CARLOW comedienne and screenwriter Kathleen O'Rourke is off to Hollywood next month, thanks to a scary granny who tells terrifying bedtime tales.

Kathleen is the writer of 'Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty', the six-minute film which was last week included in the Oscar nominations for Best Animation Short. It will be a case of from 'grimm' to glam for her when the glitzy awards ceremony is held in the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday March 7.

'The whole week's been crazy. It all hasn't sunk in yet,' an elated Kathleen said this week, as she looked forward to the big night out. KATHLEEN O'Rourke, the comedienne and now Oscar-nominated screenwriter, has the difficult task of choosing a top-notch fashion designer after discovering last week that she will be travelling to the glitziest party in the world.

She will be seen tripping lightly down the red carpet at LA's Kodak Theatre for the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 7, while she's also just received word that she will also attend a pre-Oscar luncheon next week, along with a galaxy of stars.

'Yes, I'm supposed to walk up the red carpet, but it hasn't really sunk in yet,' a delighted Kathleen said. 'I think about it all the time but I can't imagine what it's going to be like. I'm getting a bit tired of the George Clooney fantasy, though, and they'll be so many stars there.'

Kathleen, along with Brown Bag Films, received the Oscar nomination for best short animation for 'Granny O'Grimm'.

The six-minute film tells the tale of a twisted granny's take on Sleeping Beauty, who ends up terrifying her grand-daughter with the story.

The team heard that they secured their place in the Kodak Theatre last Tuesday and, since then, Kathleen's phone has been hopping. 'The whole week was mad, crazy,' she laughed. 'I had so many interviews to do and even exboyfriends are crawling out of the woodwork.'

And it's thanks to the Oscar exposure that Kathleen's career as a scriptwriter is beginning to go stratospheric. She and Brown Bag Films are developing Granny into a series while she's also working on a children's cartoon and on the early stages of a sitcom. 'The nomination really has made such a huge difference,' she explained. 'Everything's changed and I've to make the most of it. And Granny? She's not a bit impressed. She knows that the road to disappointment is paved with hopes and dreams. She has the cut of that lot in LA, she knows they don't eat Swiss roll there so probably won't be travelling over herself.'

- Elizabeth LEE