Write for SKINS
Here is a video where Jamie tell us some things about writing!
Showing posts with label writer. Show all posts
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More about Georgia Lester - writer of Skins
Here is an article with Georgia Lester, one of the writers of Skins. She is writing an episode for this series too. Georgia wrote the episode of Katie last season.
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Jamie Brittain about last episode of Skins
As you know the Dvd of Skins is already out and with the Dvd there´s some extras of the whole season. Well, Jamie Brittain, during the last scene between Cook, Effy and Freddie did this commentary:
"The kind of point of this sequence, I suppose, I mentioned it earlier, is that Freddie makes the mistake of thinking of leaving and Cook picks up on that, seeing his bag. And I suppose for that, he's punished, is what Neil(?) the scriptadapter would say if he was here. But that's his kind of transgression - he should've been there for her through thick and thin and realize that something was wrong with her and he eventually does, of course, but it's too little too late. "
So, this is what the writers had in their minds...
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Writing episode 6 - JJ
As usual here is the little diary that the writers of Skins publish in the end of the episode. This timwe we have a litlle description of how it was to write the episode of JJ.
Lucy Kirkwood – Writer Episode 6.
Having written a pretty dark, horror-like episode last year for Effy, I decided very early on that I wanted to write a funny romantic comedy episode this year. I’ve always wanted to write for JJ and I especially liked the idea of him having this type of story - I felt he deserved a happy ending of sorts – a reward for being such a nice young man, if you like. I also was very keen to re-examine a stereotypical TV teenager. The cardboard cut-out of who Lara is has become so demonized by the media, but I felt she, or Lara as she became, could become a really strong female character in our show. It also spoke really strongly to JJ’s general journey, particularly at this point in our series – by episode 6, we’re reaching the point where it’s time to grow up and prepare for the real world…but that doesn’t have to be a deadening, draining thing. In fact for JJ, meeting Lara and entering her world allows him to transcend the boxes he’s been forced into his entire life…and become a man. In his own, very special way, of course.
A lot of the story, and feeling of the episode, sprung from the last look that Celia, JJ’s mum gives him at the end of JJ’s series 3 episode. I thought it was so beautiful, and in a way wanted my whole episode to have that feel about it - a really yearning sense of lives lived and not lived, and the responsibilities and joys we owe and receive from people we love. JJ’s clearly had a very close, even dependent relationship with his Mum, and I found it fascinating to think about where his Dad fitted into that, and the way your family inevitably affects your approach to your own personal relationships. For many people, their parents are the first model they have of monogamy or romantic relationships (even if the romance is long gone). So it’s not surprising when you get a view on JJ’s home-life that he’s somewhat at sixes and sevens in this department, even leaving his medical condition aside.
With regards to Lara, she took a lot of working out. I wanted her to be smart and strong without being aggressive or, that horrible rom com word ‘feisty’. And tonally that was hard to get right. When you throw in her relationship with Liam and the complexities that rings to the story, it becomes even harder – at no point is she messing JJ around or leading him on, but on the other hand, she does have an existing relationship with another man who will always be in her life. I do think she’s still a good contrast to our gang, and a reminder of alternative teenage lives - compared to our kids, she’s already done an awful lot of accelerated growing up and that shows in her behaviour. And as we leave series 4 I think she’s a bright beacon of what it is to grow up – it doesn’t have to be a deadening, boring process where you leave behind everything fun and carefree. And while life will throw you difficulties, it will also uncover joys in the most unexpected places. Which is a nice note to go out on, I think.
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Writing episode 5 of Skins - Freddie
I just loved this episode... Kaya and Luke did an amazing job with their scenes... The writer of "Freddie2 was Sean Buckley and here you can read a little bit of how it was to write 4x05 of Skins season 4.
"Sean Buckley – Writer of Episode 5
The highlight of working on my episode has probably got to be watching the shoot for the carnival where Freddie loses Effy. First time ever on a Skins set, I was so nervous that morning. The carnival lived in my head for some time before it was written, and then it was re-drafted to simplify and clarify the story route through the chaotic spectacle while keeping the sense of chaos right up there. In an early version the whole gang were present, Freddie intersecting different characters along his search for Effy. But it was too long, overly complex, sucking the energy of the chase away, so it was a case of stripping away what wasn’t at the heart of Freddie’s story at this point.
As I walked to the set that morning I could hear the samba drums echoing through the cobbled streets of Saint Nicholas's Market (where it was shot) and into the main parade of Bristol old town, where my heart matched the pace of the beats. And as I head down the alley to the set, as the drumming pulsed louder and my heart bounced off my liver then shot up my throat and started trampolining on my tongue, I'm met by this explosion of a procession in a riot of costume advancing, dancing en masse to the beat, and I just glimpse in the background Freddie as he sees the back of Effy disappear away from him in the crowd, Esther (the fantastic director) shouts ‘cut!’ and I clap and grin, happier than the happiest seal on speed in captivity.
