Paddy Slattery"s short film debut to be shown in Tullamore

He might be better known as a local singer/songwriter, but Paddy Slattery is proving his talents in film too and will be previewing his debut short film, "Out of Tune" in the Tullamore Court Hotel on Friday. The evening"s entertainment will kick off with a champagne reception at 8pm and the event is open to all. Shot on location in Offaly and Mullingar, "Out of Tune" is a 25 minute short film set in a restless suburban town. The film tells the story of a young struggling musician named Steve (Offaly native Damien Farrell), who is down on his luck after being rejected by judges on the Irish version of "X-Factor". He decides to quit chasing his dreams, but finds it"s not that simple to just walk away from music, which is his life. Paddy, who a singer/songwriter himself, says the inspiration for his character wasn"t too hard to find. 'The music business can be soul-destroying, so you really have to enjoy the creativity of it and take it for what it is. A lot of people have disappointments in music - you see it all around you - so the original idea came from that.' Paddy is full of compliments for his cast, many of whom are Offaly natives, and says that the filming began in August. 'After we"d put the cast and crew together the film took about ten days in total, all told. But those days were split up over quite a while and the shooting itself took about a week before we moved on to post-production work. That was done at the Film Base in Temple Bar. We"re very happy with film, as I said to the Film ~board it is what it is and it was done on a very tight budget - of practically nothing,' he adds. For now, Paddy says he is concentrating on film rather than music and has a number of other projects lined up. 'I"d like to get about three short films under my belt before moving onto a full feature length film which I"m writing at the moment. It takes a lot of time and energy so I"m sticking to the film for now.' Following the premier "Out of Tune" will be submitted to festivals and TV networks respectively and Paddy hopes for a good turnout for its Offaly debut. 'Everyone"s welcome to the preview - it should be a good night out!' he says.