‘Bad Sisters’ creator Sharon Horgan addresses BBC Comedy Festival – Deadline

sharon horgan he’s more of a fan of the UK TV launch system than he is of the US, to say the least.

“No one lies to you [in the UK]he told a BBC Master Conference of the Comedy Festival this afternoon. “Don’t be fooled. I have been in the United States [pitching] rooms where they tell you there’s a show going on, you leave the room, and then they tell you 30 minutes later that they’re not going to do it.”

The creator of the double BAFTA-winning Apple TV+ bad sisters However, he said things have improved on the US launch since Covid-19 started the Zoom revolution, as he considered how in the past there was “drama and theatre” for the launch that has died out.

“Your pitch now has to be a maximum of 20 minutes, so you have to condense it,” he added. “Whether it’s IP or a new format, you just have to keep it very succinct and not blabber.”

Horgan, whose Merman TV shingle has a board in the UK and US, also praised the UK’s practice of taking a hands-off approach to note delivery, compared to executives across the pond. .

“I have always felt that you receive notes [in the UK] when you need them, not just because,” he added. “There is real confidence in his original vision. Whereas in the US studio system, the studio is ahead of what your network will say, so you have this extra barrier. It’s frustrating.”

At BAFTAs last weekendwhere bad sisters won for Best Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress, Horgan revealed that she joined the writers’ strike over her American projects, but is continuing to work on Season 2 of bad sisters.

Breaking barriers

During an hour-long Comedy Festival keynote address in which he spoke to the Cardiff audience through his decorated career, Horgan spoke about his approach to breaking down the barriers between comedy and drama.

“The best thing about doing drama is realizing that comedy is still really important,” Horgan said, singling out big TV hits with fun beats like Succession and Breaking Bad. “You have to make time for comedy.”

In bad sisters, Horgan “never thought ‘well this is drama so I have to approach it in a different way’, it’s just the same old shit,” he added.

Since the show is made up of 10 one-hour episodes, Horgan said the main difference from a sitcom is the time it takes to complete. The writers’ room, which spanned the Covid-19 period, featured 10 scribes, all of whom had different skills.

Although he had the flamenco original to “solve suspenseful moments” and other rhythms, Horgan said the team wanted to “go our own way” with bad sisters.

“When you’re adapting something, you really want to make it your own or find your voice,” he added.

One of those routes was to film in his native Ireland.

“Doing bad sisters in Ireland it was a dream come true”, he explained. “I had wanted to film there for a long time. Something in the atmosphere made me think it would translate better there.”