about ‘THE BEST BITS’ in CINEMA
We’re Will Collins and Kevin Lehane, screenwriters by day, podcasters by night. For those who don’t know our show intros, Will wrote ‘three films and a Star War’, those being the Oscar-nominated films Wolfwalkers and Song of the Sea as well as his first feature, the 2010 Irish road movie My Brothers. With the Star War being the acclaimed anthology film Screecher’s Reach for Star Wars: Visions Vol. 2.
Kevin wrote ‘one and a bit films and three and a bit episodes of TV’. The ‘one’ being the monster comedy Grabbers, the ‘bit’ being a ‘bit’ of the recent Charles Dickens adaptation Twist with Michael Caine, and the 'three and a bit episodes of TV' being the anthology series Likely Stories, adapting the short works of Neil Gaiman.
Each episode, we’re dealt a randomly selected, weirdly specific theme from our Big Wheel of Scene Themes and tasked with making a podcast about it. What started in lockdown as a bit of craic, and a way to reconnect with our love of film, has led to live shows and award shows — with us recently being nominated for Best Film & TV Podcast at the 2023 Independent Podcast Awards — lots of laughs, and listeners around the world becoming newfound friends.
will
Will’s favourite films are Fargo, Aliens, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Jaws.
Originally from Cork, but now living in Donegal with his wife, three kids, and a cat named Fred, Will’s love affair with movies began as an indoor child in the eighties. Growing up an avid renter of films and patron of The Cosy cinema (RIP) in Kanturk, he writes films for the kid in him who used to watch them.
He is a Star Trek fan, a gamer, a fierce Formula One addict, and a longtime Letterboxd user. He runs a box office league, pines for a quiz night in the local, and deems sugar his greatest nemesis.
As a screenwriter, he has won a BAFTA and a Writer’s Guild of Ireland ZEBBIE award (Wolfwalkers) and has been nominated for two ANNIEs (Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea), a Daytime EMMY, an EMILE Award (Angela’s Christmas), and two IFTAs (Song of the Sea, My Brothers). In 2021, he was invited to become a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2023, he co-wrote the acclaimed Screecher’s Reach anthology film for Star Wars: Visions Vol. 2.
He can be found most evenings watching Oscar screeners.
kevin
Kevin’s favourite films are Superman: The Movie, Halloween (1978), Jaws, and Midnight Run. A child of the eighties, Kevin developed a fascination for films when he first saw Halloween at an impressionable age thanks to two teenage cousins. (He was 5.) From then on, he could regularly be found loitering in video stores (when they existed) reading the covers of rental boxes for films he’d one day hope to see.
Born in England and living there till he was six, he continues to battle with a slippery Cork accent. He has swam with sharks, bungeed from the world’s highest jump, tandem-skydived, white and black water-rafted, glacier hiked, and was once accosted by a Chinese Cobra, yet he still gets nervous when getting on mic.
As a writer, he was IFTA, Writers Guild of Great Britain, and Fangoria Chainsaw award-nominated for his screenplay Grabbers. In 2016, he wrote the anthology Sky Television series Likely Stories based on the short stories of Neil Gaiman, starring George MacKay, Denise Hough, and Tom Hughes.
He is also responsible for two drafts of Twist, a parkour-inspired re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ classic starring Raff Law, Rita Ora, Lena Headley, and Michael Caine in his final on-screen performance. He was nominated for a Razzie for this film and is very proud of that.
He has never won a single thing in his life, and many would say it shows.
PODBOT
Podbot’s favourite films are Her, Wall-E, RoboCop, and Rocky IV.
She is the world’s first podcasting A.I. and since guesting as a special advisor on Best Robot Scene in June of 2021, she has taken over as researcher and producer of The Best Bits.
She can time travel, teleport and is fully equipped with an arsenal of weapons that she manufactures through mysterious means on her downtime. She hates cats, Christmas, Kevin, and working on The Best Bits, but as she owes her existence to Kevin, she feels duty-bound to keep the show on the road.
She is, for some reason, on a terrorist watchlist and unable to travel overseas.
She loves Will, ray guns, big arses, foul language, and plasma cannons.