Ryan Mortell — IADT On Show 2020

Ryan Mortell

Ryan Mortell is a Film and Television Production Graduate from Wicklow who majored in Screenwriting and minored in Direction. He has a deep interest in varied mental states of characters and this academic year, he wrote his major project “Spookland”, a black comedy feature film following two exes traversing their small hometown after one of their untimely deaths. The screenplay utilises many elements from his adolescence growing up in Wicklow and exploring how human beings can often use toxic means to escape their own past and flaws within their character.

He also wrote several short films throughout the year, notably: “Post-Love”, a graduation film that followed three elderly sisters as they held up post offices in the West of Ireland and “Ne Comprend Pas”, a horror that followed a young French student in Dublin who found herself detached from her friends and under the influence of psychedelic drugs, bringing her on a terrifying journey across the city as she attempts to find her apartment.

He also wrote and directed a short experimental horror “Reflector”, which examined post-mortem grief against the baren backdrop of the rural Wicklow Mountains.

Moving forward, Ryan looks to work withing the thriving Irish Music Scene, working on narrative-based music videos for rising bands to both showcase the quality of the music, but also improve his short-form narrative storytelling. He also intends to implement elements of New French Extremity into an Irish context within his writing and narrative works. He is currently still redrafting “Spookland” to enter into several screenwriting development competitions, as well as developing a psychedelic horror short “Psychs”, that follows a naïve group of students as they experiment with a strong hallucinogen following their graduation, with horrific results.