Sean Buckley – Writer of Episode 5
The highlight of working on my episode has probably got to be watching the shoot for the carnival where Freddie loses Effy. First time ever on a Skins set, I was so nervous that morning. The carnival lived in my head for some time before it was written, and then it was re-drafted to simplify and clarify the story route through the chaotic spectacle while keeping the sense of chaos right up there. In an early version the whole gang were present, Freddie intersecting different characters along his search for Effy. But it was too long, overly complex, sucking the energy of the chase away, so it was a case of stripping away what wasn’t at the heart of Freddie’s story at this point.
As I walked to the set that morning I could hear the samba drums echoing through the cobbled streets of Saint Nicholas's Market (where it was shot) and into the main parade of Bristol old town, where my heart matched the pace of the beats. And as I head down the alley to the set, as the drumming pulsed louder and my heart bounced off my liver then shot up my throat and started trampolining on my tongue, I'm met by this explosion of a procession in a riot of costume advancing, dancing en masse to the beat, and I just glimpse in the background Freddie as he sees the back of Effy disappear away from him in the crowd, Esther (the fantastic director) shouts ‘cut!’ and I clap and grin, happier than the happiest seal on speed in captivity.
It’s mad how up til a few weeks before - a week even for final touches - this just existed on paper. It was then storyboarded, each shot drawn, which was like looking through a comic-book version of the scene. But to see that then burst into full 3-D…
What was really made clear to me, watching the crowd and the crew creating the Carnival was how painstakingly and brilliantly everyone has worked to realise the script. I just turned up, job done and just try not to get in the way, but it’s like I walked into some vivid dream magicked out of the ether or the mushrooms. The production team really do pull out the stops and go for it and I wanted to cry like a kid given eight ice-creams to hold at once.
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