Tender Shepherd
Set against the backdrop of a changing Ireland in 1988, TENDER SHEPHERD follows the unflinching Perry family and their youngest son, Ciarán, who returns home to restore his brother’s good name while trying at all odds to save the only land and honor they have left.
Four-part, Feature Length Miniseries
90 pages
“Tender Shepherd” is a narrative screenplay divided into four parts. It takes place in 1988, a major turning point in Ireland’s history–as the violence of the Troubles rages, initiation of a drastically revitalizing socio-economic period, known today as the Celtic Tiger, begins, bringing tech companies to the once agricultural nation. Each chapter in the four-part series follows the arc of a single day for the Perry clan, a family of four generations living together on their sheep farm, who will stop at nothing to save their failing homestead. Each of the four parts is set during the quarter-year milestone of a solstice or equinox, the structure drawing a direct link to Irish archaeoastronomy, where cultural symbolism and agricultural festivals defined celestial events. Amidst the backdrop of a metamorphosing landscape and Irish ethnography, the Perry prodigal son Ciarán returns home to Ireland after being exiled by his family to Boston. Upon his return, he discovers the farm is providing a front for drug trafficking, selling to the burgeoning new socio-economic class of wealthy, white-collar tech staffers who have permeated Dublin. When Ciarán discovers that the sale of these drugs pays for the cost of insulin and diabetes care for his nephew, a choice must be made. The project explores one man’s search for identity as he returns to Ireland, investigating a homecoming when a home no longer exists as it is remembered.
Divided into four parts, each chapter of the series spans a 24-hour period of a solstice or equinox in 1988-89. The ancient Celtic mystics divided a year as: Fall Equinox/Samhain, representing stages of separation, grief, and midlife as the seasons marked a dying of plants towards winter; Winter Solstice/Imbolc, a time of reflection on elder generations past; Spring Equinox/Beltane, in which rebirth, restless anticipation, hope, and childhood reflect a changing and emerging landscape; and Summer Solstice/Lughnasadh, in which a year’s work and toil come into full bloom in the agricultural system, and a conceptual youth enters adulthood (see attached graphic). All of the series’ content is tightly organized to match this structure of ancient Celtic archaeoastronomy and pre-Christian Irish cultural folklore. Restricted to a single day, each chapter marks one of four turning points within a year, and is guided by one of the four generations reflected in this family’s story. “Tender Shepherd” is based on 50+ hours of verbal interviews, conducted remotely from the United States, with those who lived across Ireland during this period.
My team in Ireland unites historians, ethnomusicologists, ecologists, dramaturgs, expeditionists, filmmakers, and Irish cultural experts. They provide unique access to historic documentation, entry to private ethnic-cultural events, aid in opening dialogue with survivors of this period, and help highlight geographic locations, and events defined in “Tender Shepherd.” They include:
Sinead Daly — Irish-American Executive Producer, Story Editor, Screenwriter, Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down, The Walking Dead
- Dr. David Fleming — Head of Dept. History, University of Limerick; Expert in early modern Ireland, political, social and cultural history.
- Dr. Lindsey Earner-Byrne —Chair of Irish Contemporary History, Trinity College Dublin. Expert in intersections of welfare, poverty, religion, and gender in Ireland.
- Dr. Brian Hanley — Assistant Professor, Trinity College Dublin, historian of modern Ireland, collaborator on the historical nonfiction podcast “Dirty War in Dublin.” Expert in the IRA, Republicanism, class in 20th century Ireland, Irish America, the Troubles.
Prof. Helen Phelan — Chair of IMBAS, a national network for artistic research in Ireland; Prof. of Arts Practice Irish World Academy of Music and Dance; Irish Research Council recipient for work in music, migration and use of arts-based research methods.
Abbe Tanenbaum — Irish playwright, dramaturg, and farm-owner. Writing focuses on politically charged work with feminist themes and magical realism.
Charles Daly — Irish travel writer, expeditionist, outdoor journalist published in The Boston Globe, ROAM Magazine, Thought Catalog. Currently preparing a solo sea kayak expedition around Ireland’s coast.
Ellie Berry — Cofounder, Tough Soles Ireland, Teaching Explorer/Advanced Trainer, Leave No Trace Ireland; Irish Mountain Record Holder 2023.
