Well I am out of action this week as we are filming the “Flirty” pilot - very exciting! After much searching we eventually managed to find the right house to use as a set - on the northside! Who would have thought?

In theory all my spare time will be spent reworking the script and trying not to look like a total tourist on the set. (I may have to ask “Annie” for some tips - she knows these things.) I’ve learnt loads in the last few months about the world of TV and how to structure scripts, thanks to a very, very patient and talented team of people.

My friends are already planning outfits for ‘The Premiere’. Despite my protests that only a handful of pilots ever progress to TV there is no talking them down. Deep down I suspect they are just using it as an excuse to shop.

Oh well whatever happens it does make for a great dinner story. Who would have thought that a passing hobby to keep me occupied while job hunting would end up on film? Sometimes life is pretty damn cool.

Well I appear to be the only person in Ireland NOT going to the Electric Picnic. The worse part about not going is telling people. I am greeted with the same level of derision as those old “Wash & Go” commercials - bring 2 bottles into the shower!!!

My main reason for concern is the man shortage in Dublin this weekend as over 50k people enjoy the “Boutique Festival”. If anyone has a spare ticket and feels like donating it to a very worthy cause “Campaing-find-a-man” please let me know at irishflirtysomething at hotmail.com.

Well the campaign has started to find a replacement man. The first stop on the journey was the World Festival of Cultures in Dun Laoghaire at the weekend. I spent a particularly long time trying to select an outfit that reflected my bohemian cultural side e.g. label free. (you’ve no idea how long it takes to pick off that bloody polo horse – damn Chinese machinists)

Lady Em & I were quietly optimistic that all the music and beer would attract a high potential crowd. Our error was discovered soon after opening the pub door – not by sight but by smell. Now I get the whole back to nature vibe, but is there anything more natural than washing? Even animals groom. We decided not to investigate further and went straight to Bodega. One of the more unsuccessful pub rebrandings as everyone still calls it the 40 ft. (Not to mentioned the missed opportunities to promote the pub on the only night a year it gets a crowd!)

Thankfully the weather cleared long enough to allow us stand outside in the fresh air and once we ensured that we weren’t down wind of the more fragrant home-brew-drinking-crew, it was pretty good fun. We did get chatted up fairly regularly – well I say chatted up but it was really just a procession of increasingly drunk men swaying up, mumbling something totally incoherent and after many death stares eventually leaving again.

Along with the drunks and bohemians you also had a large contingent of very underage teenagers who spent a long time trying to “find” their ID when questioned by the bouncers. It was one of the few occasions were the crowd actually got younger as the night progressed as opposed to just beer goggle younger. Our decision to retire and leave the young people to it came shortly after a youth with badly highlighted hair and a very suspect Hawian shirt tried to proposition me with the classic;

“Fancy a shot at the title? - I hear you older birds are wild in the sack?”

I politely declined his kind offer. Campaign ‘find-a-man’ hasn’t exactly got off to the start I had intended.

A very exciting weekend as we had the first casting session for the Flirty pilot. After much begging I was allowed to sit at the back of the room. My eyes were the size of saucers with excitement, which did ruin the super cool ‘I do this every day’ vibe that I was trying to fake. I learned a lot from the day:

1) A surprising number of actors do NO prep work. I thought acting was super competitive and everyone had to rehearse endlessly - what the hell else do “resting” actors do with their time? My ego was severely wounded when no one had a clue about Flirty. Am I the only person who Googles stuff?

2) Good actors can make the most ordinary lines seem brilliant - sadly the inverse also applies. Important note to self - must do more work on script as most people read it like a funeral eulogy.

3) Male actors should really shave. I don’t care how good the head shot, face fuzz ruins all credibility.

After a very lonnggggggggggg day and more cups of tea than a PG Tips monkey we managed to cast most of the roles - except Flirty! Looks like I might be playing myself after all.

PS - we are still looking for a location, so if anyone has a large, modern, posh house in a nice suburb of Dublin and doesn’t mind a camera crew for a couple of days - please let me know.