Damian Lanigan and Jim Poyser Interview

Writer Damian Lanigan is a novelist and columnist, while  producer Jim Poyser has written for series including Shameless and The Visit. Their new series, Massive, begins on BBC3 at 9pm on 14th September.

Where did the idea for the series come from?

Damian:  I'd written a pilot for a different show that the BBC liked but couldn't find a place for. On the back of this, Jim asked me if I had anything that was BBC3ish lying around. My first thought was simply "Friends who end up working together." Then because it was BBC3, I thought "Why not the music business?"

This is all a lie of course: I saw a goblin with golden shorts and he whispered the entire series into my ear, word for word.

Can you describe the script development process from pilot to series?

Damian:  I'd say the pilot to series process was pretty exemplary: the pilot was OK, but it felt a bit slow, and some of the characters didn't feel right for the world. When writing the scripts I kept thinking - just keep it moving, stay in the world, and you won't go too far wrong. I may be mistaken.

Does being a writer yourself make it easier to produce?

Jim: I have been working on scripts in TV for the last four or five years, and before that I spent 6 years working with radio scripts so I guess my experience now allows me to intuitively know what ideas work or don’t, what’s fresh or unoriginal, how to twist ideas in different directions and so on.  Structure is hugely important in scripting as well, and Damian and I had many conversations about which ways to take the stories.  I was also able to give a lot of notes on the dialogue.

How do you find occupying both roles - writing and producing? Is it a balancing act?

Jim: I have been largely producing for the last twelve months.  It's difficult to do both because producing is so time-consuming. I will do some more writing in the future!

What made you start writing? 

Damian:  I always wanted to write a funny book, not just a comic novel, but a book that would actually make you laugh. Who knows why I wanted to do that? Anyway, I wrote a book called Stretch, 29 back in the mists of time which I thought was pretty funny. Then the publisher gave me a two book deal, so I had to write another one. Then I started writing plays because I wanted to try dealing with different, more serious subject matter. I think the real answer to this question is "It was always obvious to me that I'd have a crack at writing." All writers would probably say the same.

What's your writing routine?

Damian:  I don't have one. If I have a deadline I work to it, otherwise I just arse about. Needless to say, I try to get other people to create deadlines for me as often as possible.

What keeps you inspired?

Damian:  For me, when I get an idea it's usually in the form of a picture - a place or a person, maybe. Sometimes I hear a scene. It's like there are all these movies playing somewhere in your head, and your conscious mind is able to access little bits of them every so often. So it's not about staying inspired so much as hoping that the movies don't suddenly stop one day.

What would you say to writers starting out in comedy?

Damian: It's much harder than you think to write a good comedy script, and it's almost inconceivably hard to get a show made, so make sure you have another source of income. If you decide you really want to do it, then the writing advice is pretty straightforward: keep the scenes short, keep the speeches really short, and focus on character. It's a cliché, but good situation comedies are always actually character comedies.

Jim:  Get as many box sets of successful comedy series as you can and watch them again and again.

Study the way they are structured:

• How few locations are used
• The length of scenes
• The way the writers shape each scene around an idea
• The way the dialogue serves the story
• How scenes finish
• How the stories move on

When you've nailed all that, the jokes should come – from the characters, the story, the situation. If your characters are naturally funny people, then you will hear the jokes they would come up with in whatever situation you’ve lumbered them with!  The jokes are out there – I kind of think they pre-exist.

What's next?

Damian: I've got a couple of things in early stages of development, and let's hope we get another series of Massive, because making a TV show is much better than not making one.

Jim:  I'm going to take a couple of weeks off because have been working solidly since February. After that it’s back to being a salesman again – hawking comedy ideas to the comedy commissioners.  One of these will be Massive Series 2. Fingers crossed.