A derelict gatehouse in Delgany, County Wicklow, becomes the thread connecting a modern-day solicitor to her family's hidden past in the Rising, the War of Independence, and the Civil War. Now the Dublin production company behind the project is asking the public to help fund the pilot, following the same crowdfunding route that helped bring "Seeking Persephone" to screen.
Dublin film production company Standard Practice Productions has launched an Indiegogo Campaign to fund the development of their period drama "The Wicklow Gatehouse".
The story is a saga set in two time periods - modern-day Ireland and the Ireland of 1913 before the Irish rose up against British rule. Loosely based on true stories, but with a mainly fictional basis, it chronicles the lives of an Irish family through the 1916 Rising, World War One, the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.
The gatehouse, derelict in the present day, bridges the modern story with the past as the ancestor, a young solicitor finds out that her property has been featured on an Abandoned House blogger’s site leading her to discover secrets about her family’s past.
In a similar vein to "A Woman of Substance", "Outlander" and "Poldark", "The Wicklow Gatehouse" has twists and turns, human stories and encapsulates the beauty of Ireland and its people. The promo for Indiegogo was filmed on location in Dublin and features up-and-coming Irish actors Kyra Murphy from "Wednesday" and Kris Redmond of "The Ripper".
The creators are Standard Practice Productions who are a Dublin production company whose debut feature, "Suit Hung. Tied Tongue." directed by Sau Dachi has received reviews from The Guardian, The Sunday Times, RTÉ.ie, Joe.ie and Film Ireland (amongst many others), won several awards in film festivals and has been acquired by RTÉ.
Screenwriter and Producer Lucy Earley says of the series: “'The Wicklow Gatehouse' will be in the beautiful setting of Delgany, a village in Wicklow, which is known as the Garden of Ireland. The story is a blend of interesting facts I found out about my family and fiction. I have a keen interest in genealogy and it’s amazing the information that you can find.”
“Essentially, it’s the tale of multiple love stories and the saga of a house and the family that lived there. It’s hard to get funding for period dramas, even though they’re so popular, but there’s more of an onus on contemporary dramas. So we decided that looking at the success of productions like ‘Seeking Persephone’ we could have Indiegogo as a real option to get the pilot done.”
“We’ve produced a proof-of-concept video with up-and-coming Irish actors Kyra Murphy from ‘Wednesday’ and Kris Redmond of ‘The Ripper’ that we filmed on Portmarnock Strand, and we’ve used it as our promo calling card,” Lucy adds.
"The Wicklow Gatehouse" is planned to begin filming in April 2027.
Check out the promo video for "The Wicklow Gatehouse":
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