Writing | Story Editing | Development

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Live Action Film & TV

Zephra

Writer

Directed by Bob Gallagher

Short film

(Sci-Fi Period Drama, 2013) 

When his water supply is contaminated John must leave his isolated mountain home to survive, facing that which he fears the most: people. 

I worked closely with director Bob Gallagher to develop the script from my initial idea, and this script went on to be funded by Irish national broadcaster RTÉ and broadcast on Shortscreen on RTÉ 2. Zephra screened in film festivals globally, including the BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Drama.

 

Awards & Nominations for Zephra

Winner: Best Actor, Portsmouth International Film Festival (Michael Power)

Winner: Best Production Design, Portsmouth International Film Festival (Kate Moylan)

Nominated: Best Score, Portsmouth International Film Festival (Tom Cooney)

Winner: Best Actor, North Wales International Film Festival (Michael Power)

Nominated: Best Drama, Aesthetica Short Film Festival 

 

A dead man wakes to discover he's a vampire only to struggle to follow through with his dreams of escape.

Afterlife won funding from the Clones Film Commission and was shot on location in Clones, Co. Monaghan. The script was developed in close collaboration with director Daniel Butler and the film had its international Premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2020, its Irish Premiere at the Cork International Film Festival, and went on to play internationally at festivals including Screamfest LA.

Afterlife

Writer

Directed by dan butler

Produced by maggie ryan w/ Escape pod media

Short film

(Horror/Dark Comedy/Drama, 2018)

Awards & Nominations for AFTERLIFE

Winner: 1st Prize @ Nosferatu Film Festival 2022

Nominated: 'Best of Mayo' @ Mayo International Film Festival 2022

Winner: 'Best Actor' & 'Best of Irish' @ SpookScreen 2021

Nominated: 'Best Director' & 'Best Newport Beach Short Film'@ Richard Harris International Film Festival 2020

Nominated: 'Best Acting Ensemble' @ FilmQuest 2020

Nominated: 'Best Horror' & 'Best Score' @ Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival 2021

 

"An exploration of life and legacy through a vampiric lens." 
- Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2021


Let the Wrong One In

CONTRIBUTING Writer

Directed by Conor McMahon

Produced by Tailored films

FEATURE film

(Horror/Dark Comedy, 2022)

When Matt's brother becomes part of a growing vampire problem in Dublin, he must either save or slay him.

I contributed writing to writer/director Conor McMahon’s Let The Wrong One In, produced by Tailored Films. I worked closely with Conor, impacting story structure, conceiving or reconceiving characters, and writing jokes and dialogue. This included sending Anthony Head’s character Henry on my own wonderfully boring Victorian rail holiday through the valleys of Wales.

LTWOI had its sold-out premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival in 2022.

LTWOI was a nominated in the “Best Script” category at the Irish Film & Television Academy Awards 2023.


Book of the Ancestor Trilogy Adaptation

DEVELOPMENT/CO-Writer

FANTASY SERIES ADAPTATION

(FANTASY, 2022)

As young novice Nona undergoes training to become a Red Sister - an elite class of holy warrior - she must escape a tangled web of politics and intrigue.

Concurrent to working with Romero Games on Make It Count, I had the joy and privilege of adapting the New York Times bestselling Penguin/Random House fantasy novel trilogy The Book of the Ancestor, developing a supernatural/drama television series pilot and bible with co-writer Maura McHugh. This was facilitated with Screen Ireland support through RedTed Media, taking feedback from producer John Norton all through the process.


Cubs

WRITER / CO-CREATOR

TV SERIES

(supernatural drama, 2022)

A determined woman fights to raise her werewolf children amidst mounting danger from her violently repressive clan.

Co-created with Daniel Butler and inspired by early Irish werewolf tales, Cubs is an 8x30’ bilingual supernatural drama set in a world in which old families of Gaelic werewolves still exist in secret.

Cubs is under option with Escape Pod Media and underwent development in Emmanuel Oberg’s The Rewrite Stuff workshop in 2022.

It is currently in development with TG4 as part of their Céim Eile initiative.


Fighting for Peace

Co-Writer and video Editor

Directed by Gerry Johnston

TV broadcast documentary

(Historical documentary, 2012)

Fighting for Peace is the story of Ireland’s first UN peacekeepers and the dramatic events during the four years of the Congo Campaign, 1960 to 1964. 

I worked closely with director Gerry Johnston and post-production supervisor and co-writer Imelda Conway to shape the narrative of Fighting for Peace from hundreds of hours of interviews with the veterans. 

I researched deeply into the true-life story of that tumultuous period to shape a true-to-life expression of the often exhilarating, sometimes tragic experiences of these soldiers, some of them sharing for the first time on-screen what happened in the Congo.

The documentary broadcast on TG4.

See more at Cowshed Media

Produced by Cowshed Media for TG4


Live Action VR

Learn more here

HALCYON (Hybrid VR/BROADCAST/Webseries - Crime Drama)

Police Detective Jules Dover and her Virtual AI Partner Asha battle to solve an apparently impossible crime: a murder in VR that caused a death in the real world.

Read more on this project over at VR & Video Games.

PROJECT LITERACY (VR Art Installation - Awareness Campaign)

Project Literacy is a travelling VR art installation exploring the fact that one in ten people internationally are secretly illiterate.

Read more on this project over at VR & Video Games.


Other Projects



BEHEMOTH (Pilot/TV Series - Sci-Fi/Period Drama)

At the height of WW1, a city-size heavily-damaged alien spacecraft hangs mysteriously over Nottingham, forever changing the lives of the citizens below… when it falls.

Behemoth is a TV Pilot written by Binne MacManamon and Mike Heneghan. The script was longlisted for the Red Planet Prize.

The YEllow dress (Short Film - Drama)

To help her mother regain her joie de vivre after breast cancer, Aisling sets her up on what she hopes will be the perfect date. But when the date turns up, things take quite an unexpected turn.

I worked with writer/director Deborah Grimes as Story Editor on her award-winning short The Yellow Dress, which has screened at home and abroad including at the Foyle Film Festival in 2020. Amongst its honours are a win for Best International Short at New York’s Imagine This Women’s Film Festival.


“Mike was a pleasure to work with, both affable and professional at all times. He was able to communicate clearly and was very open to collaboration without ever losing his own vision for the project. I was particularly impressed with his ability to deconstruct character and to be able to get at the core of the story with clarity that made my job a lot easier.”
— John Norton, Producer/Red Ted Media: Book of the Ancestor Trilogy Adaptation
“A film can be easily entombed by it’s own script; inalterably chiselled words amounting to an epitaph for what the film could be. Michael Heneghan is a writer who understands film as a living process - alive on the page, alive on the lips of the actors and alive in the hands of the editor. He is an indispensable collaborator who not only gives a story its pulse but can be counted on to revive and resuscitate it when needed, ensuring its vitality on the screen.”
— Bob Gallagher, Director: Zephra
“Mike’s passion for film-making, his attention to detail, his understanding of what was required for the project as well as his commitment and good humour ensured a very gratifying working relationship.”
— Imelda Conway Duffy, Co-Writer/Post Production Supervisor: Fighting for Peace