Teecar Productions, which consists of myself and my good friend Linda Teehan, are making headway on some exciting comedy scripts. Although I’ve always had a love for drama, I have to say, writing and acting comedy feels natural and compliments my own personality too. We’ve some great sketches outlined so far, and with regular writing days scheduled we’re moving quickly, and thankfully are finding interested directors popping up all the time

I’m filming a short with Redline Productions towards the end of the month. Daniel Corcoran is directing which is great, I like his past work, and I’m looking forward to being feisty on camera for that!

I also had a couple of days on a show for the Dublin Fringe Festival. It wasn’t acting per-say, but the show was an artistic take on a fashion show, involving strong movement, visual and musical input. It’s always fun to get involved and try something different and I had a great time on the show for a couple of days.

Other then that, between working on a pilot, shooting a TV advert, casting for a male lead to play opposite me in another short, and my regular voice work for RTE, I’ve been keeping the cogs in motion and the cobwebs at bay.

Now all I’ve to think of is what to dress up as for Halloween!

I’d been toying for some time with the idea of going for a cropped haircut but it had been a back-and-forth decision making process for about a year and a half. So on Wednesday 2nd March this year, as I sat in a hairdressers chair for “just a trim” something must have clicked as I declared “feck it, cut it all off”.

It took me literally ages to come to terms with the new “do”. I just didn’t feel like the same person and most days hated the new look. Amazing what a difference it can make to your whole perception of yourself. I was however, quite looking forward to seeing how it would effect the casting process for me. I thought it might find me relocated to a different box so to speak. I hoped it would move towards more interesting, challenging roles as perhaps it gave me a slightly edgier look, but to be honest it hasn’t made that much difference. I’ve been auditioning for similar roles and haven’t landed anything I couldn’t have gotten before… possibly a shame, but not the end of the world.

Anyway my mind finally settled and I’m now used to it, even going so far as to say “I like it”, which is a pretty big deal. Although I decided a week or two ago to start the growing process I’m still between minds, so I guess we’ll just have to watch this space.

So the avatar has just been updated and will hopefully appear alongside this post when I click the magic “publish” button.

Here’s hoping

I’m shocked to see it’s almost been a year since my last post. Where does the time go?

2011 has been good to me so far, however I have high expectations for the rest of the year and envision it will finish off on an even higher note.

That’s it… job done for now, post written, the ice-broken, and now lets move on with posts a plenty from here on in.

Sarah

The Underground team have already begun the process to kick off next years monthly screenings, and the films which were presented throughout this past year will continue to tour the UK and Ireland meaning an even wider audience will gain access to view these amazing independent short films.

In the run up to the Awards night David Byrne from Underground and I did a radio interview with Richie Beirne for “Arena” RTE’s flagship Culture/entertainment/ Arts programme. You can listen to the radio interview here:

I haven’t any of the official photos from the night yet so here is just a snapshot of me on the night!!

“This Must Be The Place” is the new feature film from Paolo Sorrentino and will mark the English-language feature debut of the Italian filmmaker. The plot centres around a middle-aged wealthy rock star, played by two time academy award winner Sean Penn, who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding his father’s executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal who is a refugee in the U.S.

My part in the film was a mystery woman who caught the eye of Cheyenne (played by Sean Penn). We filmed the scene on the last day of shooting in Ireland and it was an absolute pleasure and privilege to work with him in any capacity. I was lucky in that we were the only two actors on set so we sat together between takes and chatted and shared a drink after filming. I have to say he was an absolute gentleman and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and look forward to seeing the results next year when the film is released.

Sarah

Here’s a snap shot of me in the trailer waiting for my
leg cast to set.  I can’t give away any more then this
regarding costume or anything so this is it I’m afraid!

Once again I’m a little slow off the mark to write on this but I’m delighted to have received a “Best Actress” nomination for Covies from Underground Cinema, which I’ve previously written about, and would like to update here on the upcoming events.

As I’ve mentioned before Underground Cinema is a monthly screening of short films held in Dun Laoghaire. Over the past year Underground has screened 100 Short Irish Films, 16 Documentaries, 11 Music Videos and 5 Animated Films. Now that the screening year has come to a close Underground is facing into the exciting time of the Underground Film Festival and Awards Night.

Nominations Night took place at the beginning of August and nominations were announced for categories primarily for work on independent short Irish films. Included in the nominations night was the list of the 30 short films which have been selected for screening at the Underground Film Festival which will take place in the Screen Cinema, D’Olier Street on September 16th & 17th at 7.30pm nightly. Following the Film Festival, on the 18th September, the Awards night will be held in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney.

I have to say I was thrilled to hear I’d received the nomination and I’m really looking forward to attending the awards night in September. Another great piece of news is that my first project “Waiting Room” on which I co-directed, wrote and acted in has been selected to play along with Covies at the Underground Film Festival on the Friday night… brilliant!!

Well, there you have it! Head along to The Screen cinema on 16th and 17th September for a unique cinema experience and support the independent film makers of Ireland.

Further information on nominations, tickets, events can be found on Underground Cinema website or Facebook Page!!

Here’s a preview of what’s to come on the festival nights in The Screen Cinema, D’Olier Street

Get your tickets now!!

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But for now thanks for reading and please enjoy this teaser:

Filming is taking place in various locations throughout Carlow town, and the Ardmore Studios C stage and green screen facilities will be used for the big crowd scene and replication of an “alien arena”. We’ve completed 3 weekends throughout June in Carlow town and have still a couple of weekends to go to finish the project. Next weekend will involve some stunt work which I’m really looking forward to.

Thanks for reading, Sarah

Still of Sarah Carroll taken from the short sci-fi film Effigy Road.

Covies, the web series in which I played lead female Bridie O’Malley, has undergone a face lift and been edited by director Len Collin into a feature film which has been accepted by Galway Fleadh as one of their wild card screenings. Covies is due to air in the Cinemobile, which will be parked outside the Town Hall Theatre, on Thursday 8th at 10am. Tickets are an extremely reasonably priced €3 so if your in the vicinity please do drop in and give it a view.

I am still hopeful I will make it to the festival myself at some stage during the week.

Enjoy!
Sarah

I accepted a role offered by the grad students in IADT Dun Laoghaire leading to an enjoyable and eventful week working with them on “Escape”. The piece was very visual and we had some interesting set ups, including a night shoot in a forest. Broken mirrors were suspended from the trees and reflecting light everywhere for part of a dream sequence.. It looked great on the night and I’m sure it’ll transfer well onto screen.

I also embarked on my first attempt at a short film of my own. An actor friend of mine, Linda Teehan, and I have been talking about putting something together ourselves for a little while now, so we bit the bullet and got down to business. We improvised some ideas together first of all, and although our ideas ranged from drama to black comedy, somehow a script for our 4 minute comedy short film evolved. Thankfully we were fortunate to enlist the help of Noel Brady of Phoenix Artz for camera and editing, and with him Ashleigh Ekins for sound. Our final input came from Dylan McDonough who played the role of the doctor for us. The concept was simple enough, so a short filming period and lightning quick editing from Noel meant our little short was packaged up and ready for festival submission within a matter of days. “Waiting Room” is the first production from TeeCarr Productions, we hope to get accepted into festivals and hopefully we’ll move on and film a few more little projects in the future.

That’s all for this little update… stay tuned as always for more information.

Sarah