‘The Begrudgers’ has scooped the RTÉ Storyland 2012 title, beating off stiff competition from ‘Student Teacher’, which came second, and ‘Trouble Times Three’, which was placed third.
‘The Begrudgers’ was finally crowned the winner after an online audience voted for their favourite webisodes over the course of a four-month period. Final voting opened last Monday, with the finalists uploading their fourth instalment of their web series’ online.
‘The Begrudgers’ is a Cavan-based comedy based on two “lovable rogues” Nobby and Snout, who rethink their begrudging nature when two enthusiastic people enter their lives unexpectedly. The concept stemmed from two lead characters of a Philip Doherty-written play.
It stars Shane Carroll (Murder on Main Street), Ray Fitzsimons (Flat Lake), Shane O'Connor, Brianne Fitzpatrick (Let's Talk About Joey), Will Govan and Hugh O'Brien (Father Ted).
Doherty (The Drunk Ouija Board) wrote ‘The Begrudgers’ script, while John McKeown of Dublin-based The Sixsem Production Company produced with Aine Corby and Jessica Duggan. Finn Keenan was the director of photography.
Speaking of the win, Doherty said it is “an absolute dream” to have been crowned Storyland 2012 winners. He continued: “We created a world around Nobby and Snout and the other peripheral characters in ‘The Begrudgers’ and we’re delighted that people got such a kick out of it. I really love the two characters, they’re loveable rogues really”.
Doherty added that the production of ‘The Begrudgers’ employed over 100 crew from the Cavan area, and regarded it a “really special” experience.
Storyland is run by RTÉ Drama and is now in its fourth year. It aims to develop filmmaking talent in Ireland with the hope of commissioning a full series after the initial webisodes are voted on by an online audience.
The two remaining finalists were ‘Student Teacher’, a comedy about overachiever Conor who finds himself teaching his old classmates at his former secondary school; and ‘Trouble Times Three’, a drama which sees lead character Scott find out he has impregnated three different women at the same time.
Speaking of this year’s finalists, Jane Gogan of RTÉ Drama said: “We have seen each of the final three teams make remarkable developments over their four episodes and we wish them every success as they move into the next phases of their careers. We want to congratulate the makers of ‘The Begrudgers’ and look forward to seeing how this year’s participants progress in the future”.
‘The Begrudgers’ will no doubt be hoping to follow in the footsteps of 2009 winners ‘Hardy Bucks’, which went on to be commissioned for two full series’ by RTÉ, and is now in pre-production for a film version due to begin principal photography in Mayo this week.
You can watch ‘The Begrudgers' winning entry here.
