- Date
- Thu 25 Feb 2010 at 22:57
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- Date
- Thu 25 Feb 2010 at 22:55
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.
- Date
- Mon 22 Feb 2010 at 11:52
We're no longer looking for music for Skins 4 as all of the episodes have now been edited with music.
Thanks so much for all of your entries - we received just under 2000. Look out for an update soon on which tracks were picked from your music
Layla West
Editor - Skins Website
Thanks so much for all of your entries - we received just under 2000. Look out for an update soon on which tracks were picked from your music
Layla West
Editor - Skins Website
- Date
- Thu 18 Feb 2010 at 22:55
Katie Fitch is a powerhouse. Who else could deal with the news she's given all alone, yet still manage to fix a whole family, and do it all dressed like a slut? Women's Lib 21st century style.
My favourite bits (in no particular order):
Katie consoling Ems in bed
Katie vs WAG
Katie and Thomas become friends
"Good news everyone, I've found us a caravan"
James Fitch's one-piece
Yours?
Katie I salute you
- Date
- Thu 18 Feb 2010 at 14:33
Georgia Lester – Writer - Skins Series 4, Episode 4.
Life as a writer doesn’t get much more exciting than sitting in front of your computer (in my case, usually in my pyjamas) and writing (or, again in my case, just staring at the screen, waiting for inspiration to hit). So I thought I’d write about how we came up with the series in our writers' meetings and the first time anyone read the scripts for series 4 out loud...
Every Wednesday all the writers, script editors, contributors and John (our producer) would get together to chat about what we wanted to happen this time round: basically, we needed to decide what we wanted to Skins series 4 to be about.
And this is what we came up with: we wanted to write a series which would make our audience, laugh, cry, scream at the TV and be completely involved in each character’s story. Moreover, we wanted to show the positive side to teenagers in Britain today. There has been a binge drinking, ASBO reputation associated with British youth and we wanted to show that actually, in a world where we are economically and culturally unsure, it is the youth that stand up and fight for what they believe in.
So that was what we wanted, but we then had the slightly harder task of working out how our character's related to these themes, who wanted to write each character's story and how this fitted into the series as a whole. Just as an example (no story spoilers here – sorry!) we needed to make sure that things like Emily and Katie’s sisterly relationship was apparent across the series, not just in a few individual episodes. So, with the use of millions of post it notes, we storylined character journeys both in individual episodes and throughout the whole series.
To make sure we were on the right track, we visited and spoke to college students in London and Bristol and also had teenagers join us in our Wednesday writers meetings to tell us what they thought of our ideas and what they had enjoyed and disliked in previous Skins series. We also met up with the cast to talk about what each actor thought of their character, which was a really interesting way of getting another perspective.
But we couldn't just spend the whole time talking - as well as being in all these meetings, we were all writing our episodes at the same time and the first big deadline we hit for the first 4 episodes was the Read Through...
A Read Through is basically a massively terrifying day where EVERYBODY (actors, executive producers, set and costume designers and important people from channel 4) come and listen to the scripts being read aloud by the cast for the first time.
Our first read through was on a Thursday a couple of weeks before we started shooting. At this point I only had a few days to write my third draft (which would be my read through draft). It was decided that I would work in the office instead of at home and that way Neil and Becky, our wonderful and often life saving script editors, would be on hand across the hallway to help.
The first few days started well but when I arrived on Wednesday morning, with 24 hours to go, I was told that the script was nowhere near ready, and so began the most stressful and exhilarating day of writing my episode for Series 4.
I found the hardest part of the script was the structure. As I approached part 3, I began to panic. Within moments, Neil came to the rescue and we sat for a couple of hours writing together; trying to construct a fun event with a shocking revelation whilst maintaining comedy throughout – it wasn’t an easy task!
Finally at about 10 pm, I knew the direction my script was heading in and was ready to go home and finish it off. As I left the office, with a bunch of other writers and our producer, we found Merv, Lisa and Ollie (Thomas, Pandora and JJ) loitering outside. They’d arrived in London and were desperate to have a look at the scripts. They thought we were joking when we said the scripts weren’t quite finished!
So after a natter, I slid off home for a take-away curry, a Relentless energy drink and four hours of writing / proof reading. At about half three I sent my script off to Neil, who was then in the office with Becky and some other very helpful members of the Skins team at 7am, printing off about 50 copies.
