The programme is led by Cathy Brady, award-winning director. A casting session will be taught by Maureen Hughes, one of Ireland’s leading casting directors. Produced for Cherry Red Pictures by Maeve Stone.

TEAM

Cathy Brady is an award-winning filmmaker whose debut feature WILDFIRE won the IFTA for Best Director and the BIFA for Best Debut Screenwriter. She has directed TV drama for Channel 4, Paramount+, and RTÉ, and is currently developing her next feature script, DIRTY SCORE, while also set to direct a new BBC series in 2026. Alongside her filmmaking career, Cathy lectures on the MA Directing Fiction course at the National Film and Television School (UK), and has run courses and workshops for Bow Street, Ardán, and Run of The Mill.

Maureen Hughes began her career with Druid Theatre in 1984 and later became Casting Director at the Abbey Theatre. She has collaborated with filmmakers including Martin McDonagh, Jim Sheridan, Paolo Sorrentino, and Werner Herzog, with recent credits such as Small Things Like These, That They May Face the Rising Sun, and Herzog’s Bucking Fastards. On television, she is known for Love/Hate, Hidden Assets, The Walsh Sisters (BBC1), and U.S. dramas Dawn (Hulu) and Nightflyers (NBC). Theatre credits span McDonagh’s Beauty Queen of Leenane to Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman. She co-founded The Factory Bow Street, developing new Irish acting talent.

Maeve Stone is a director, writer and producer for theatre and film, based in West Clare. She is one half of Cracking Light Productions and is excited to work with Cathy as producer on Beyond Shorts.