Shimmy Marcus is the winner of the 1999 Miramax award which was first established by Harvey Weinstein and the Film Institute of Ireland in 1994.

The award, valued at IR£10,000 ($12,600), is for Marcus'' thriller script, Headrush. The award was established to develop the writing of new feature-length screenplays in Ireland.

As a son of Louis Marcus, the veteran Irish documentarist and former chairman of the Irish Film Board, Shimmy Marcus is a second generation film-maker with short films and documentaries to his credit in addition to experience as an actor and film editor. Casting has already begun on Headrush which is expected to go into production later in the year with Zanzibar Productions' Edwina Forkin producing.