RTÉ has teamed up with the Irish Film Board to, once again, commission a new web series and discover the rising stars of Irish television.
Now in its fifth year, the Storyland programme-commissioning project has already served as a springboard for plenty of new Irish TV talent. Previous winners include the Hardy Bucks series, which went on to produce a series broadcast on RTÉ Two, as well as a feature film.
Happy Slapper writer Gary Duggan went on to create successful drama series Amber for the national broadcaster, while the award-winning Cuckoo produced by Marie Caffrey ended up on the same footing as Tom Hanks and The Walking Dead in contention for the Webbys’ People’s Choice Award.
Storyland is also a launchpad for new acting talent, as Love/Hate star Charlie Murphy starred in the competition entrant Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.
“Storyland has a great part to play in the development of the TV and film industry in Ireland,” said Jane Gogan, head of drama at RTÉ Television. “At its core, Storyland is about commissioning new drama content, unconstrained by its environment on the digital platform of RTÉ Player, and paving the way for today’s short-form drama creators to become tomorrow’s creators of TV drama and film.”
Aspiring and experienced drama production teams are invited to pitch ideas for Storyland 2014 and, from these submissions, five series will be commissioned to produce four six-minute webisodes for the RTÉ Player.
All five selected series will be commissioned in their entirety from the outset, representing a departure from previous years’ Storylands where audiences voted for their favourite series to see additional episodes.
The closing date for submissions to Storyland 2014 is 31 July.
