Biography

Mental Pictures is a genre film production company focused on cinematic horror and stories that explore the darker side of life. Founded by Ali Doyle in 2025, the company was born out of a desire to carve out space in the industry, not just for herself, but for a new wave of Irish genre storytellers eager to take bold, brave, provocative and disruptive risks. With a tagline like "Get the Mental Picture," the mission is clear: to shake things up on our screens. To give audiences what they want, the safety of a scare from the comfort of a cinema seat or their own sofa.

Ali is a Puttnam Scholar, an Advanced Producer 2020 alumni, an EAVE Producers Workshop 2023 alum, and the 2024 Irish participant of Inside Pictures, one of the industry’s most competitive and prestigious talent labs. She has worked across development, financing, and production on some of Ireland’s most striking films (KNEECAP, Frewaka, The Hole in the Ground, Saipan) and previously gained international experience for a number of years at Voltage Pictures in Los Angeles, building a sharp commercial instinct alongside her creative drive.

Mental Pictures champions cinematic Irish horror stories that are emotionally resonant, psychologically rich, and rooted in genre, stories that can reach wide audiences while digging into themes rarely explored on Irish screens. With a strong focus on cinematic horror, psychological thrillers, and surreal & dark dramas that explore the grittiness of themes such as mental health and the darker underbelly of life, the company already has an active "slate of horrors", that develops work that is audience-driven, festival-ready, and commercially ambitious. Ali is deeply passionate about understanding genre markets and developing projects that deliver what audiences crave, while still being daring, disruptive, and original.

Mental Pictures also places a major emphasis on emerging talent, with a strong commitment to breaking down industry gatekeeping and giving underrepresented voices the space and support to take creative risks in doing something cinematically different. Based in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, the company wants to grow regional talent both creative and technical and create a "horror hub" out in the beautiful atmospheric ethereal countryside. The company aims to build a new legacy for Irish genre filmmaking, one that’s dark, bold, raw, smart, and unforgettable.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ali Doyle