At 9.30 everyone involved in Skins gathered for the read through and although most of us writers had had a severe lack of sleep, the room was buzzing and we were so excited to hear the scripts. The cast did a great job of reading them and everyone left at the end of the day really excited at the prospects the next series holds, which is sort of what we're hoping you feel right about now...
Pictures from the read through
- Date
- Mon 15 Feb 2010 at 14:41
Ben Schiffer – Writer of Episode 3
Things I've Learned From Writing On Skins:
1. Everyone's trying to make good telly all the time. The only difference between something rubbish and something brilliant is circumstances, hard work and a whole lot of luck.
2. Other people often understand what you're writing better than you do and will have useful ideas on how to improve your stuff. Listen to them.
3. 'Relentless' is an unbelievable hardcore energy drink.
4. On screen, what people do is much more interesting that what they say.
5. Never, ever turn down a free trip to Lithuania.
6. The internet is bonkers. All of it.
7. Your audience know your characters better than you do.
8. Writing for a living is a brilliant but very, very hard job.
9. Sometimes it's worth it.
Things I've Learned From Writing On Skins:
1. Everyone's trying to make good telly all the time. The only difference between something rubbish and something brilliant is circumstances, hard work and a whole lot of luck.
2. Other people often understand what you're writing better than you do and will have useful ideas on how to improve your stuff. Listen to them.
3. 'Relentless' is an unbelievable hardcore energy drink.
4. On screen, what people do is much more interesting that what they say.
5. Never, ever turn down a free trip to Lithuania.
6. The internet is bonkers. All of it.
7. Your audience know your characters better than you do.
8. Writing for a living is a brilliant but very, very hard job.
9. Sometimes it's worth it.
- Date
- Mon 15 Feb 2010 at 14:25
Just like when we asked you for your questions and asked the Skins lot to answer them, we're doing it again, but this time live.
It's all happening on MySpace, so if your question wasn't answered the first time round, head on over there and leave a comment.
The videochat happens on MySpace, Thursday February 18th at 5pm
- Date
- Thu 11 Feb 2010 at 23:00
Did Cookie do the right thing by taking the fall for Naomi?
During his episode, he realised what he was, and what he was becoming; helped by his little brother's copycat antics, Duncan his shit lawyer, Effy and his two best friends.
But now what? How's he going to fare in the bloomin' chokey?
I certainly hope Naomi will be paying him a visit, it's the least she can do really.
Brave?- Date
- Wed 10 Feb 2010 at 11:00
Hello all you Ireland based peeps. Lily and Kat will be on RTE's 'The Cafe' this Thursday (11th February).
Email asap if you would like to be in the audience for the show
UPDATE: audience places have all gone so I've removed the email address.
Catch it this Friday (February 12) RTE Two @7pm or online at www.rte.ie/thecafe
- Date
- Wed 10 Feb 2010 at 10:56
Lily's in the Hollywood section of Outre magazine: www.outremagazine.com. As well as the gorge pic like the one below, there's also an interview with her. So have a look.
Ooh la la
- Date
- Thu 4 Feb 2010 at 22:55
Ed Hime – Writer of Episode 2
This episode of Skins was my first proper TV job. I'd worked mostly in theatre before, where you work alone, write exactly want you want to write, and hardly anyone ever gets to see it. TV is different, and Skins is completely different - it's written in a team, and watched by millions.
The Skins writers' room is not for the faint of heart. You sit in a circle with a load of clever people, try not to eat all the doughnuts, and wonder why the windows don't open in the middle of June. And you talk about the things you care about, the things you've lived and haven't seen on TV before, the things that can make Skins so much more dangerous than any other show like it. You speak and listen and consider and argue and wait for your turn and not wait for your turn and shout and laugh and occasionally seethe with frustration. To an outsider I imagine it looks like a cross between group therapy and a late night debate in the House of Commons. It's brilliant.
Then there's the fans. I started at Skins as Series Three was airing, decided I wanted to write for Emily.....and then watched Naomily become a bona-fide phenomenon. Woo-hoo! A global audience of millions! Then the terror set in.
The more I thought of all the assembled Naomily fans, who had invested so much love and hope in them, the more I felt a paralysing mixture of fear, duty, and a desperate need to impress. It was kind of like when you meet your girlfriend's parents for the first time- “I know you love her, and I love her too, but I'm going to be doing some things with her that you probably won't approve of”. Cos I wanted to write about the dark side of Naomily. What happens after you've got the girl and walked off into the sunset? Being in love is no guarantee against suffering. And - if the accumulated wisdom of six decades of pop music is anything to go by - it usually means that there's a whole lot of pain coming your way.
