“My midlife crisis is making a short about someone having a mid-life crisis!” admits writer-director John Kelly, the hilarious man behind Retirement Plan, which was the winner of the Oscar-qualifying Best of the Fest award at the Palm Springs Shortfest and two awards at the SXSW Festival. “The initial idea hit me midway through a panic attack on an airplane. Then later on, I collaborated with my writer friend Tara Lawall to re-work it into a short film.”
The result is a charming, funny and a touch bittersweet look at what we dream our retirement days will be like, cleverly contrasted with how they actually turn out to be! “In the short, Ray [the narrator] lists all the things he wants to do when he retires,” says Kelly. “For sure, many of the things he mentions (such as ‘driving one of those airport trucks’ or ‘I will learn what to do with a leek’) are either a reflection or an exponential extrapolation of the various hopes, dreams and cataclysmic fears Tara and I have,” admits Kelly. “Writing a film script is more affordable than therapy.”
“What I would say to my past-self 10 years ago is: ‘Do it NOW, you ninny. First thought, best thought!’ Start making things you want to see. Anything, any length. And more and more work will come if you pull on the thread.”
— Writer-director John Kelly
The Dublin-based Kelly and his team of about 20 got funding for the short back in August of 2023 and they finished it in nine months (the animation aspect took about three months). “I like figuring things out on the go, so I did storyboard, design and edit, and I was able to rope in two incredible animators Marah Curran and Eamonn O’Neill to breathe life into it. There are over 100 shots in the film and we worked remotely — so every day, sometimes a couple of times a day, I’d get a Slack ping with the most beautiful bit of animation. We already had Domhnal Gleeson’s amazing narration to bounce off, as well as the beautiful music of John Carroll Kirby. This started out as a temp track, and I’m incredibly grateful he let us license it.”
Kelly drew the layouts in Illustrator, and then Curran and O’Neill animated it using Moho. “The thing I’m most energized about after finishing this project is the pipeline which may sound nerdy, but I think Animation Magazine is a safe space,” he admits. “I like to make things quickly, and with our method the possibilities of long-form feel excitingly within reach.”
The filmmaker, who studied at the London Royal College of Art, says he loves how different people take different things the short. “The film is broadly about struggling with aging so I was surprised to find it landing with people in their twenties, as well as those pushing sixty,” he notes.” I think the stripped-back style allows people to project their own circumstances onto Ray a little.”
Best Near-Death Experience Ever
Kelly says he hasn’t quite experienced an audience like the first time it screened, at the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland. “I suspect this could be down to a shared collective near-death experience: a fire broke out midway through the screening!” he recalls. “It was very dramatic—two fire trucks came and the entire audience were evacuated. Then after an hour we all went back in and Retirement Plan was the last film to play, to a joyfully rowdy audience.”
When asked about his animation heroes, Kely says he mainlined Wallace and Gromit shorts as a child! “However, I never seriously considered animation as a career though, until I watched the early music videos and animations from Michel Gondry, Geoff McFetridge and Shynola.”
Kelly adds, “Like a lot of people I’m flummoxed how AI has been used to cruise control creativity instead of curing AIDS say, or cancer. For me, much of what makes a final outcome special is a direct result of the process of making, at every stage. I do guiltily like how much easier it is to get answers for software problems though.”
As far as tips for future shorts makers, Kelly has this to offer: “I think lockdown knocked the paralysis out of me — I had made my own shorts, before but not for a long time. What I would say to my past-self 10 years ago is: ‘Do it NOW, you ninny. First thought, best thought!’ Start making things you want to see. Anything, any length. And more and more work will come if you pull on the thread.”
Watch the trailer below:
For more info, visit retirementplanfilm.com
