.7545/
- Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14867734/
Image Credits
Kayla F. Caffrey
Angelo Zabal
Alex Boyle
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