Screen Sessions: Mark O’Halloran & Katie McNeice on Writing

In partnership with Screen Ireland, we are delighted to launch our inaugural Screen Sessions – a series of in-depth conversations on craft between emerging and established talent from the Irish Screen industries. 

Our first podcast of the series will tackle the art of writing for the screen. It’s been 20 years since the iconic Adam and Paul took the nation by storm and redefined Irish cinema for the next generation. Join actor and writer Mark O’Halloran in conversation with writer/filmmaker Katie McNeice as they delve into their creative journeys as well as the twists and turns they faced along the way.

This discussion has been made possible with the support of Screen Ireland.

The next Screen Sessions podcast will be available in July and the series will culminate in a live event later this year.

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Katie McNeice

Katie McNeice is a multi-award winning and IFTA Nominated Writer Director who crafts thoughtful identity cinema with a particular focus on sexuality and gender. She is a 2023 Screen International Rising Star and is represented by Lisa Richards Creatives, London. McNeice has received almost one hundred awards to date for her work. This includes the recent Zebbie win for Best Short Script for rural intersex drama LAMBING starring Pat Shortt (Garage) which also won Best International Short Film at the 2023 San Diego International Film Festival.

Other accolades include the 2023 cinema release WHO WE LOVE, a coming-of-age feature film co-written with Graham Cantwell. She is currently in post-production on Irish language short Focail Baile Croí, funded by Screen Kerry and Comórtas Fisín. This project stars Lochlann O’Mearain (Harry Wild) and is produced by Maggie Ryan of Escape Pod Media.

Upcoming work includes Screen Ireland funded Focus Short THE QUIET OCEAN written by Barry Smyth and Produced by Fiona Kinsella of Tile Media. She is also currently working on an adaptation of Meg Grehan’s THE DEEPEST BREATH for Wild Atlantic Pictures. In addition, McNeice is a full-time Lead Producer for global learning company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mark O’Halloran

Mark is an actor and writer from Ennis, Co Clare. As an actor he has worked with all the major theatre companies in Ireland. On screen he has appeared in numerous films, most notably as one of the eponymous heroes in Adam & Paul, for which he also wrote the screenplay. He had the lead role of MP in History’s Future directed by Fiona Tan, for which he was nominated as Best Actor at IFTA awards 2017. He played the role of Craigy in Shane Meadow’s TV series for Channel 4, The Virtues. He also appears in Darklands and Dead Still, Sky Italy TV series Devils, and Brassic for Sky One.

In addition to Adam & Paul, his writing credits include: Garage; the television series Prosperity; Viva, a Spanish language feature set in Havana, Cuba; and Rialto, which premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. His work has been seen at Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Telluride and Sundance film festivals.

For the stage he has contributed text to the award-winning production LIPPY and co-wrote Beckett’s Room for Dead Centre at the Gate Theatre. He is currently writing on the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends for the BBC and Hulu. His play Conversations After Sex, was staged at the Dublin Theatre Festival. His stage adaptation of Bergman’s The Silence with Dead Centre premiered at the Stadsteater in Göteborg, Sweden and his libretto called TRADE premiered in New York in 2022.