Welcome to the third edition of ‘Meet the Writers.’ This week’s interviewee is Marc Peirson, better known to the BCG as Marc P.
Thanks for joining us, Marc. After the last interview there was a request from a reader wanting to hear about writers who've tasted success and had it cruelly snatched away. You describe yourself as "a failed sitcom writer reduced to writing poor jokes for daytime television." Is it fair to say you fit that bill?
Yes.
Talking of Bills, a quick skim of your IMDb profile reveals a wealth of TV credits going back to 2002, including The Bill, Holby City and Doctors. As a comedy writer, how hard is it to resist the temptation to shoehorn a knob gag into the mouths of Sun Hill’s finest (if you’ll forgive the turn of phrase)?
Actually my first proper broadcast credit was for Eastenders in ‘99 and I failed miserably at keeping a knob gag out of it - Lisa to Phil as I recall - and have lowered the tone wherever possible ever since. So in answer to your question - as a comedy writer it's always hard.
Any chance you remember that gag?
Yes.
(PHIL AND LISA SIT EATING A CHINESE MEAL. TAKE AWAY CARTONS ON THE TABLE. PHIL STRUGGLES WITH CHOPSTICKS)
PHIL:
What I can’t understand is what a lovely woman like you, is doing here with an old bruiser like me?
LISA:
Well you know me Phil, I can never resist a man with sweet and sour pork balls.
I see you managed to slip both ‘pork’ and ‘balls’ into a single line of innuendo. Several hats off.
How far back does your career as a writer go? What was your first broadcast credit?
Well I left film school in ‘93, had credits for a Scottish sketch show Pulp Video then wrote a lot of sketch stuff for a German company and two 45 minute segments for The Olympics. I was commissioned with a sitcom for the BBC and an original drama for the BBC had a romcom film optioned by Granada, commissioned for another co-written sitcom for an indie - none of which were filmed - as yet. And I was shortlisted for the TAPS writer of the year with Andrew Viner - don't know what ever happened to him - before taking the corporation shilling.
How do you find the business of collaboration? Do you prefer it to writing solo?
Most TV work is collaborative to some extent. I have recently collaborated writing a sitcom pilot with a writer friend of mine - Andrew Taft. I like writing solo - you get twice the money - but I did enjoy doing this thing with Taft - he brought milk round and Googled things on the internet - whilst I sat with the laptop and did all the work.
Tell us about your process. What’s your writing day look like?
My writing day pretty much varies from week to week depending what I am working on. I have an old fashioned work ethic in that I like to stop pretty much at five o'clock or so - no matter how much I’ve done.
I wish I had Anthony Horowitz's approach who writes for about eight hours a day regardless. I spend a lot of time, reading, watching a lot of research on television - Battlestar Galactica neighbours etc - and the golf. And try and fit some writing in around that. I find deadline helps - in which case I set myself a daily amount to have written and try and stick to that. Today for example it is very sunny so I will have to sit in the garden and seek inspiration.
I find one of the hardest things about writing is convincing one’s significant other that what she’s witnessing when she finds you in the sun chair at 2pm sipping a G&T, is in fact research.
You mention Anthony Horowitz, noted writer of - among others - Midsommer Murders, Foyle’s War and Murder in Mind. What other writers do you look up to?
I look up to Stephen Fry as he is over six foot and I look down on Seefacts as he is under five foot nine.
In terms of comedy, I look up to loads of writers. Stephen Moffatt I have always admired and now I am very jealous of. David Renwick is the top banana and I've always loved Michael Palin. I watched the first episode of The Inbetweeners last night and I thought it was pretty damn good. I guess the idea was to take the nerdy guy out of Peep Show and see what he was like in the lower sixth at school? As to books - there are far too many!
Seefacts is quite hilariously stumpy I hear, yet he takes tremendous pride in his appearance. Apparently his friends call him the Metrognome.
Back to your idols; of all your influences and of all their work, which gag do you most wish you’d written?
Tricky one but as Dad’s Army is probably still my favourite sitcom I will go with:
PIKE:
Whistle while you work, Hitler is a twerp, he’s half-barmy, so’s his army, whistle while you work.
U BOAT CAPTAIN:
Your name will also go on the list! What is it?
MAINWARING:
Don’t tell him, Pike!
Good call.
Can you tell us a little about your plans for the future? You mention that your sitcom hasn’t been produced "as yet". Is it something you plan to actively pursue and can you tell us a little about it?
The "as yet" was to do with misguided optimism. Mind you I always say never throw anything away as you never know. The sitcom I recently wrote with Andrew Taft is with a few people at the moment - whether it will get taken any further yet we don’t know. It's all a bit of a lottery. If not we will probably try something different. Getting your own sitcom off the ground is a bit of a Holy Grail but it's fun having a hunt now and again.
Amen to that.
Final question: is there anything you wish I’d asked but didn’t?
Apart from "what are you drinking?", I can't think of anything.
Thanks for taking the time, Marc, and good luck with that sitcom.
Next week we’ll be hearing from Perry Nium, AKA Lee Henman.
Last week’s ‘Meet the Writers’ was with Containsnuts
really enjoyed it top work fellas!
