Writer
Si Spencer's interview
| BBC Host | Hello, and welcome to tonight's Live Chat with Si Spencer WOW! Here's the first question. We're off... |
| Daiman | Where do you get the ideas for Grange Hill? Do you do research in schools? |
| Si Spencer | We do do research in schools and lots of other places. A lot of it comes from remembering being there. |
| Budding Young Author | What tips would you give to a wannabe writer like myself? |
| Si Spencer | The most important tip is to always keep a notebook. Write down funny or sad things that people say, things you see, and always keep it with you so you've got something to look back on when you come to write. |
| Coolcat | How do you think of all the story lines - it must be real talent? |
| Si Spencer | It's very difficult, especially on Eastenders where you're doing 100 hours a year. It's easier on Grange Hill as a lot of problems that face people in schools are the same really. You look through the papers, talk to people about their real lives and see what happens from that. |
| Nick | What was your best storyline in Grange Hill? |
| Si Spencer | Zammo was one of the best storylines for me. Also a gay art teacher. But obviously all mine were better than that but I'm not going to talk about them! |
| Sange | How old where you when you realised you were skilled at writing? |
| Si Spencer | I don't know if I'm skilled but I started writing when I was about 7. I've always written. I used to spend hours on my English homework when we got to write a story. |
| Quaxo | Do you have any say on casting characters to fit your storyline? |
| Si Spencer | No, the writers have very little say on casting. We can describe what they would look like and their personality. They tend to be cast a long time after we start writing. |
| lauraf | Do you have a favourite character that you have written? |
| Si Spencer | In Eastenders my favourite character is Billy. He started off as a small character and all the writers love Perry who plays him. On Grange Hill, my favourite would be Martin. Or the character played by Kate Bell. |
| Ben Wales | How does someone like me get a job in the same position as you? |
| Si Spencer | That's what I get asked most often. I've no idea! If you look at the people who write in TV very few of them have gone to university, it's an odd thing that makes you a writer, it's observation and listening to people. There's no set path really. It helps to have a job in TV as you get to find out the best way to submit scripts and stuff. It's really about if you've got talent, there's no easy route |
| Hazelnut | How do you find the patience to finish your work, and do you have an organised system while your writing? |
| Si Spencer | The patience thing is difficult. We do at least 4 drafts of every script. I have a very disciplined regime. I start at 7am and finish at 6pm, I don't do any more work after that time. It's different for everybody really. It's a bit like doing your homework - some people do it on the night you get it and some people do it on the bus on the way to school. |
| Mez | Which programme did you prefer working for Eastenders or Grange Hill and why? |
| Si Spencer | That's difficult as they're both really different. You know the story is going to have a definite end on Grange Hill but Eastenders it's great to be a part of peoples lives really and people talk about something you've done. |
| lauraf | How much research do you have to do on certain storylines, (e.g when Mo was getting beaten up, or Billy being abused as a child) and do you find it hard to write about them? |
| Si Spencer | We're all quite lucky as we have a team of researchers who do most of the research in advance. It's very harrowing writing storylines like that, I'm sat in tears sometimes as you get so involved. It can get very depressing at times too, you need to clear your head every now and then. |
| tigersss | Do you talk to the actors when you're writing a script? |
| Si Spencer | We tend not to because most of us work from home and the actors are on set. We do socialise with them occasionally though. I have talked to actors about their storylines before but usually we don't. |
| Kylie | Do you write any of the storylines from your own experiences? |
| Si Spencer | Yes, I write lots like that, especially on Grange Hill. A lot of the characters in it are various versions of people I know. Even if it's totally different, you have to imagine times that you were scared or hurt, you have to try and remember the emotions that people go through. The same kind of fear or excitement. |
| Mez | How long does it take you to write script for say one episode of Eastenders? |
| Si Spencer | They will commission me about three months before they start shooting and I'll work on those solidly for about eight weeks. There's a few days off in between but I'm pretty much working on it every day. It takes a long time to produce the script. |
| Quirkey | Has anyone ever complained about something you've written? How do you take it? |
| Si Spencer | Part of the job is to slightly irritate people. We had lots of complaints about a gay storyline that we ran, and a few others. A complaint for me is someone offering up an opinion for debate. I see it as a positive thing really. |
| Leannes | Have you ever had writer's block? |
| Si Spencer | Only today, yesterday and the six days before that! Yes, I do. It's not so much that you sit there not being able to do anything, but you tend to write absolute rubbish and you read it back and it's awful. It's a nightmare. |
