Sophie Willan on what she learnt making her TV pilot interview
Sophie Willan talks to BCG Pro about what she learnt whilst making her sitcom pilot, Alma's Not Normal.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey from winning the BBC's Caroline Aherne Bursary to creating Alma's world for the pilot?
Oh, it's been fabulous! I've wanted to write this sitcom for years, so as soon as I won the bursary I went straight into planning mode!
I remember sitting with Kate Daughton, commissioning editor for BBC Comedy, just after I'd won it and excitedly talking her through my ideas; playing her bits of music, talking her through the characters, even acting bits out! It must've been quite intense for her to be honest!
I then started to work with producer Nerys Evans at production company Expectation and script editor Andrew Ellard on a pilot script.
After that, we did a rehearsed reading for the BBC in front of an invited audience and Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two. The cast were amazing and the show was surprisingly raucous and anarchic for a random Tuesday afternoon in a brightly-light church hall.
After the readthrough, Patrick decided to give us an on-the-spot pilot commission for it to be filmed and bobbed on BBC Two! It was a wonderful moment!
BBC and Expectation then worked hard to find me a fantastic team to go into production with. I had the shit-hot Gill Isles producing it and the super talented Andrew Chaplin directing it - and a full production of truly brilliant people, not to mention a stellar cast! So I felt in great hands going into production.
I absolutely LOVED filming it and editing it. I learnt so much whilst also having the autonomy to make sure it came out exactly how I wanted it to. The perfect scenario really!
Can you tell us more about what your key lessons/learnings were?
I learnt all the behind the scenes of production. The edit was where I learnt the most because I have a...