So with the blessing (and assistance) of the group, I wrote a Skins film-noir, with Emily cast as the intrepid detective. I can't say exactly why, except that I love detective stories, and the traits that people love about Emily - her purity, intelligence, bravery and tenacity - are also the traits that make a great private eye. And the warning at the core of every good detective story is: Be careful where you go digging, because you don't know what you'll find.
This episode of Skins was my first proper TV job. I'd worked mostly in theatre before, where you work alone, write exactly want you want to write, and hardly anyone ever gets to see it. TV is different, and Skins is completely different - it's written in a team, and watched by millions.
The Skins writers' room is not for the faint of heart. You sit in a circle with a load of clever people, try not to eat all the doughnuts, and wonder why the windows don't open in the middle of June. And you talk about the things you care about, the things you've lived and haven't seen on TV before, the things that can make Skins so much more dangerous than any other show like it. You speak and listen and consider and argue and wait for your turn and not wait for your turn and shout and laugh and occasionally seethe with frustration. To an outsider I imagine it looks like a cross between group therapy and a late night debate in the House of Commons. It's brilliant.
Then there's the fans. I started at Skins as Series Three was airing, decided I wanted to write for Emily.....and then watched Naomily become a bona-fide phenomenon. Woo-hoo! A global audience of millions! Then the terror set in.
The more I thought of all the assembled Naomily fans, who had invested so much love and hope in them, the more I felt a paralysing mixture of fear, duty, and a desperate need to impress. It was kind of like when you meet your girlfriend's parents for the first time- “I know you love her, and I love her too, but I'm going to be doing some things with her that you probably won't approve of”. Cos I wanted to write about the dark side of Naomily. What happens after you've got the girl and walked off into the sunset? Being in love is no guarantee against suffering. And - if the accumulated wisdom of six decades of pop music is anything to go by - it usually means that there's a whole lot of pain coming your way.
So with the blessing (and assistance) of the group, I wrote a Skins film-noir, with Emily cast as the intrepid detective. I can't say exactly why, except that I love detective stories, and the traits that people love about Emily - her purity, intelligence, bravery and tenacity - are also the traits that make a great private eye. And the warning at the core of every good detective story is: Be careful where you go digging, because you don't know what you'll find.
- Date
- Thu 4 Feb 2010 at 22:49
When I discovered that Skins would be using an illustrator to tell the story of Naomi's affair, I realised that this would be a crucial part of the Skins series 4 story. After all, Emily and Naomi are one of Skins' most popular couples, and Sophia's suicide would act as a crucible for the characters in Skins 4: their hedonism suddenly has consequences they have to deal with.
I wanted this series of Skins to play out on the website - your comments and reactions happen in real time as the drama develops each year so I felt the design of the site should reflect this.
What better way to do this than to use the same illustrator responsible for Sophia's drawings on the show and repurpose Sophia's drawings for the website so that it looks like everything's been affected? Step forward Lydia Starkey (who also worked on the illustrations for Sophia's video), who also created bespoke images for us, so it's almost as if the website's been drawn by Sophia. Spooky.
Below is how Lydia got involved with Skins (from Lydia herself). I hope you like what we've done.
Layla
Website Editor
www.lydiastarkey.com
I'm 23, I graduated from University of the West of England in Bristol last June. Little did I know at my final Illustration exhibition, the Art Directors at Company Pictures were browsing to choose someone to work as Sophia for the new Skins series?
I love to draw! My work is mainly observational line drawing, with pens, ink and watercolour. I stylised my visual language to suit Sophia's character and emotional situation.
Company Pictures approached me about the ideas they had and I was really excited to get involved in such an interesting project. I worked mainly on the set from the script adding my own ideas and bouncing off ideas from the team.
An overall amazing experience!
Lydia
- Date
- Thu 4 Feb 2010 at 10:09
Our Skins 4 music man Kyle Lynd has been through all of the tracks you sent so far and was impressed with loads of your music (more of that coming soon) - so much that two acts have been used this Saturday's Skins House closing party. The bands are:
Dial F For Frankenstein and The Boy I Used to Be
Will you be there on Saturday? Tell us what you think of them live please, and be sure to check out their music as well
Layla
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