[tomek]

A few weeks ago, our friends at SO had a chance to ask Jamie Brittain some questions, they got them back today and here they are thanks to Jamie and everyone who submitted a question.

Read Q&A here

[tomek]

1. How did the idea of Skins come about?

A couple of years ago I was sitting in my dad's (Bryan Elsley) kitchen. He was telling me about some ideas he had for tv series. None of them blew me away. He asked me if I had any ideas. I told him I had one. When I was 16 I tried to write a novel - a dark narrative about teenagers that revolved around three characters; Sid, Tony and Annie (later to become Michelle). It was about how Tony manipulated Sid for his own amusement. I never finished it - it was shit, but I always thought the characters were strong enough to tell story with. I had always thought it might make a good tv series or film. So I told Dad about that, and he liked it, and pitched it to Company Television. They liked it, pitched it to e4, and the show got made.

Originally I was thinking the show would be much darker, more in line with the tone of my original story. One of the things Bryan brought to the concept was the flexibility in tone - you'll notice that Skins can be light OR dark from moment to moment. This is one of the main things that distinguishes Skins from other teen shows, I think.

Incidentally, the novel I tried to write has been written now, at least in terms of style and setting, if not plot (in that sense it's far superior to anything I was capable of). It's called Apples and it's by a guy called Richard Milward. Check it out, it's great.

2. Skins tackle issues such as eating disorders and religion was any research done into the issues to make them realistic as possible?

Yes and no. One of the things we were really careful about is that we didn't want to make Skins 'issue' based, like episode 1 was drugs, episode 2 was anorexia, episode 3 was abortion. We wanted to tell individual stories that didn't attempt to instruct or preach to our audience. If Skins features 'issues' then they proceed from the character's conflicts and problems, rather than a desire to 'do' anorexia or religion.

With regards to eating disorders, myself and Bryan are very close to someone who suffered from anorexia, and this of course informed and helped us write Cassie. If you watch episode 2 though, it's not really about anorexia. It's about someone who HAS anorexia, which is of course a very different thing. It's a personal story, and one that we're very proud of.

In terms of religion, Muslim teenagers were spoken to and facts were checked. But again, we're all about character, not issue.

3. Is there any character that reflects you?

Totally. Sid is pretty much me. I'm a nervous, awkward, lazy person who eats too much crap. When I was a teenager, I was always in love with my best friend's girlfriend, never doing enough work at school. All the stuff you see in the show.

It freaked the shit out of Mike when I told him his character was based on me. He didn't want to learn too much about me, as he thought it would fuck up his performance, like he had to exactly imitate me on screen. Oddly though, his performance is pretty close to what I used to be like.

4. Will Mitch get more screen time in order to develop his characters identity more?

I'm happy to report that Mitch gets a lot more screen time this year, especially in the first few episodes of series 2.

5. In series one, we've seen the strong friendship between Jal and Chris, Will Jal's first legitimate romantic storyline be with Chris this season? If not, what can we expect for their friendship in the future? What can we expect for their romantic futures then?

I'm not saying anything. You'll have to watch the show. I will say that there are some unexpected partnerships coming up this year.

6. A lot of teens can relate to the characters on the show, how realistic do you think the show is when portraying them?

Hmm. I think we've captured something accurately, though I'm not sure what. A mood, a feeling, a sense of something. Some teenagers have said to me that the show pretty much reflects their life, others have said that it is nothing like it. I'd say, the show is very close to MY experiences as a teenager, and I don't think that I had a particularly abnormal time, so I guess I'd say that the show is realistic to some, if not all.

7. Did it surprise you how successful Skins become and what was the response like from people?

It was very surprising. Skins was an experiment. We thought it'd go on telly, be fairly well received and then disappear. Instead it became this big thing and got commissioned for a second season.

Response was generally good. Most people seem to like the show. I think that even though we don't always get everything right the show has a good heart to it, and I think people recognize that.

8. Is there any other teen shows that inspired you when writing

Yeah, pretty much all of them. Dawson's, Buffy, So Called Life, OC, Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Grange Hill. We watched all those shows whilst we were writing Skins. Buffy and Freaks and Geeks were the two main influences on me, though.

9. I read that you had a young writing team who contributed ideas to the show, how important do you think this was to the show?

Very. We have a few teenagers who sit in on the writer's meetings and tell us what they think of our ideas. They let us know when we're completely wrong (a lot of the time) and completely right
(sporadically). We couldn't do the show without them.

10. What can we expect from series 2?

You'll have to watch it and find out! The Skins fans community seems to have spies everywhere, and I don't want to spoil anything more for you. I will say I am confident that this series is harder, better, faster and stronger than the last. I promise.