We were lucky to catch up with Malachy O’Neill recently and have shared our conversation below.
Malachy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I truly believe filmmaking, at its heart, should strive to be meaningful in any way it can, whether that’s making people laugh or cry. In the last year or so, I’ve been very lucky to have been working on a few meaningful projects. It’s something that I really wanted to focus on because as a filmmaker our work is an extension of ourselves. It’s changed how I approach everything I do and now I’m more selective about where I spend my time and energy. Recently I’ve been working on a short film in Los Angeles that will have a big impact on audiences when it’s released. It was a hard-hitting story with a social outreach message that is seeking to change hearts and minds. This was a passion project from a brilliant writer/director with a very talented cast and crew and was created with plenty of blood, sweat and tears. Making a short film can often be a bit of a gamble but if you put the right people in the right places then real magic can happen.
And last year, I was able to produce a branded documentary that really pulled on the heartstrings. It was a social doc where we shared personal letters from patients to their doctors, letting them know how they saved them and helped them get out of the most difficult time in their lives. The key was to be authentic with our subjects and help them express their emotions honestly. A few tears were shed by them and our crew, let me tell you. It got a great reaction from people and even caught a few gold awards with the American Advertising Federation, which is always a bonus. It was about people, how they survived, what it felt like to be at their lowest and the amazing people who helped them find a way to live. Stories like these are where the beating heart of filmmaking truly lies.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve always loved films and the cinema. As a young lad back in Ireland, I used to walk miles outside my hometown to the local cinema and watch everything they put on. It was still a time when a big movie came out and everyone was talking about it. I just loved getting lost in a great story. There was no thought in my mind that this might be something you could make a living from. It was much later that I took it seriously as a career. My break came as a result of simple determination and a healthy dose of luck. I’d been writing scripts at University and had worked on a couple of commercial sets but couldn’t get something solid. I still moonlighted as a server as I dreamed of getting a shot at working full time in the industry. I applied for anything and everything, talked to anyone who would listen and did all sorts of strange jobs just to get on a film set (even one where I nearly got trapped in a lift with a very angry Vinny Jones but that’s a story for another time).
Then a job popped up for a writer’s assistant on a TV drama co-created by acclaimed Hollywood showrunner and TV scriptwriter, David Shore. These roles are rare enough in Los Angeles nevermind the UK, so I put in my application and hoped for the best. When I interviewed for the role, the production manager told me my name had been put forward three times for the role. It turns out I’d been talking enough about it to enough people. I quit my waiter job the next day and started working in a room with one of the greatest TV writers of all time.
That time I spent watching writers and producers up close and working at the highest level, gave me a real insight into what it takes to get there. The dedication the most successful people have to their craft was astounding. All these years later, I’m producing and writing my own work and hoping to emulate the people who gave me my first start. I’m constantly looking to improve how I work, what I create, and who I work with. And I always remember that I got my break because people put faith in me and try my best to pay that faith forward.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
As a producer, the single most important element of a successful film shoot is your crew. Whether it’s a commercial, music video or a TV drama there is a momentum present in any film project that sets the pace for the crew. That means you need to have a group of people that can keep up and deliver under the most intense pressure. With each project the clock is against you, so having the right people onboard at the right times is essential. The majority of these people are experts, so managing them is really about harnessing their knowledge and expertise. Film credits are so long because they need specialists in each and every department that are super-focussed on their role. We need these people to keep the momentum going, to think on their feet, to deliver extraordinary results and to push themselves beyond what would normally be classed as hard work. Long hours, sky high demands and quite often no more than a pat on the back and an invitation to the next job. It’s one of the toughest industries, which means you need a crew of tough people for a successful job.
When it comes to keeping the morale high, it really comes down to having respect for their expertise and for their humanity. I’m a big believer in giving people creative freedom to do their best work, allowing them to express themselves to meet the creative challenges of the film. This creative space can elevate a project and will get the best and most consistent results. Of course rewarding them for their time and effort is part of this respect but also treating them with simple humanity. Nobody is perfect all of the time, so making sure people know they can make a mistake, recover quickly and move forward positively is one of the most important elements of a successful shoot.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The worst thing that can happen on any film project, is it doesn’t get made. And there are many projects that never even get off the ground. Some of the biggest movies of all time were rejected over and over again before getting made. And it’s because films are tough to make. Creating an idea, writing a script and bringing together a group of people to make it a reality is one of the toughest things to achieve in life. Simply getting something on screen can be a reward in itself. Day to day, I work mainly as a creative producer in the advertising world. First off, it requires me to be at the forefront of a creative pitch, compelling a brand to invest their money in your ideas. There’s a misconception that there’s lots of money to throw around on commercials and that it’s easy to get something done. More often than not, we’re making sure the project reflects the brand in the best possible way to a potential audience. The TV commercial campaign is their chance to speak to the world and if the message is wrong then it can be truly devastating for a company. We are custodians of their brand and this bestows us with a great duty to create the best work possible. As a writer, the most rewarding part for me is seeing and hearing my words come to life on screen. There is nothing more exciting than hearing the first read of a script with a group of actors, watching how they interpret the words and ultimately make your work better. The life they breathe into their characters, how they give meaning to what you’ve created, it’s all magic to me. I’ll happily put myself through the pain of filmmaking over and over again to make it happen. That’s the reward. Pain, haha.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.oneillproducer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/one_ill_producer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mal-o-neill/