Stephen most recently directed the comedy feature Fran The Man, produced by Forty Foot Pictures. It will receive its world première at the Dublin International Film Festival this month.
The film is a follow-up to the hit series Fran, which aired on Setanta Sports and TV3 from 2009 – 2011. Fran The Man stars Darragh Humphries, reprising his role as the beleaguered but beloved football manager Fran Costello, alongside Ardal O’Hanlon, Amy Huberman, Risteárd Cooper, Deirdre O’Kane, Toni O’Rourke, and Eddie Marsan.
In 2021, Stephen directed The Deirdre O’Kane Show, a six-part comedy series for Sky Max, featuring guest stars Bill Bailey, Ardal O’Hanlon, and Joanne McNally. He followed this with a role as story producer on the series Last One Laughing for Amazon Prime, hosted by Graham Norton and featuring Aisling Bea, Jason Byrne, Amy Huberman, and Deirdre O’Kane. It was released worldwide in March 2024.
Stephen’s previous feature film as writer-director, Noble, won audience awards at six festivals in the USA and was released internationally during 2015/16. Noble was shot in Vietnam and England, starring Deirdre O’Kane (IFTA best actress), Brendan Coyle, Liam Cunningham, Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga, and Sarah Greene (IFTA best supporting actress).
Stephen wrote and directed his first film, Reaper, in 1995. It was selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival, and the same year, he co-produced Guiltrip (dir. Gerry Stembridge), which also screened at Venice. He set up Temple Films with Academy Award-nominated producer Ed Guiney and wrote and directed his first feature, Sweety Barrett, starring Academy Award nominee Brendan Gleeson, Liam Cunningham, and Andy Serkis. It was selected for World Cinema at the Toronto Film Festival and Official Competition in San Sebastian. Other award-winning features made by Temple Films include Ailsa (dir. Paddy Breathnach) and Disco Pigs (dir. Kirsten Sheridan).
Stephen’s second feature was the comedy-horror Boy Eats Girl, starring Samantha Mumba and David Leon, which was distributed worldwide, including by Lionsgate in the USA.
Stephen has also directed three feature-length documentaries, many award-winning television programmes for RTE, TV3, and TG4 in his native Ireland, as well as stand-up comedy shows for Universal and EMI.
His first book, Shooting and Cutting — A Survivor’s Guide to Filmmaking and Other Diseases, was published in 2019.
