Sean Mannion

Category: Filmmaking

  • Help me fund my next short film

    Over the past few months I’ve been working on shorts, some my own and some written and directed by friends João Lameira and Mafalda Melo. The work we’ve been doing has been instructive. We’ve made some mistakes and we’ve learned a lot. The shorts we’ve been working on have all been between 3 and 10 pages long. This month we are in some of the final pre-production stages for shooting a 30 minute short. It will be directed by me with Mafalda acting as Director of Photography, João Lameira as the Assistant Director, and fellow former New York Film Academy classmate Barbara Maia as Producer.

    This new project is a horror short inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein entitled “Modern Prometheus.”  The short is about Beth, a young professional living in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, Henry, a former writer turned IT professional. The relationship between Beth and Henry deteriorates as he becomes more and more obsessed with the story he has begun writing. As Henry’s obsession gets worse, Beth is plagued with nightmares that seem to be breaking into her waking life. Beth tries desperately to save Henry from his obsession and herself from the nightmares plaguing her.

    We are looking to raise $2,000 for this short. There are costs related to props, transportation, and equipment that we need to cover but what we really want to raise the money for is paying the cast and crew. Honestly, $2,000 means they won’t be paid much but it means they will be paid. We’d like to be able to hand each person who joins in on this project a check, because, frankly, a “Thank you” and a screen credit don’t even buy a sandwich much less pay the rent.

    We want you to help us make this happen. We’d like you to make a donation to this film so that these fine, talented people don’t have to work for free. What do you get in return for your generous donation to our project? No matter what you get on-screen credit (if you don’t want to be named you will simply be listed as “Anonymous”) but a higher donation gets you more. The levels are:

    LEVEL 1 $0-$50

    • Your name goes under “A Very Special Thanks to:” list in the closing credits of the film.

    LEVEL 2 $50-$100

    • You get an “Assistant Producer” credit in the closing credits of the film.
    • You get a free digital download copy of the finished film.

    LEVEL 3 $100-$250

    • You get an “Associate Producer” credit in the closing credits of the film.
    • You get a free DVD copy and a free digital download copy of the finished film.

    LEVEL 4 $250 or more

    • You get a “Executive Producer” credit in the closing credits of the film.
    • You get the free DVD, the digital download, and a signed and bound copy of the script to compare to the final product.

    To donate to the film now, just click the PayPal button below. Thank you so much for your willingness to support at whatever level you can.


  • The Brooklyn Film Race

    In October I teamed up with some friends and collaborators to participate in The Brooklyn Film Race, a competition to see who can write, shoot, edit and deliver a four minute film in 24 hours. We made it.

    My wife, Jessica, was our writer. My friend and former classmate, João Lameira, was our director. His girlfriend, Mafalda Melo, was our cinematographer. Miranda Childs who worked with me on my directing project at NYFA was our lead actress, and I acted as editor.

    It was a great collaborative exercise. We completed our short, “For Outerspace I Long,” with 2 hours to spare. I am really proud of what we produced.

    For Outerspace I Long from Sean Mannion on Vimeo.

  • Getting Started

    I graduated from New York Film Academy (NYFA) just over a week ago and had this overwhelming feeling of “Now What?” So, I pretty quickly got started on trying to find some way to worm my way into the film and television industry. It helped that I’d already been putting my resume out there for the past few months and that I’ve been talking to people.

    Last week I started an internship at Edward Bass Films. It’s interesting. There are a lot of us interns and they seem to be just gearing up and getting ready to start utilizing our free labor in a variety of ways. I’m hoping to stay close to screenplays and do coverage. I feel like I learn a lot from reading other people’s work. Seeing the way others do things and deciding whether or not I think it works. I think it helps improve my own writing.

    This week I should be starting another internship as a fundraiser on a film being produced by one of my NYFA instructors, Melanie Williams Oram, and directed by another, Randall Dottin. I’m excited to be working with them. They’re both very dynamic people. While the work I will be doing for them isn’t strictly filmmaking or writing I think participating in fundraising efforts for an independent film will be a great learning experience.

    So, I’m about a week and a half out of school and I’m already off and rolling. I just have to start working on rewrites for my own scripts now.