Sharman Macdonald 3

What are the main differences between writing for the stage and writing for screen?

Oh, in the approach. You go to the director of the theatre and you say "Listen I've got an idea about this." And he says or she says, "All right, go and write it then." You don't have to write a treatment, you don't have to write a synopsis, you don't have to do two page clips, you don't have to really pitch – it's a whole different process, and the piece belongs to you. But in visualising it, you've got more freedom on the stage than you have on the screen, which is odd.

I found that confronted me with The Winter Guest, because on the stage you could see inside the house and outside the house at the same time. Now in summer you can do that on screen because you can have open windows and open doors, but it was winter so everything was shut down, and you couldn't do it. And it took me completely by surprise when I adapted it, to think "Oh my god I've got to find another way of doing this, it's not as fluid as the stage is." But I think the screen, unless you're Michel Gondry, is a very literal medium, and that's a surprise, because you can think you can go anywhere and actually you can't.

What are your influences?

Scotland has influenced me, and my relatives have influenced me, and I've stolen from them for the future. But writers, I love all writers. My favourite film over the last few years is HellBoy. I can't wait for HellBoy 2, and my family mocks me for that one. But it was Guillermo Del Toro and he directed Pan's Labyrinth. And do go to HellBoy if you haven't already gone there.

But I've got very catholic tastes, so everybody and anybody influences me.

What's it like being a writer?

It's privileged, there's no question of that. I think we're enormously privileged to be able to earn our living by words, and actors as well are enormously privileged doing what they want to do. I can sit in the garden if I want.

You have to experience life in order to be able to write. If you're out there, if you're in life, if you're doing that, then you might just have your finger on the pulse.

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