User:Ferdiamacanna/sandbox

Ferdia Mac Anna is a director of Film and TV dramas, novelist, screenwriter and rock and roller. He was born in Dublin in 1955 and grew up in Howth, North County Dublin.

For some years he toured Ireland as lead singer and songwriter with first Rocky De Valera and the Gravediggers (1977-79/2005-2009) and The Rhythm Kings (1980-83).

He was producer and script editor on the acclaimed award-winning BBC/RTE children’s drama series, ‘Custer’s Last Stand-Up’ (2000-2002) which won the BAFTA for best drama series.

He has written three novels, ‘The Last of the High Kings’ (made into a Hollywood movie starring Jared Leto, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Rea and Christina Ricci in 1996), ‘The Ship Inspector’ and ‘Cartoon City’. His memoir, ‘The Rocky Years’ (Hodder Headline) was published in 2006 and his play ‘Big Mom’ was produced at the Project Arts Centre. ‘The Last of the High Kings’ was republished in 2011 by New Island Books as part of their ‘Modern Irish Classics’ series.

He has taught Creative Writing, Screenwriting, Scriptwriting and TV broadcasting for over twenty years at DCU, Trinty College, NUI Maynooth and IADT (the national film school). He has mentored several novelists, directors and screenwriters and also worked as a ghostwriter. He has also taught studio multi-camera directing and TV presenting and he has directed and produced Short Film Dramas, Sitcoms, Documentaries, and Soaps (including Fair City and Ros na Rún).

He has just directed his first feature film, All About Eva, an old school Film Noir revenge thriller set in the horse-racing community of Kildare.