| AvivaX | How many script writers are employed usually? |
| Si Spencer | On Eastenders there's a team of around 30 or 40, but they're not working constantly. On Grange Hill for the next series, there were five of us. Before that we had a team of around eight. |
| Charlotte | How long have you been writing scripts? |
| Si Spencer | Professionally for about four years. But I've been writing various types of things for as long as I can remember. |
| Rottie | Hi! Can I ask is Trevor as horrible in real life as on tv? |
| Si Spencer | No, he's a lovely bloke. Believe it or not he does counselling work for people so I'm not sure how people react to that. He's nothing like his screen persona at all. |
| TK | Who was/is your rolemodel when growing up in the writing business etc? |
| Si Spencer | Probably Alan Bleasdale and Dennis Potter for TV writers. Alan Bleasdale doesn't do much work any more. Play for Today, which featured a new play every week, often by new writers, was great. There were lots of new writers every year, it was fantastic. |
| Quirkey | Have the cast ever refused to act a certain scene you've written? What would happen if a cast member was ill suddenly and they needed to be written out? |
| Si Spencer | They don't refuse, they might sometimes say that they don't feel happy that the character is going. We work it out between us. We've had it happen three times in six months. We have to write 24/7 to change the storyline, and work around it if anyone needs to be written out. |
| Punkyfish | How did you get each Eastenders story to be so entertaining and different to other soaps? |
| Si Spencer | That's an excellent question. I think it's because it's different anyway, we go into stories in a lot more depth. It's the way we approach them that makes it different. |
| clarky88 | Are all the actors friends? |
| Si Spencer | No, I wouldn't say that, but I don't think there's many enemies. It's like any workplace or classroom. A lot of them socialise together but I don't think they're all great mates. |
| Joe | How do you feel when you recieve awards for Eastenders being the best soap? |
| Si Spencer | It's fantastic, especially readers' awards. It's so important to know that people enjoy it. It's not theatre or performing on stage, as a writer you don't get to see the audience reaction so it's good to know it's well received. |
| Spooney | If you weren't a script writer what would you like to be? |
| Si Spencer | It's so hard to imagine not doing this! I'd probably like to do something by the sea, but I don't know what. Possibly run an aquarium. |
| gamcl | How did you get started writing television programmes? |
| Si Spencer | I started off working at the BBC, I was a script reader and I had to read all scripts that people sent in, and decide which ones got sent on to producers to look at. Then I was a script editor for a while. |
| Jo | What was the first scene you wrote? |
| Si Spencer | On a trial script for Eastenders, I wrote the Jacksons arriving on the square for the first time and I had Sonia playing the trumpet and the rest of the family singing. They must have liked it because they gave me a job! |
| Punkyfish | Where is Wellard the dog recently on Eastenders?:) |
| Si Spencer | There is a storyline coming up with Wellard, but I'm not telling you what it is. |
| Mr Brittas | Do you find it harder to carry a storyline or keep a character consistent? |
| Si Spencer | We have a strong team of script editors who read them all, so we work with them and they'll make sure that the continuity always works. We have one person who's job it is to check continuity throughout. |
| Mary | Do you ever wish to write a story for a big film? |
| Si Spencer | In theory, yes, I'd love to write film, but in practice what tends to happen is that there's lots of money involved so lots of people get involved and they get in and change things. I wouldn't like that to happen to one of my scripts though so I'd probably hate it. |
| gamcl | Which actor has portrayed a character in the best way you could have imagined? |
| Si Spencer | I really like Perry who plays Billy, Little Mo is fantastic. They're such a great cast so it's really difficult to say. My favourite is probably Ozzie in Grange Hill, that was just what I wanted to see. |
| spooney | Whats been your favourite story line to work on so far in Eastenders and why? |
| Si Spencer | I'm really enjoying the one I'm working on at the moment but I can't tell you about that. Bringing Billy and Little Mo together I think. When Billy went around collecting the papers when Little Mo was arrested, I think that was probably my best one. |
| supersimon7 | What was the hardest scene you wrote in Eastenders? |
| Si Spencer | Hmmmm ... I think in terms of difficulty to write, was where Little Mo punched Trevor in the Vic. In various drafts we had everyone punching him, we wracked our brains for weeks, then just thought how great it would be for Little Mo to do it. She did it so well too. |
| BBC Host | That is all we have time for. Here's Si Spencer with a final word... |
| Si Spencer |
If you want to write, regardless of whether it's a script or books, read and watch. Watch over and over again, and work out how it works. Try and work out what the writer's done to get you excited about that story. |
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