2023 in review: festive Greetings from all at Tailored!
As 2023 comes to a close, we celebrate our busiest production year yet – having completed filming on one feature film, two TV series, one limited web series, a proof of concept trailer, and commencement on a brand new international co-production currently shooting.
We also mark the end of a travel-heavy year, after a successful run of projects featuring at major international markets such as Cannes, Young Horizons Industry (previously known as Kids Kino) and Content London.
Spring
‘Let the Wrong One In’ hits cinemas
Our vampire-comedy ‘Let the Wrong One In’ opened in Irish cinemas on January 20th to a great reception. Written and directed by Conor McMahon (who partnered with us on ‘Stitches’ in 2012), the film starred ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ alum Anthony Head, Eoin Duffy and Karl Rice. We were doubly chuffed when the film later received IFTA nominations for Best Director and Best Script! ‘Let the Wrong One In’ also hit Irish TV screens for the first time last August on RTÉ, so don’t miss your chance to catch it next time it airs.
The film follows teenager Matt testing the limits of brotherly love when his estranged brother gets infected after a vampire outbreak in Dublin. Keep an eye on our Twitter page where we’ll be announcing the next airing!
‘Bring Them Down’ completes filming
Our shoot for Screen Star of Tomorrow Chris Andrew’s directorial debut feature film ‘Bring Them Down’ took place from January 23rd to February 24th.
Starring BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan, the rural revenge drama is prepping for its festival launch and is due for release in Spring 2023.
The film is an Irish-UK-Belgian co-production produced by Tailored Films, Wild Swim (‘How to Have Sex’, ‘Beast’) and Frakas Productions (‘Titane’), financed by Mubi with Screen Ireland, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the U.K. Global Screen Fund administered by the BFI.
Also starring Christopher Abbott, Colm Meaney, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready and Susan Lynch, ‘Bring Them Down’ follows the last son of a shepherding family who is drawn into a devastating chain of events after conflict with a rival farmer leads to the massacre of his prized flock. We can’t wait to share this dark and exciting story with you early next year!
Read more about the film here
Cannes 2023
In May, we completed our annual visit to Cannes and took part in the inaugural CNC France and Ireland Co-Production Workshop at Marche du Cannes. The event provided us a fantastic opportunity to meet with like-minded companies from across the globe who we hope to partner with on future co-productions in 2024 and beyond. 2023 was the second year in a row that one of our projects featured in the co-production market, as ‘Night Town’ featured at Frontieres in 2022.
Summer
Lift-off for ‘Louise Lives Large’!
Throughout the months of July and August, we were hard at work in production on our very first internationally co-produced TV series ‘Louise Lives Large’!
The 8 week shoot was made possible by the amazing talents of our cast and crew on location in Celbridge, Co. Kildare and our funding partners at Polar Bear, Storyhouse, Ketnet, and Verite Films. The series was also financed with the support of RTÉ, Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, Creative Europe, the Irish Tax Credit, Canadian Provincial and Federal Tax Credit, Ketnet, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Tax shelter of the Belgian federal government via Flanders Tax Shelter.
The 8 x 25 minute YA drama follows the adventures of newly cancer-free teen Louise as she embarks on a mission to complete an anti-bucket list with new pal Jess, hoping to make up for all the teenage milestones and rites of passage she missed out on whilst sick. ‘Louise Lives Large’ will be gracing television screens in early 2024 and we will soon be providing exciting new announcements in the run up to the premiere – so watch this space!
Read more about ‘Louise Lives Large’ here!
Digital showcase
Some of the longtime clients we have worked with this year alone include St Patrick’s Mental Health services, Children’s Health Ireland, Voice Ireland, the National Museum of Ireland, Trinity College, and Certa. Mid-2023 also saw the launch of our brand new digital showreel to present our corporate videos and behind-the-scenes projects. Check out the showreel here:
Autumn
Proof of concept work for ‘The Foundling’
As part of our strategy for launching ‘The Foundling’ officially at market, we filmed a proof of concept teaser for the film in September with writer-director David Turpin. Now in post-production, the teaser will be ready for market eyes when we visit Berlinale next year.
‘The Foundling’ was selected as part of the CNC workshop at Cannes, an initiative designed to pair French and Irish production companies following the announcement of the new cinematographic co-production agreement between Ireland and France.
Our longtime collaborator David Turpin (who also wrote ‘The Lodgers’ and ‘The Winter Lake’).
‘The Foundling’ will be our longtime collaborator David Turpin’s directorial debut and his third written project to be completed with Tailored Films, following ‘The Lodgers’ and ‘The Winter Lake’. This project is one we have been excited about for a long time and we have secured a great deal of market interest in the film that we hope will expedite financing in 2024.
The new pitch deck and proof of concept scenes for the film will be ready to share in the new year.
Tackling rugby – in web series form
We reprised our longtime collaboration with young filmmaker Sean Treacy and TikTok star MC Fitzpatrick (who both appeared as presenters in our bedroom makeover series ‘Ace My Space’) for ‘Ruck and Roll’ – a limited web series for RTÉ documenting the Rugby World Cup.
Each episode, Sean and MC provide unique and humorous insight to Ireland’s rugby wins and losses, participate in fun quizzes and games, and equip viewers with all the know-how they need for the rugby season.
Stream it on RTÉ Player or watch it on RTÉ Kids YouTube!
Creative Europe success for our latest youth series!
Our 8 x 25 minute series ‘Yesterday’s Girl’ with TG4 was awarded funding as part of the Creative Europe co-development programme, and was selected to be part of this year’s pitching platform at Young Horizons Industry in Warsaw, Poland. Previously known as Kids Kino, the co-production market is one of the most prestigious platforms dedicated to films and series for young audiences.
We have always been passionate about developing content for young people and are thrilled to have further projects on our slate that we hope will follow ‘Louise Lives Large’ – which previously featured at Kids Kino too.
‘Yesterday’s Girl’ is a celtic sci-fi drama for 8-12 year olds that was developed by in-house development executive Cal McGhee, and is his first TV series funded in development. We are delighted to support him as he ventures into writing for film and television and look forward to a heavy development period for the show next year!
Winter
‘Der Irland Krimi’ returns
Our third co-production on the popular German crime series ‘Der Irland Krimi’ commenced late this year for series 5, after successful productions of series 3 and 4 in 2021 and 2022. It was a pleasure to be back working on the show for this 9-week shoot, which wrapped in late November.
The series holds over 20% of the audience share on ARD and has attracted over 6 million viewers! The huge appetite for the show is proof of the cast and crew’s solid commitment to the series and we look forward to seeing the finished episodes next year.
Our final production of 2023
Filming has officially commenced on a new exciting co-production which we can reveal more about in 2024. We are over the moon to partner with such amazing talent and eagerly await the festival season next year, with not one but two features set to make a huge splash.
And finally…!
Last but not least, the grand unveiling of our 2023 Christmas card! Following up on our tradition of butchering a well-known movie poster with questionable photoshop, this year’s theme is ‘Tailored Actually’. Break out the Joni Mitchell CD!
Additionally, each year we make a donation to a charity close to our hearts, and this year we have decided to donate to Unicef to support critical aid needed in Gaza. Donations at this time of year are crucial to providing urgently needed care and resources to children, in many cases saving their lives. We are honoured to support this cause and wish for a more peaceful 2024.
We are so thankful for all the opportunities that came our way this year and have lots to look forward to when we return in January. From all of us at Tailored Films, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
