Episode three of Sonnigsburg airs this Monday night. It was
directed by Alex Scott and written by me.
The end of episode three came to us quite early in the
plotting process. It’s the midway point of the series and Savannah’s story
takes a turn… but no spoilers here. As we planned the series, we thought of the
first three episodes as set-up and the final three episodes as pay-off.
Everything that’s been put in place in the first three episodes, starts to tie
together after the end of episode three.
The script for this episode, my first episode of television,
went through the biggest changes of any of our episodes over its various
drafts. It was a big episode in concept; it’s a pretty big one in its final
form, too. But by the time we neared production, Fiona wanted a change in the
structure.
I will also admit, after years of writing theatre, the first
draft was probably a little dialogue heavy. A few too many lengthy scenes of
two people in a room talking. The same information is revealed in the final
episode, but in a much more visually interesting way.
Some of my favourite series are structured around conversation,
but that’s not what Sonnigsburg
is focused on primarily. And from a production stand point, given where much of the climax of this
episode takes place, Fiona wanted more of the episode set in that same space.
It led to one of our biggest production days and perhaps the
biggest in terms of cast; every character is in this episode and they all
appear in and around the town fete and school play.
The first draft of episode three was completed in March
2014. Some additional dialogue (a voiceover) was written in September this
year. This episode is a pretty big deal for me personally, and a key turning
point of the series’ narrative.
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