‘Rapunzel: The Blonde Years’

A Film Festival Favourite

This 2-minute medieval comedy drama demonstrates how one plucky maiden found her own route to freedom.

It's had over seven hundred thousand views* on YouTube, and has been used as an education resource in Irish schools to explore complex concepts like self-determination and creative thinking,

'Rapunzel: The Blonde Years' shows how you can use your mind to creatively solve your problems in new and exciting ways.

Most short films have a festival life span of around five years, but this little short, made in 2008, screened at film festivals around the world for over a decade.

Fun Facts about ‘Rapunzel: The Blonde Years’

  • In 2010, two years after Rapunzel was made, the GHD hair straightening company made a TV commercial with a very similar concept. I wrote to the GHD marketing team offering to pitch script ideas for their next ad campaign, but they never got back to me.

  • The sequel, 'Rapunzel: The Pond Years', was never made, and remains as just a dusty script in a drawer alongside 'Smoky Bacon', a new interpretation of the story of the Three Little Pigs.

  • I confess, it was me who asked for Comic Sans in the titles. I thought it would be funny but it was a dreadful creative decision and I cringe every time I see the opening titles and closing credits.

  • There are two versions of this short film: the two-minute version, above, which was uploaded to YouTube in the wrong format (4:3), and a longer four-minute version for festival screenings.

  • Sadly, 'Rapunzel: The Blonde Years' has never won an award at a film festival, despite being accepted into, literally, dozens. I blame the Comic Sans titles.

About the funding, the cast and the crew

  • Rapunzel was funded by the Screen Ireland (formerly known as the Irish Film Board) in 2008 under the Virtual Cinema Scheme.

  • I wrote and produced the script, and worked with talented director and all-round media guru Fiona Ashe who added her own magic to the project. Including an extra day's shoot to get the final 'beat' of the story: Prince Charming's triumphant return.

  • Rapunzel stars former ski champion and stunt performer Orlaith Doherty as Rapunzel, and the hilarious Gordon Mahon as the dashing Handsome Prince.

  • The crew comprised five film directors, who were fabulous to work with but who all had opinions about how they would liked to have directed it. As producer, I deferred to Fiona Ashe’s wisdom for all creative choices. Except the Comic Sans. That was my fault.

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*738,000 YouTube views at the end of 2025.