a selection from what's currently in the works

At Split Second Films we have an in house development slate of projects at various stages which means that while some are being creatively worked on others may need to be momentarily put to one side.  Stories originate from all sorts of places; real life events and characters, an image, an inspiration , dream, influence of an artistic nature etcetera. Split Second Films looks towards strong character driven stories which may also fall within a genre such as dark comedy, horror, rites of passage, soft sci-fi. We maintain that variety is the spice of life.  Projects are developed in house and also we look at spec scripts. If you have a script or project you wish to bring to our attention please get in touch with a short introduction about the story and the creative team to discuss and if interested we will request script, if available. Here below is a small selection of the projects on our development slate.

FLEECED

B

rothers Des and Dave Gilroy are as mad as hell. They were looking forward to a comfortable retirement in Spain until a crooked property developer swindled them out of their life savings. Now they aim to take revenge on not just the property developer but also the bank and solicitor he was in cahoots with.
The police think the urban terrorist known as the Bluebird Bomber is young and idealistic. Little do they realise he is in fact two silver-haired pensioners who won’t rest until they’re paid £2,000,000.
The Gilroys are out to teach the Establishment a lesson and to remind themselves you’re never too old rock’n’roll.

THE REEF

Teenage brothers Aleksi(15) and Mitya (14) set out on a vacation with their Mother. When they arrive at the seaside caravan park called ”The Land’s End” it becomes apparent that they’re on more than just a holiday; this trip is an escape. Two weeks earlier the boys witnessed the accidental death of a good friend. So while the sun beats down and carefree families play on the beach, the mood for the boys is sombre as they search for ways to reconcile their grief.

Intended as a stopover, the caravan park and adjoining coastline act like quicksand, sucking the three tourists into a timeless summer haze. The boys start to explore the new world they find themselves in. Aleksi, ‘the storyteller’, is beset with lethargy and casts himself under the spell of his 100 DVDs without which this 15 year old cannot survive. Mitya, from whose perspective the story is told, is ‘the runner’ and he deals with the loss of his friend by seeking adventure and entering forbidden worlds.  In his wanderings he discovers The Girl; a mysterious blonde teenager who, like Peter Pan, ultimately bears the weight of a great responsibility. Mitya also collides with The Wrecks; a group of wild beach boys, each named after a notorious shipwreck who are heavily invested in their role-playing games. Referred to by locals as beach pirates, The Wrecks prefer to think of themselves as bandits with a code of honour. They hang around the campground and offer Mitya a way out of the darkness that has been blooming inside him since the recent tragedy. Hanging like a cloud over Mitya and Aleksi is the absence of their father.  Delayed by work and continuous ‘set backs’ trying to reach them, their father is continuously berated by their mother in arguments by phone.  The vulnerability of the boy’s mother is an open invitation to the Park’s Ranger. A sleazy kind of fellow, the Ranger comes into his own when the family’s rust bucket car breaks down. The jack-of-all-trades and master of none provides a compelling performance as a mechanic and as flirtations are exchanged it’s clear the car isn’t going to be repaired any time soon.

The Hotel – illustration by Jani Ikonen

Two other significant characters come in the form of locations; an abandoned silo complex and a derelict hotel called the Hotel Horizon. The accident weeks earlier took place at the decommissioned silo in the boy’s hometown. The Hotel Horizon is an old dame perched on a hill overlooking the beach.  Although once upon a time very grand, the hotel is now overgrown and run down. Inside, its sprawling staircases seemingly climb forever and a ballroom still echoes with the sounds of patterned social dances from the 18th century. The hotel is referred to by The Wrecks as “the Viper’s nest” as it is where The Girl conducts her important business. It’s because of her free spirit and seemingly telepathic powers that The Girl has been and continues to be an obsession for many of The Wrecks, and now Mitya.

The Reef tells us of a friendship between boys, of the love between brothers and about a girl who wants to save the lost boys. It also tells about a loss far too great for a child to understand, or for a grown up to accept.

Mitya can’t remember what happened in that tragedy – but he wants to. His big brother Aleksi remembers, every detail – but he wants to forget. Remembering and forgetting, these are the only ways off this reef.

There is a mythical element in the storyline, a timeless tale of what happens to the children who have left the world and been lost too early in life.

The Reef is a book for men who have once been boys and for mothers who have feared for their child. It is also for girls who have wanted to save a boy, or several, and for boys who would rather have, or preferred to play pirates.

The Reef is an adaptation of Seita Vuorela’s award winning book “KARIKKO”.  For more information on the project please go to the webpage for The Reef.

MELMOTH THE WANDERER

It is Ireland, 1816. Twenty year old John Melmoth visits his uncle’s death bed in the Wicklow Mountains. He learns of his ancestor, Melmoth the Wanderer, who has roamed the earth for 200 years as part of a pact he made with the Devil. If the Wanderer can find someone to take over his infernal contract before his time is up, he will be released from its awful consequences. Otherwise he is damned for all eternity. An ancient manuscript reveals how the Wanderer tormented an Englishman called Stanton in an attempt to persuade him to exchange their fates. Further stories concerning the Wanderer are uncovered by John and his pregnant wife, Elizabeth. With time running out, the Wanderer has returned home to die. Upon discovering that John has fatal consumption and dreads his unborn child growing up fatherless, the Wanderer realises he might yet be saved. Based on the classic gothic novel of the same name written in 1820 in Ireland by Charles Maturin, the great uncle of Oscar Wilde.

SIMILAR FILMS – “The Others”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Dracula” (the Hammer version), “Interview with the Vampire”, “Nosferatu” (the remake).

TAG LINE – For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

ROAMANIA

Christina, a girl upon the verge of womanhood, is suffering an identity crisis. With her childhood behind her, life is no longer simple. She questions things she once took for granted and rebels against authority. A gifted violinist, she is sent to Paris to take part in a contest for young musicians but absconds across Europe in an attempt to find her real self. She gets it into her head that she is adopted and that her real mother lives in Romania; so she heads for a country on the edge of Europe which she believes is full of fairy tale castles and exotic gypsies.

DEARG TÉ

It is Cork, Ireland, in 1974. This is the story of a family, the tensions within and with their wider community amidst the undercurrents of IRA recruitment during the hottest summer on record.