A Hard Day’s Strife

Answers on a postcard, please…

ack in October 2020, Cathal Shortt dealt with that bittersweet last day of school feeling in his debut short, Walking & Talking.

And now, with Tryna Make It, the young filmmaker charts a particularly hard day in the life of Greystones musician as he prepares to finally step into the spotlight.

Before he hits that Upcycled White Russian Music Club stage, the lad has to get a job so his dad won’t evict him, reconnect with his girlfriend, survive a confrontation with local, guitar-smashing thugs and try and outcool Ruben Sweeney.

As the tagline goes, ‘Conor O’Connor has the biggest gig of his life tonight – all he has to do is make it through the day…’.

“I wanted to make a serious film,” says Cathal, “but one that would also be purely entertaining for the audience. We want people to be caught up in the mayhem of this chaotic series of events that Conor faces…”

With a cast and crew that included Joe Barford, Aoibhe O’Keefe, Russell Harris, the Sweeney lad, Robert Madden, Wayne Smyth, Ronan Gaines, Indi Kenny and Connor McKenna, production on Tryna Make It took place in September 2021, and boasts such Greystones landmarks as The Whale, Sweeney’s takeaway and Burnaby Park.

“For me, this production was the most professional one I’ve made,” continues Cathal. “I got to work with such a fantastic crew who were able to bring a cinematic quality to this short. The crew clearly knew what they were doing, but they each went above and beyond, making the shoot a great learning process for everyone, and making for a happy set too.”

Citing influences as diverse as Paul Thomas Anderson’s perfect porn parabale Boogie Nights to F. Gary Gray’s Ice Cube and Chris Tucker cult comedy Friday, Shortt sees his struggling musician’s uphill battle with fate and life in general as a literal and metaphorical call to face the music.

“There’s a lot going on in this film,” he finishes, “but through it all, we just wanted to make sure those watching had a good time.

“So, when it hits YouTube and Instagram this Thursday, here’s hoping we’ll hear laughter across the town…”