Interview by Andrew Bard
Thank you very much for taking the time to sit down with me for this interview.
AB: I was very impressed to discover that you won the Paramount Comedy Student Comedian of the year award at age 19. When did you first realize you wanted to be a comedian and writer?
I’ve always loved comedy, and spent my childhood watching hours and hours of it, generally watching the same VHS’ over and over again. I didn’t really think it would be something I’d be able to do until I wrote a comedy Nativity play when I was in Sixth Form and got such a buzz from it I figured ‘this is what I’ll do with the rest of my life!’
AB: Discrimination has been a hot button topic for a lot of people and seems to be a common thread female directors share. Have you ever felt that your gender has been a hinderance for you at times or do you find people look more at your work and professionalism?
As a director so far I’ve only worked on projects I’ve produced and written myself, so obviously I haven’t encountered any sexism there! I was really proud that on my web series S-Band all the main crew roles, except our producer Matt, were taken by females. Female DOP, camera assistant, sound recordist, writer and director. In terms of my writing career I’ve always been pleased that I’ve worked on shows with pretty much equal gender divides on the writing teams, but it’s definitely a problem, across so many different industries.
AB: What would you say is your best experience thus far in your career?
It was probably getting my first writing job, which was on a CBBC show called Wolfblood. It was the first series so we (my writing partner James and I) got to be part of the show from the word go, and nothing quite beats the very first proper writing job you get. Years of graft and rejection, all made worth it!
AB: You’ve worked on several productions and with different filmmakers. What would you say was the most insane moment you’ve had on set?
When we shot our ‘Father Hears Silence’ sketch, there was an alarm that kept going off every twenty seconds, so our editor had to edit the beeps out to actually give the illusion of ‘silence’. Also, I remember visiting the Wolfblood set and, as it shoots in the north of England in the winter we very nearly all got snowed in at this tiny little village, until a gritter came and rescued us.
AB: I have had the pleasure of seeing your work and I love your style of writing and directing, the characters feel organic and regardless of the scenarios each one has a unique and relatable personality. What has been your favorite story, character and why?
I’ve always really loved Stacy’s story in S-Band- he thinks he’s so tough but really he’s a vulnerable wimp, who doesn’t know what to do with any feelings he has about anything. If I ever got to make any more S-Band I always planned to have him fall in love with a French exchange student and, not being able to process his feelings, burns down the French block. Although to be fair I’m not sure if they’d let us shoot that at my old school!
AB: Most writers I’ve spoken with have a sort of ritual when they decide to begin working on a new screenplay. What is your process?
If I’m still excited about an idea after a week or so then I know I’m onto something good- the minute writing it feels like a drag I’ll know something isn’t quite right. I had an idea optioned by a production company recently, and when I came to write the script it simply didn’t work, the premise was too difficult to sustain and make believable, so after weeks of battling with it I had to cut my loses. I think as you write more and more you become a much better editor of what ideas are worth pursuing (they’re usually ones with a talking dog in).
AB: Now you had mentioned that you have a project in the works slated to begin principle photography in early 2016. Can you give us a hint to what it is or is it top secret?
It’s another web series, which we’re keeping a bit quiet until we’ve sorted everything out for it- but I can say I’m very excited about it! We’re also shooting more sketches and have got a part-animation short film coming out in a few months, called ‘Barry Swish the Corduroy Fish’. It’s absolutely nuts and I can’t wait to unleash him on the world!
AB: You have a video up on youtube now titled “Watch This Incredible Moment When A Father Of Four Hears Silence For The First Time” that you wrote and directed starring two very talented actors Toby Williams and Daniel Trevenna. It has over 2 million hits right now and is still climbing. This was such a genius idea and a fantastic satire to all the “father, baby, mother child etc. hears/sees for the first time videos out there. Did you anticipate this video taking off like it did?
Absolutely not! It’s one of those things that you just can’t plan for. It’s incredible how it snow balls though- it had been up for a couple of days and got a few thousand views which was really exciting and then suddenly it got to the top of Reddit and it went crazy. At the peak we had 150,000 views in less than an hour. It’s been shown on TV here in the UK, which was really cool too.
AB: It has been such a privilege being able to speak with you, is there anything you would like to talk about that I haven’t asked you?
The pleasure was all mine!
AB: Where can people find information about you and see your work? This is shameless self promoting time!
My personal website, for news about my writing is: www.hannahgeorge.com. Our Somewhen Productions website, for all our news and latest videos is: www.somewhenproductions.co.uk. And our YouTube channel, for our web series and latest vids is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxkTyJCnj-T3jmEvHxbrZ0g
