The Night Caller & S481 Skills Development
Production on Channel 5's The Night Caller (under the working title of Black Cab) began in 2022, with filming taking place on location in Ireland and supported through the Section 481 tax incentive. As part of the skills development plan for the four-episode mini series drama developed in conjunction with Screen Ireland, Irish production company Samson Films facilitated a shadow directing opportunity on production. Writer and director Jason Branagan was selected for this placement. As part of this S481 Skills Development case study we followed up with Jason to discuss his experience as a mentee and career trajectory to date.
Shadow Directing Experience
Jason had experience on TV drama productions of varifying scales, having directed on Fair City and EastEnders, as well as working on a number of short films. This shadowing opportunity perfectly aligned with his goals of breaking into HETV and gaining more experience on a single camera TV drama set. Jason was able to work closely with series director Diarmuid Goggins and gain insight into the pre-production, production and post-production process and the competencies required for such a role. Reflecting on the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship, he said:
Diarmuid was an incredibly generous mentor. He didn’t shy away from sharing very real and honest evaluations of his career and the work he has done. For me personally, this level of honesty is the most valuable form of interaction because it flags some of the difficulties I may face, illuminates how someone else navigated those difficulties and helps shed light on possible steps forward.
About Jason Branagan
Jason Branagan's career path in the creative screen industry is a relatively unconventional one. As a child who grew up on early 90's Hollywood blockbusters, he inherited a love for film from his father, who ran a small independent video library business in Dublin's Liberties neighbourhood.
As a kid I was interested in writing films but coming from a working-class home with no connection to the industry or wider arts community, working in the screen sector did not seem like a real possibility.
After pursuing an Arts degree in college and a brief stint living and working in Canada, he decided to return to Ireland in 2012 and was determined to embark on a new career path. He spent his savings on a DSLR camera and a Final Cut Pro license, then began creating short comedy sketch films on YouTube with his brother and some close friends.
My thought process at this time was I could learn to shoot and cut by making internet comedy because it would be judged less harshly than if I was trying to make drama.
That same year, Jason responded to an open call for scripts from It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia creator Rob McElhenney's on Twitter and wrote his first teleplay for submission. He used the script he had developed to apply for film school but was unfortunately unsuccessful at the time. However, McElhenney's production company had responded positively to the spec and this inspired Jason to enter it into the Austin Film Festival’s Screenplay Festival. The script would go on to become a quarter finalist in the competition and convinced Jason to pursue his passion full-time.
If I hadn’t gotten that boost from Austin, I don’t know if I would have stuck out this industry, but I did. And I’m very glad of it.
Feature Film Debut & New Opportunities
At the same time, Jason took on a creative internship that allowed him to hone his camera and editing skills and worked on projects broadcasted on programmes such as RTÉ’s Today Show. Jason and his brother subsequently established their own production company – Mad Bandit Productions. While this enterprise did not materialise into much paid work, it gave Jason the time to work on a feature film script. The result was Shoebox Memories, a crowd-funded, micro-budget debut which premiered at the 10th Dingle International Film Festival.
Jason landed his next opportunity working as a commercial director on YouTube’s DirectorOnSite programme in London, helping to write, shoot, edit and deliver digital adverts for small and medium businesses on the growing video platform. Eventually moving back to Ireland to work in advertisement content delivery for non-profit organisations. He would continue to develop his own creative work in his spare time, researching a feature documentary project and creating an immersive theatre show.
Skills Development & Career Progression
In late 2018, Jason applied for and was successfully selected for the highly competitive Multi-Camera Drama Director Training Course, organised by Screen Ireland (then Screen Skills Ireland) and RTÉ. His background working in quick turnover advertising prepared him particularly well for the fast-paced nature of the course.
The Multi-Camera Drama Director Training course quite literally changed my life. It gave me an unprecedented opportunity to direct television drama for a living.
After completing his training, Jason began working on RTÉ’s Fair City as a series regular director. It was at this point that he finally felt comfortable referring to himself as professional director. He was finally in the position to leave his day job to pursue directing full-time and has been involved with some of the highest profile episodes of the series produced in the last three years.
In 2020, he premiered Breaking Ice, a feature documentary on Ireland’s first Winter Olympians, the Irish bobsleigh team, at the Chicago Irish Film Festival and the Galway Film Fleadh.
He would continue his career development through the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Producing, a Screen Ireland and TU Dublin accredited programme designed to give emerging producers a comprehensive understanding of the complete script to screen process.
The feature I developed on this course is in active development and I attribute everything I learned on this course directly responsible for the successful funding applications I have made since participating.
Jason has recently been awarded a short film bursary and is currently developing his next feature film. At the same time, he is continuing to pursue HETV directing opportunities to gain more on-set experience.
His advice to aspiring filmmakers hoping to pursue a career in the industry? Start creating work that you are passionate about and don’t be afraid to embrace failure:
If I had waited for permission, or for funding I wouldn’t have made anything. I firmly believe that failure is the single most important building block for success. Every single failure brings us a little closer to success.
About The Night Caller
Tony (Robert Glenister) is a disillusioned taxi driver from Liverpool with an unhealthy obsession. He is a regular listener of a late-night radio talk show fronted by a DJ called Lawrence (Sean Pertwee). But when Tony becomes "a friend of the show" he starts to interpret Lawrence’s views in dangerous ways, until he realises the DJ isn’t quite the man he thought he was.
The Night Caller is now available to watch on Channel 5's streaming platform My5.