Editor's Note: is the writer of C大象传媒 series which was commissioned following a Script Room. This year's Script Room for Children's TV and Comedy opens on 23rd June and closes on 7th July.
was born out of an open call for children鈥檚 drama scripts through the back in鈥� *quickly googles*鈥� July 2009?! Blimey.
I鈥檇 submitted a few scripts to 大象传媒 Writersroom before and was always very lucky to get nice feedback from them but this was the first direct call I鈥檇 responded to. It鈥檚 hard to get a foot in the writing door if you have no industry background or contacts so 大象传媒 Writersroom was one of the few potential entry points open to me back then鈥� I hadn鈥檛 been on their website for some time and when I finally noticed the open-call it was just two days before the deadline! It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up though, so I tried not to let the fact I had to come up with an idea and write a script in 48 hours put me off鈥�
I immediately stuck the lead on my dog and went out for a long walk, thinking about what would have appealed to me back when I was in my early teens鈥� It struck me that when I was that age I would often have days where I ended up mortified with embarrassment over some stupid thing I鈥檇 said or done and would wish I had a reset button so I could do it over. From there it was just a short jump to 鈥淲hat if that happened to the main character? 鈥� But instead of just isolated incidents, it was an entire year鈥檚 worth of humiliation? 鈥� And then what if he woke up and discovered the whole twelve months had reset itself and he was going to live through it all a second time? Would that be a good or a bad thing? He could stop the embarrassing things from happening, but he鈥檇 also have to deal with the butterfly effect of changing history on a daily basis鈥�
So that dog walk ended up being the genesis of what became Worst Year. I got home and started writing it straight away and managed to complete and send off the pilot script just before the deadline. To my amazement the script (then called 鈥楾ake Two鈥�) was amongst eight selected to be taken forward and I was invited to a attend a 大象传媒 Writersroom retreat out in Kent where myself and the other applicants got to develop and work on our ideas with various representatives from the 大象传媒 Writersroom and . To my further amazement my script was one of two that were then taken on to be developed by C大象传媒. (The other one, incidentally, was 鈥檚 brilliant ).
I worked with Sarah Muller, Simon Nelson and Connal Orton at C大象传媒 to produce an alternative pilot script to sell to the commissioners. Connal became the British Executive Producer of the show and came up with the more memorable title of 鈥�Worst Year Of My Life ... Again!鈥� 鈥� he also helped me completely restructure the format into the one that we eventually used in every episode. The show wasn鈥檛 immediately commissioned but I was very lucky in that Sarah, Simon and Connal not only continued to champion it but also got me work on other C大象传媒 shows whilst we waited. Eventually (and to be honest I don鈥檛 know how it came about!) I was informed the show was going to be made but would be a co-production between C大象传媒 and in Australia and in order for that to go ahead the series would need to be filmed out there鈥�
鈥o, bizarrely, I ended up being flown out to Australia where I spent a fortnight story-lining the entire series with the ACTF. The change of location didn鈥檛 bother me at all, I don鈥檛 think teenage things are exactly country specific 鈥� an embarrassing incident there is no different to an embarrassing incident here 鈥� and apart from a few pop-culture-references nothing really changed. Plus I was hugely excited by the fact the Australian Exec, Bernadette O鈥橫ahony, had produced the peerless 鈥�鈥� 鈥� possibly the greatest children鈥檚 show ever made!
And that was basically it鈥� A year later it was being filmed鈥� and now, another year later, it鈥檚 about to get its UK premiere. And I couldn鈥檛 be happier. In the intervening five years since that original open call I ended up writing for , , , , and am currently working on . All of which, in one way or another, came about because of sending that entry in鈥� Which is a frankly terrifying thought now that I type it! 鈥�Worst Year Of My Life ... Again!鈥� is all about fate and destiny and those little moments in your life that can change everything鈥� I have genuinely no idea where I鈥檇 be now or what I鈥檇 be doing if I hadn鈥檛 spotted that opportunity just two days before it was about to close鈥� Or indeed if I hadn鈥檛 had a dog that needed a walk 鈥� In fact I think I might take her out for another one now and see what happens鈥