It’s mad how up til a few weeks before - a week even for final touches - this just existed on paper. It was then storyboarded, each shot drawn, which was like looking through a comic-book version of the scene. But to see that then burst into full 3-D…
What was really made clear to me, watching the crowd and the crew creating the Carnival was how painstakingly and brilliantly everyone has worked to realise the script. I just turned up, job done and just try not to get in the way, but it’s like I walked into some vivid dream magicked out of the ether or the mushrooms. The production team really do pull out the stops and go for it and I wanted to cry like a kid given eight ice-creams to hold at once."
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Skins writer Georgia Lester - small diary
Georgia is one of the Skins´s writer and now she share with us how it was the process of writing for Skins season 4.
E4 published a little diary where she speaks about the read through process and how it was to write her own episode (Number 4 - Katie).
Keep reading to know everything!
Georgia Lester – Writer - Skins Series 4, Episode 4.
Life as a writer doesn’t get much more exciting than sitting in front of your computer (in my case, usually in my pyjamas) and writing (or, again in my case, just staring at the screen, waiting for inspiration to hit). So I thought I’d write about how we came up with the series in our writers' meetings and the first time anyone read the scripts for series 4 out loud...
Every Wednesday all the writers, script editors, contributors and John (our producer) would get together to chat about what we wanted to happen this time round: basically, we needed to decide what we wanted to Skins series 4 to be about.
And this is what we came up with: we wanted to write a series which would make our audience, laugh, cry, scream at the TV and be completely involved in each character’s story. Moreover, we wanted to show the positive side to teenagers in Britain today. There has been a binge drinking, ASBO reputation associated with British youth and we wanted to show that actually, in a world where we are economically and culturally unsure, it is the youth that stand up and fight for what they believe in.
So that was what we wanted, but we then had the slightly harder task of working out how our character's related to these themes, who wanted to write each character's story and how this fitted into the series as a whole. Just as an example (no story spoilers here – sorry!) we needed to make sure that things like Emily and Katie’s sisterly relationship was apparent across the series, not just in a few individual episodes. So, with the use of millions of post it notes, we storylined character journeys both in individual episodes and throughout the whole series.
To make sure we were on the right track, we visited and spoke to college students in London and Bristol and also had teenagers join us in our Wednesday writers meetings to tell us what they thought of our ideas and what they had enjoyed and disliked in previous Skins series. We also met up with the cast to talk about what each actor thought of their character, which was a really interesting way of getting another perspective.
But we couldn't just spend the whole time talking - as well as being in all these meetings, we were all writing our episodes at the same time and the first big deadline we hit for the first 4 episodes was the Read Through...
A Read Through is basically a massively terrifying day where EVERYBODY (actors, executive producers, set and costume designers and important people from channel 4) come and listen to the scripts being read aloud by the cast for the first time.
Our first read through was on a Thursday a couple of weeks before we started shooting. At this point I only had a few days to write my third draft (which would be my read through draft). It was decided that I would work in the office instead of at home and that way Neil and Becky, our wonderful and often life saving script editors, would be on hand across the hallway to help.
The first few days started well but when I arrived on Wednesday morning, with 24 hours to go, I was told that the script was nowhere near ready, and so began the most stressful and exhilarating day of writing my episode for Series 4.
I found the hardest part of the script was the structure. As I approached part 3, I began to panic. Within moments, Neil came to the rescue and we sat for a couple of hours writing together; trying to construct a fun event with a shocking revelation whilst maintaining comedy throughout – it wasn’t an easy task!
Finally at about 10 pm, I knew the direction my script was heading in and was ready to go home and finish it off. As I left the office, with a bunch of other writers and our producer, we found Merv, Lisa and Ollie (Thomas, Pandora and JJ) loitering outside. They’d arrived in London and were desperate to have a look at the scripts. They thought we were joking when we said the scripts weren’t quite finished!
So after a natter, I slid off home for a take-away curry, a Relentless energy drink and four hours of writing / proof reading. At about half three I sent my script off to Neil, who was then in the office with Becky and some other very helpful members of the Skins team at 7am, printing off about 50 copies.
At 9.30 everyone involved in Skins gathered for the read through and although most of us writers had had a severe lack of sleep, the room was buzzing and we were so excited to hear the scripts. The cast did a great job of reading them and everyone left at the end of the day really excited at the prospects the next series holds, which is sort of what we're hoping you feel right about now...
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