Stefan Golaszewski interview
Ahead of the first series, Tom Ford interviewed Stefan Golaszewski, the writer of Him & Her...
Despite being young in years, Stefan Golaszewski is not a writer you would associate with inexperience. Although we converse because of his new sitcom Him & Her, his writing has illuminated many formats and genres. Since emerging from a presidency with Cambridge Footlights in 2003, his versatile and adept style has impressed critics and comedy lovers alike.
Cowards, the work for which he is most famous, had success on stage, radio and then television. He has written closely with Cowards member Tom Basden as well as Johnny Sweet on other projects, managing an if.comedy Best Newcomer accolade in 2007.
His one man plays for theatre were equally heralded. Writing and producing them himself, he was able to attain 5 star reviews as he took them from Edinburgh Fringe to the Bush Theatre.
It is his latest solo outing that forms the reason for my ringing his mobile on a Friday afternoon, interrupting a writing session in the British Library. We come to discuss the stalling of Cowards, his writing habits, and Larry David. He shows himself as modest, polite and extremely pleasant to talk to...
How did your career start?
I stumbled into it after university. I've always been useless at any job I've ever done. I started doing a sketch show called Cowards. We booked a show in once a month in the Hen and Chicken in Islington. We'd write a full hour performance, put it on, then do another new hour and then take the best hour to the Edinburgh festival. So that's when you think "bloody hell, are they going to let me do this?"
Your latest work is Him & Her - where did the idea come from?
I was by no means making a living out of this and I thought it would be kind of nice to write a sitcom where it's two people and they never leave their bedroom. I think I sent that to my agent and she went, "maybe they should leave the bedroom". And I met up with Kenton (Allen - producer) who ended up producing it.
Would you say you were influenced by anything?
I think it was seeing things I didn't like. There was a bit when The Royle Family came out and I thought that reinvented everything. Then The Office came along and everyone started copying The Office. I think it's what playwrights were trying to do in the 60s and never quite achieved it as well as The Royle Family did - an honest portrayal of a working class family that isn't sentimental and isn't patronising. I thought that comedy had sort of dropped the ball a little and gone on a bigger character based route.
Cowards isn't getting a second series, why not?
It's not been made that clear. They seemed to like it but I think it's quite hard to sell as an idea because people watch programmes for celebrities. And there are no big ideas to the show, it's just the four us. It's strange because all of the people there were so supportive of us.
How does writing something like Him & Her compare to the work with Cowards and your plays?
Cowards was always quite fun because the four of us would write separately and bring together sketches and we'd all read them out together, which was usually really embarrassing because 90 percent are absolute dog shit. There's 4 of you writing and you're all in it together. We all developed a style that we write specifically, the Cowards style, but also it helps to be slightly more diverse.
But with Him & Her, it's more frightening because it's just me. But then again, I get to really craft it and make it my own. I'm constantly writing down things that people say or do. Everything is seen through the prism of my sitcom.
And the plays were really fun as well because I produced them myself so it was just me and the director creating the things together. It was quite exhausting; it sort of ruined my life, performing every evening.
Describe your writing process...
On an average day I'll walk with my girlfriend to her work, she starts work about nine. Then I will either go home or go to the British Library with my laptop and write through to maybe 3 or 4 and maybe go to the gym, something like that, and do that Monday to Friday.
Are there any writers you aspire to be?
There's something about Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's quite extraordinary in that he has such an amazing strike rate and they're all full of these extraordinary observations about the world and about people. I think if I'd made Curb Your Enthusiasm I'd probably just put my feet up and say 'that's me done'.
What's on the horizon for you?
I've got another sitcom script in development with the BBC. We're sort of trying to work out what to do next with Cowards. There are options of trying to make a sitcom instead of a sketch show.
With Him & Her, did you try to make it ultra-real?
It's not gag-heavy. The algebra of the show is to show people as realistically as you can. Which obviously there'll be limits, but by doing that it becomes funny. It's one of those things, I imagine, people will like it the more they watch it.
If someone had an idea - what's the process to getting it on TV?
The best thing to do is to write a half hour script. Whenever I've done anything but that you then start to talk about it really hypothetically and it's impossible to convey what you mean. The best thing is to write the script. Then send it to an agent. And then I guess you take that to a producer. If the producer likes it they'll take it to a channel, and see what the channel thinks. There's certain things there's no point writing because they'll never happen.