Deadpan Pictures is to be the new name of Paul Donovan’s wing of Grand Pictures and their main energy and focus will now be principally on TV comedy production for UK and Irish broadcasters.
The move was made following the success of recent comedy productions such as International Emmy winner ‘Moone Boy’, ‘Trivia’ and ‘Val Falvey’.
Grand Pictures was formed in 2000 by Michael Garland and Paul Donovan and has made ten feature films (including ‘Death of a Superhero’) and eleven TV series or singles (including ‘Paths to Freedom’ and ‘Trivia’).
New-look Deadpan Pictures comprises of both Donovan and co-director Ailish McElmeel. The company has a new slate of upcoming comedy projects including ‘Can’t Cope/Won’t Cope’ penned by Stefanie Preissner (‘Solpadeine is my Boyfriend’) which will be directed by Cathy Brady for RTÉ. Other projects include ‘Hungry’ written by Hugh Travers with Channel 4 and ‘The Big Pitch’ with Sky.
Additionally, Deadpan is currently developing projects with IFTA winning writer Paul Tylak (‘Stew’), Monte Carlo TV Comedy Award nominated Damien Owens (‘Trivia’), British Comedy Award winning Ardal O’Hanlon (‘Fr. Ted’ and ‘Val Falvey’), Rob Cawley (‘Amber’) and BAFTA winning Neasa Hardiman. The company has just received a Storyland commission – ‘Burning Wishes’ - written by Cian McGarrigle which will be directed by Vincent Gallagher.
Paul Donovan commented: ‘we’ve had a good run over the last 13 years and it’s time for us to commit fully to comedy and focus on what myself and Ailish do best. As Deadpan Pictures, we now want to build on the successes of the past such as ‘Trivia’ and ‘Moone Boy’ to develop and produce quality comedy drama for UK and Irish audiences. Our aim is to become the natural home for Irish comedy talent. We might even have a laugh along the way.’
Although Deadpan’s focus now lies predominantly with television comedy, feature film comedy remains an important part of the company. Upcoming feature films include ‘Sham’, written by Barry McEvoy, to be directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) in co-production with Baby Cow, Virginia Gilbert’s ‘Sweetheart’ in co-production with Dan Films and 1.85 films and ‘Family Remains’ written by Eoin O’Connor with Stephen Dorf in line to star.
