Maghull-based screenwriter John Fay answers Daily Post readers’ questions for LiveRead 2011 - check out our Live Read section here
BEST known to fans of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood as “the man who killed Ianto Jones”, John Fay has had a wide-ranging career that began writing for the Liverpool stage and has included screenwriting for Brookside and Coronation Street.
Q TEENIE: How did you get your first break?
A I started by just writing and producing my own stage plays in Liverpool. From time to time, people from the locally-produced TV drama Brookside saw them. I was asked to write some trial scripts on the strength of that. I think I did maybe three for Brookside (and one for EastEnders, weirdly!) and then finally, after 16 years of trying, I got taken on full time at Brookside and started earning money for what I was writing.
Q ROSIE CHAPMAN: Does dialogue seem different when being spoken than when you write it?
A Yes, sometimes it can seem different. Sometimes better, sometimes not! The longer you’ve been on a show, the more familiar with the character’s voice you become. I was on Coronation Street for six years, so by the end of that you’d often have a good idea of what you were going to get.
Q LISSA: Do you ever get daunted at writing for such household names like Corrie and Torchwood?
A At the start, absolutely! I remember first stepping into the writers’ room at Corrie, thinking – do I really belong here? And feeling a bit of a fraud. And I felt exactly the same when I went to LA and stepped into the TW room. But once the work actually starts, you get engrossed in the story, and it’s usually all right.
