Brothers Graham and David McSweeney Reflect on the Growth of Their Independent Film Company: From a Lockdown Hobby to the Big Screen at Cork Indie Film Festival and The People’s Picturehouse

An interview with brothers Graham and David on their humble beginnings during lockdown, creative ethos and process, the Cork acting and film scene, their influences, recent accolades, and future plans as a now well-established independent film company.

By reporter Anna Humphreys

I sat down with brothers and filmmaking duo, Graham and David Mc Sweeney, as we talked about the growth of their small independent film company, McSweeney films. Having started out during the first lockdown their work has since been featured at notable events such as Cork Indie Films festival and The People’s Picturehouse Cork.

‘We started Mc Sweeney films in 2020 during the first lockdown mainly just as a way to keep ourselves sane. David was in the middle of doing a film production course in St. John’s so we decided to start shooting comedy sketches and uploading them to YouTube. We’d always be doing little improvised comedy bits between ourselves so we thought we may as well start filming them. It was through that I decided to get into filmmaking myself and taught myself how to edit. Mc Sweeney films is an independent film production company and YouTube channel run by the two of us,’ says Graham.

Graham described their creative ethos as primarily concerned with sketch comedy and short filmmaking although they’re looking to extend their work to longer films and works in the near future. ‘I guess our creative process would be making stuff that we want to see first and foremost. We don’t really worry about a potential audience might think of an idea… if we like it and we think its good we’ll roll with it.’

‘Our main influence when we started was the sketch show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. We both had such a huge obsession with it at the time wanted to kind of emulate it in some way. But there’s been loads more influences from comedy, film and YouTube in the years since. People like Aunty Donna, Joel Harver, Jim Harmusch and Norm MacDonald to name a few’.

‘We’ve always got small projects on the go, but our last bigger project was a short film called “Selection Boxes and Mulled Wine” … We made that back in December for The People’s Picturehouse Christmas film challenge. That was a really fun one to do, we got a load of our friends and family involved and it was then screened at the Picturehouse’s Christmas showcase.’

When asked if they had any upcoming events in Cork Graham explained how the company has been involved in the running of The People’s Picturehouse Cork since last August. This is a monthly short film showcase run by current and former UCC and St. John’s film students.

Each month filmmakers of all levels, whether an award winner, a student, or a first timer, can submit their short films to be screened at the Pavillion.

‘It’s a great opportunity for people to see their stuff on the big screen in a much more relaxed environment than a traditional film festival… kind of like an open mic night for filmmakers.’

Their next showcase, a Cork migrant filmmaker’s special, on 27 March will be a collaboration with Out of Fame, another film event in Cork taking place on 24 April, and will be dedicated to showcasing filmmakers new to Cork. This event will be centred around themes of immigration, displacement, and the question of home. This month they will also be inviting filmmakers to take part in their Lumiere Challenge. The objective of which is to produce a film within the restrictions that the Lumiere brothers had to work during the time they were producing films back in the late 1800s (of which could be no longer than 60 seconds, no sound, one shot, etc.).

‘The process of our film making depends largely on each independent project. We shoot most of our films at home as its just quicker and easier that way. We like to work fast and getting specific locations to shoot in can slow the process down sometimes but we’re willing to do that for bigger projects like our short films. We also love to invite people to collaborate with us on our short films. We’re so lucky that we’ve got many talented friends, from actors to cinematographers to sound recordists that are all happy to help us out… and because we mainly work with people that we know are our friends, it makes it easy to work as a team as everybody is eager to help each other out. It’s also just really good craic and the vibe is always quite chill. We’re also more than happy to return the favour by helping people out with their projects.’

‘I think what I most enjoy is just being able to bring something to life. Having an idea in your head or written down on a piece of paper and bringing it to life is quite exhilarating. What I love about acting or making films is also the amount of friends you make along the way. I’ve been very lucky in that aspect,’ explains David.

‘It’s also such a surreal and rewarding thing to see something that was once just an idea in your head projected onto a big screen in a room full of people,’ adds Graham.

When asked what the future holds for McSweeney films, Graham explains how the pair are planning to upscale their YouTube Channel, ‘but down the road we’d like to become a proper production company. We’d like to be able to get the funding for more ambitious projects, longer form projects like feature films and series. We’d also like to be in a position where we can help other people to develop their own projects and ideas.’

David’s own acting career began in 2020 when the pair started Mc Sweeney films and he began the film course at St. John’s and began acting in films produced by his friends. In 2022 he began formal training at ActorsVision in Cork. He is now studying theatre at Tramore Road Campus where he is currently working on a play.

‘The acting scene in Cork is very supportive I feel. There’s lots going on, between student films and Indie films. Whenever there’s auditions going on everyone I know is very good at sharing information to one another. Graham and I have a good core of actor friends we can always rely on to act in any of our projects,’ he adds.

When asked advice for someone starting out in the industry, Graham explains that ‘it’s different for very department so we can only really speak from a writer/director/actor point of view. I think the best thing you can do is just start making stuff and keep making stuff. Also don’t be afraid to make “bad” stuff. You’ll learn so much more if you let yourself make something weird and embarrassing… then you’ll strive too hard for perfection.   

‘It’s really mad to see how far we’ve come in just a few years. We started out making really low quality, weird stuff on our phones, and now we’ve had a short film officially selected and screened at Indie Cork Film Festival and with the Picturehouse, we’re able to see our stuff on the big screen on a regular basis which is something we never expected. We’ve also both gotten work out of it; David as an actor and myself as an editor so it hasn’t been a complete waste of time.’