This from Damien

[T]he Screenplay you featured “Sons & Broken Noses” has been optioned and filming will begin in December… It also won the Best Neo Noir screenplay at the recent Humphrey Bogart Film Festival in Miami.

If you wish to contribute to funding to get this made, I’m sure every bit will help.

Below is the review of Sons & Broken Noses written by LC

SONS & BROKEN NOSES

Nobody ever tells you there will be days like this.

Ah, the Emerald Isle, land of saints, scholars, and born story tellers. Resplendent in all its greenery and rich with its history of literary giants – James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, to name a few.

No big surprise then that Ireland also boasts its unique brand of inimitable screenwriters and filmmakers. Classics such as: In The Name Of The Father, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, My Left Foot, and crowd pleasers: The Commitments, The Guard, In Bruges, Once.

2016 was a bumper year for the Irish Film Industry and screenwriters continue to make an indelible mark, particularly writers of hard-boiled crime, with an edge and flair for black comedy. You could say they’re making a killing.

Damien Michael Aulsberry continues this tradition in fine form with his short screenplay: Sons & Broken Noses. Opening with a shot of a car boot slamming and a bloodied hand, this ominous sign sets the tone for what’s to follow.

We meet JAKE KELLY and SEAN BARRY, two bumbling wannabe bank robbers peeling down a lonely country road, one of them with a bullet wound sustained at the hand of the other. You guessed it, things have not gone according to plan. In fact they’ve gone quite a bit pear shaped.

Who thwarted their plans for the perfect bank heist? None other than: skinny runt, seventeen year old, GABRIEL, on work experience with said bank. With the cops now hot on their heels and running around the arse-end of nowhere, the heat’s just been turned up to red-hot for these two after discovering the lad they’ve just hurled into the back of the boot is none other than the son of Irish mob-boss, MICK RONAN.

Oh, dear. An apology is definitely in order, wouldn’t you say?

Followed by some heavy duty groveling, and bargaining for their lives, especially when one of them has broken the young lad’s nose, or more aptly: spread his nose all over his face.

Seems one of these guys is going to have to take the fall.

            SEAN
We messed up Mick. And we’re sorry.
       (beat)
What if I kneecap him? Paramilitary
style, no fucking around.

            MICK (V.O.)
Won’t work Sean. Sets a precedent.
Then everyone will be looking to
get kneecapped instead of whacked.
We’d have complete fucking chaos.
Lads hobbling round all over the
place.

Then there’s that little dilemma of returning mob-boss’s son to the fold and getting away unscathed.

With its great visuals, bang on dialogue, and perfectly balanced humour,  Sons & Broken Noses is a quirky, comedically irreverent crime drama.

Filmmakers: You don’t need the luck of the Irish to make a good fist of this one. At the time of writing this review, Sons & Broken Noses had already reached the Finals of the Southern California Screenplay contest, so it’s already got winner written all over it.

Our advice: Put down that pint of Guinness, get down from your bar stool, and head for the nearest camera, before some other lucky lads beat you to it.

There’s no denying, this one’s good craic.

Be a crime not to do it justice.

Production: Low to Medium Budget: Three hard-faced crim types with talent to match, a plucky ‘teen’ willing to have his nose broken (just kidding, Method acting is not required), and a couple of intimidating heavies (no dialogue) to complete the background.

Borrow a car, if you don’t have your own, mix up some faux blood, hit the road and film some blokes out in the middle of nowhere. Add a couple of other locations – barn, diner, and house, and you’re good to go.

About the Writer: “I write for therapeutic reasons. If I didn’t get all the mad shit out of me head, I’d be a lunatic… Currently in Post-Production of a short I wrote called “Family Business”. Directed by Oisin Woods and starring Bosco Hogan, Paul Ronan, Karl Shiels, Anthony Morris and Bern Deegan. This short, “Sons and Broken Noses”, was a Finalist and Honorable Mention in The South California Screenplay Competition 2017.”

About the Reviewer: L. Chambers has been writing all her life – especially in her head, and on scraps of paper. It’s only in the last few years she began to get serious about screen-writing. Prior to this she worked in the Features Department for ABC TV as a Program Assistant, and trained as a FAD. She currently works as a freelance web-content editor and lives with her husband (also a screenwriter) in Sydney, Australia.

Read Sons & Broken Noses (22 pages in pdf format)

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This screenplay may not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.