Telly talk: Writer’s room

For one week only, the reins of Telly Talk are handed over. Angela Pell is a writer. She is also a Patron of the local charity Amaze that helps and supports families with children with special needs. She lives in Brighton with her husband, Television Producer Henry Normal, and their teenage son Johnny who is autistic.

Ernest Hemingway said, ‘There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed’. I think as well as blood (and guts) i.e. your demons and angst, if you’re having a good day – some joy, hope, humour, insanity, profanity, poetry, truth and triumph should ooze (or at least trickle) out onto the page too. And if you’re having a really good day your desk should look like a crime scene from Dexter.

“I think there is magic in persistence”

It’s seven years since I last had anything hit the screens. But I hope you’ll agree with me when I say I think there is magic in persistence. Gifted (Sky Arts 1 June 13, 9.30pm) is a little Tale Of The Unexpected, with a twist at the end. It’s the tender story of an isolated and lonely man (Rhys Ifans) with a strange other-worldly ability. Or disability, as he sees it. It’s the story of how, after falling in love for the first time, he learns not only to finally accept his ‘gift’… but to embrace it.

I hope you are able to watch it, because Rhys Ifans is phenomenal. Also, to be honest, a few veins were drained whilst writing it so I hope that at least a handful of people will watch. If not, then perhaps a handful of vampires.

As a screenwriter, the best thing about writing something that is actually going to get produced is when you hand in your final draft. When you basically give up the version you have in your head and let the producer, director, actors, costume designers, set designers, make up artists (in fact everyone involved in the film crew) do their own bit of alchemy. Because then it begins to breathe. It has a life of its own, beyond you. It also, by the time you’re in the edit, feels very distant from you. Like your baby has become a fully functioning independent adult, who isn’t that bothered about calling you. So you can, in effect, say how great you think it is without it feeling like you’re bragging (at least internally) because it isn’t really yours anymore. And the best thing about Gifted for me is that it doesn’t feel like mine, at all. It is now completely ‘owned’ by Rhys Ifans. The very talented Director Marc Evans (who also directed the film I wrote, Snow Cake) has done something quite beautiful with it. And the other actors – in particular Sarah Smart, Nia Roberts and Sian Philips – will also blow you away. But I think ultimately it’s Rhys’s drama. He’s the why, the where and the how. He is completely captivating from the opening minute through to the final scene. And I guarantee he will break your heart.

I have always enjoyed writing to provoke a reaction. Evidence of this lies in an ancient autograph book I owned as a six year old. The autograph book itself was basically full of the signatures of ageing relatives as very few famous types troubled the life of an average child growing up in suburban Peterborough. However on the second page, I myself had written a little something. I started young. The page was empty, save for the top right hand corner being turned down and on the flap, in spidery writing, were the words ‘for dirty people only’. If you were curious enough, or thought yourself a bit risqué and you dared to lift the flap underneath, I had drawn a tiny bar of soap in a soap dish. I have (hopefully) moved on since then. And my efforts to entertain have improved. But watch Gifted and let me know.
Gifted, Sky Arts1, Thursday 13 2013