Scriptplay Q&A with screenwriter Henrietta Hardy

Henrietta Hardy is a Middlesborough native who has written for some of the longest running and most popular series on British television. She recently attended the European TV Drama Series Lab in Berlin.

1. Which stories - films/books/comics/TV shows - do you think have made the greatest impact on you?

TV-wise growing up it would have to be ‘Rentaghost’ and ‘Starsky and Hutch’ as I was such a huge fan of both. A little later, I’d say things like ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ and ‘A Very British Coup’ were the things that really inspired me to write.  I loved Jimmy McGovern’s ‘Priest’ also. Book-wise I fell in love with this amazing romantic novel called ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ by Alain Fournier who only wrote one novel as he was killed in the First World War. I’ve never dared read it again, however, in case some of its magic has gone.

2. What was the first screenplay you wrote and why?

I wrote a 30 minute screenplay called ‘Outcast’ about a man in his twenties whose life is falling apart in Edinburgh. He had a terrible time with his mum growing up but more recently she’s got her life back together and remarried. So now his half-brother is having this idyllic childhood he never had. He kidnaps his brother and takes him up a mountain. I still love the story. (Being completely truthful I imagine I had written a few nail-bitingly awful shorts before this but it’s the first main script I remember).

3. How did you get into writing on long running television series like The Bill, Doctors and Casualty?

I went to the Northern Film School and then got a job with World productions developing a medical drama. A friend of mine was on The Bill and gave me a few tips. I approached them and started pitching a few story ideas. Compared with how tough it seems now to get your first break, I think I was pretty lucky. With Doctors I wrote a spec script to get on the show and with Casualty, I did their shadow scheme. It feels a bit backwards really i.e. I got on a one hour show like The Bill with no TV writing experience and when you have the experience, you are asked to do the shadow schemes.

4. We worked on your first Casualty episode together - can you explain your approach to the collaborative nature of screenwriting as it is the most collaborative of all forms of writing?

Initially you have to fall in love with the story you are telling. After that, if someone has a better idea than me about how to make it work, then I’m not precious about it. Obviously I’ll probably kick myself that I didn’t come up with it in the first place but that’s life.  As long as I still feel that love for the story.  I think if you lose that, that’s when you start to struggle. So working with great script editors, which I have been lucky to do for the most part, including yourself, really adds to the script and makes the whole process much more enjoyable. The same goes for producers. The only sad thing is that we generally don’t spend as much time on set as we could, get to know the rest of the people involved with the production, directors and crew. Sometimes not being there can mean that little things get missed. I recently heard Terence Winter tell this great story about the Sopranos, about how Christopher was thinking about leaving the mob and starting a normal family and he sees this stereotypical American couple, the guy supporting this awful mullet and it instantly changes his mind. Terence said that the person who did hair on set, firstly didn’t know what a mullet was and then, when they found out, refused to inflict it on the actor. They felt it compromised their professionalism – to be fair, mullets are horrible!  The irony was that the actor didn’t mind. Anyway, with some cajoling Terence got his way but you imagine how a quick but important visual reference in a scene would be totally lost if he hadn’t been on set to pick up on it.

Read the complete interview at scriptplay.co.uk