How we made Stunners

Katrina Allen and Sarah Grant have written and star in BBC comedy pilot Stunners, a show about two thirty-somethings that should know better. The 15-minute episode was commissioned off the back of their award-winning BBC Short Stuff sketches. They talk about the process of getting the pilot made and what's next for them...

How did the commission for Stunners come about?

We have known each other for 10 years but started writing sketches together for BBC Short Stuff at the end of 2020. We had a desire to delve into taboo subjects surrounding the female experience that we felt we hadn't seen explored on TV before, especially not in Scotland. Our first sketch The Colour Wheel discusses the multitude of varying period colours through the medium of paint samples. The sketch reached over 1.7 million views in a week and continued to grow.

And so, Lola and Ruby, the main characters in Stunners were born. We knew that these characters in this world were something that we wanted to return to, and the team at BBC Studios were really supportive of us in doing so. We were commissioned to do four more sketches for BBC Short Stuff, and collectively they have brought in over 20 million views and thousands of comments.

At the start of 2021, The Colour Wheel won Best Short Form at the Royal Television Society Scotland Awards, and we think that was the deciding factor that made the commissioners realise that we were ready to take on something longer form.

How has the pilot expanded on the sketches?

The sketches were made by a three-person team - the two of us and Sarah's partner Dev on sound - along with the help of some other fantastic actors such as Zara Janjua and Nicola Docherty. When the pilot was commissioned, we knew the best way to elevate the world that we had built was to expand the team, primarily by bringing on a director. We knew of Niamh McKeown and her work but never had the opportunity to work with her in the past, so when she was available to come on board we were delighted - it was a perfect fit.

Niamh shared our vision of making the pilot cinematic and ambitious. Scottish comedy has long followed a formula that has produced some incredible work, but we felt restricted to what female-fronted comedy could be. With Niamh on board, and later our fantastic DOP Owen Laird, pushing the boundaries at every stage of production, the pilot grew beyond our greatest hopes.

Fans of our sketches will love the pilot as we were careful to make sure that the story never lost its heart. The core friendship that lies at the centre of our work still shines through, and it has been strengthened by the support of our incredible team.

How was the whole process?

We knew going into production that we had a very limited amount of time to turn around the pilot. It was pretty much all hands on deck from start to finish as we only had five weeks to write, film and deliver it.

Our biggest fear was the writing process, as we thought that a lot of our time would be swallowed up by notes and feedback. However, from day one our producer, Mark Bignall, exec Steven Canny and commissioner Gavin Smith were 100% behind our vision. They just 'got it' from the very start which made every round of scripting an absolute joy, their notes made the whole thing stronger and we are so grateful for their support.

Whilst script edits were still happening, we were in the depths of the casting process. Having not had many opportunities to work with more actors within our sketches, we were so excited about the prospect of filling the roles of Sam, Emma and Helen. The stars aligned to bring us Lorn Macdonald, Lois Chimimba and Lynne McCallum. We had been personal fans of all three for years, so it was pretty surreal to have them onboard. Each one of them brought new and interesting aspects to the characters that we, as the writers, couldn't have ever imagined.

Emma in our heads was always quite snippy, but Lois brought this dark energy that was hysterical and magnetic to watch. Sam was always the slightly twee boy-next-door character for us, so seeing Lorn bring this moody grandpa energy to the part was beyond amazing.

Filming was tricky as we were one of the last productions to have to adhere to covid guidelines but our production team - Laura Paterson and Erin McGeady - alongside our fearless 1st AD, Carol-Anne Henderson - made the whole thing run incredibly smoothly. We had two days to get our 22-page script in the can, something Carol-Anne was ever so slightly apprehensive about. But with Niamh, Mark and Owen at the wheel, it was a joy from start to finish.

We were lucky enough to partner with Blazing Griffin for the post-production and our editor Elizabeth Clutterbuck happened to be another old friend from our university days.

We were excited to move into this new and more ambitious space with our work but what made it truly special was the fantastic people we got to work with to bring it together.

What's it like working in a writing partnership?

Writing as a practice can be incredibly lonely. Working in a pair means that we get to bounce ideas off each other and are able to work through the dialogue out loud together, bringing it off the page at an early stage. It's also a benefit that we know each other so well, we each take turns at being each other's cheerleader. It's never a chore when we write together and, because we know each other so well, we find that we can turn around scripts and notes incredibly quickly.

We have always said that as long as we're making each other laugh then we're happy and we can only hope that others find us funny too.

What does the future hold?

We would obviously love to see Lola and Ruby live out their ridiculous partnership in a full series and to be able to bring back the other characters that we have only just got to know. We have so many ideas and themes that we would really like to explore with Lola and Ruby and can only hope that the pilot is only the beginning.