9 hours Ago By Mary Cody
Kilkenny will be on the silver screen after a ghostly feature film was shot around the Castlecomer area. Brian Stynes at Hard Bargain Pictures, with the help of Clogh’s own Willie Joe Meally, were shooting an award-winning Irish ghost tale screenplay, titled A New Landlord , which is set in 1903 rural Ireland. It is very much a labour of love for both men whose paths first crossed many years ago.
Part of the film was shot in recent weeks and it is hoped that the remaining scenes will be shot early next year. Brian produced 72 Miles - a short film written by the legendary Willie Joe Meally - in 2019 after he was sent on a clipping of a story written by Meally on a memorable first journey to his All-Ireland in 1963. The two men have fond memories of working together on that project so it is fitting that their paths have reconnected.
Back to the present time and when Stynes, who writes, produces and directs films as a hobby, decided to make his latest film, A New Landlord, he enlisted the help of Willie Joe. “I heard that Brian was looking for an old house to use in a shoot in his new film,” said Willie Joe, who immediately went in search of a suitable property. Initially he had his eye on an old ruin in North Kilkenny before realising that Betty Owen’s house in Crutt in Castlecomer would be the perfect fit.
“The house has ivy on the walls and cobblestone walls, I knew it would work,” said Willie Joe. Cast and crew were on site in North Kilkenny earlier this month to shoot the first five sequences of the film. Using the political backdrop of the era, where tenant farmers were finally allowed to buy the land they had worked all their lives with the passing of the 1903 Land Act, into this world, we meet Albert, an heir to one of the many ‘big houses’ that dotted the countryside, with rents and businesses to run and a dying wish that he must not sell the family's land, a promise that is upsetting locals to the point of insurrection.
Albert, a man with an already debilitating physical condition, a very bad drug habit - and now, the heir to a home with a destructive spirit - will have to face a terrifying truth about his own lineage. Shooting in Stradbally and Crutt, A New Landlord was penned by Brian Stynes with additional material by Emmett O’Brien and has earned high praise from industry entities such as WeScreenplay (Los Angeles) PaperScreenplay (London) where it won Best Character Arc 2024, Industrial Scripts and Unsolicited Scripts (five stars for Concept and Marketability). A New Landlord is very much a labour of love for Brian Stynes who has funded the first five sequences of the film from his own savings.
Passion Brian works in IT in a hospital and describes his passion for film production as a hobby. “I wanted to make a horror film, something gothic from the turn of the last century with an interesting story and backdrop,” he said. “I decided to set in around the time of The Land Act in 1903 when people could finally buy their own land.
“I have always been interested in film and I tried my hand at acting before becoming ensconced by the whole process of film making and that became my long form hobby. “I love coming up with an idea and then writing a script,” he said adding that he always sends his scripts to industry professionals to test the waters so to speak. “We have received really positive feedback on this project even from the early drafts,” he said, which is a good thing especially when one remembers that this creative uses his own funds to make his magic happen.
“Willie Joe has been great and just jumped on board. There has been a huge amount of goodwill shown to us from the people of Kilkenny so hopefully we will be back early in the New Year to continue filming in North Kilkenny,” he added..
