LIMERICK is set to light up the small screen this week as an RTÉ adaptation of a short story written by Rubberbandits star and best-selling author Blindboy Boatclub is broadcast.
Did You Read About Erskine Fogarty?, a short drama adapted from the story of the same name by Blindboy, is set to air this Thursday night (November 14), with the entire drama shot on location in Limerick.
Starring Love/Hate and Misfits actor Robert Sheehan, the production takes place in Limerick during the economic crash of 2008, and tells the story of Erskine Fogarty, a man who has lost his family, his job, and almost all of his worldly belongings, except for an American-syle fridge freezer.
Determined to show everyone in his home of Caherdavin that he ‘made it’, Erskine can be seen lugging the appliance through the streets of Limerick City – a spectacle taken in gleefully by many locals as shooting took place recently.
Producer and director of the film, James Cotter, told the Limerick Post that it is hoped an entire series based on Blindboy’s short stories could be commissioned, which would see more filming take place across Limerick.
“Our hope is that we could do a series of different Blindboy stories. I imagine they’d probably all or mostly be set in Limerick. That’d be something we’d all love to do,” Mr Cotter said.
Impressed by his time filming in Limerick, Mr Cotter said that the Mid West could be a great base for movie and TV productions due to its connectivity and landscapes, but that more government funding would be needed to make it a viable place for the TV and film industry.
“At the moment, because production is so based around Dublin, everybody just moves to Dublin when they make TV,” he explained
“I’d love to see the west become more of a central place for film production. I think it’s a better place, you’ve got Shannon nearby … the locations are stunning. So if you can get over that the hump with the amount of production, I think it’d be an amazing place to shoot the whole time.”
To make that work, the filmmaker opined, “tou would want targeted incentives and tax breaks, I know that’s a conversation that’s ongoing in government”.
“You need to fire the money cannon,” he concluded.
Did You Read About Erskine Fogarty? airs on RTÉ2 this Thursday night at 10.10pm.
