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Andrea & Ryan's Blog

18 July 2013

Andrea Hubert and Ryan Cull will be taking their script The Sickness to the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival with Rocliffe.


The Script: The Sickness

Synopsis: When a catastrophe known as ‘The Sickness’ wipes out humanity, tribes of warring UK survivors struggle to navigate life without religion, money - or rules.


Meet Andrea HubertAndrea Hubert

How did it feel to be shortlisted for Rocliffe?

Almost every day I feel like I can’t do write, and I'm rubbish - I think that's just a standard for comedians. So to have a bunch of creative people in the industry you really respect pick your work, is all at once incredibly exciting and extremely daunting

What are you most looking forward to about attending the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum event in Edinburgh?

Meeting and talking to producers of comedy shows that we love and are inspired by, and just having the ears of people in the industry who we can learn from – we’re very new and we really don’t know much! To go to an event with that many exceptional, creative people in one place willing to share what they know with us would be amazing. Obviously we’d be happy to go to either, but my best friend lives in New York, so if we did go there, getting to see her would be a bonus!

When did you get involved in writing comedy?

I always wanted to write comedy but until I turned 30, I always thought it was an impossible dream. Then one day I started standup, and loved it. I met Ryan through the stand up circuit and one day we started talking about an idea, and it turned into a series of sketches. It was so easy writing with him, and so much fun, so we just started doing it more and more.

What inspired you to write comedy for the screen?

I love comedy so much. I love movies but in particular, I love sitcoms - my dad showed me Fawlty Towers and Monty Python at a very early age. Things like Nighty Night were a huge influence on me growing up - I worshipped Julia Davis, and thought that if I could write something that was even 10% as good as anything she wrote, that would be incredible. I'm very inspired by American shows too - The League, Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - they're just consistently brilliant and the dialogue is incredibly sharp.

Which part of the writing process do you find most difficult and which come most easily?

When Ryan and I are just hanging out, the ideas flow really easily, and we’ll come up with plot, structure, and sub plots that make us laugh, which I think is crucial. When it comes to actually writing the first draft, I get a massive attack of self-doubt and will do anything to delay actually sitting down and writing. I’ve always been this way – I know logically that the first draft doesn’t have to be good, you just need words on a page, but I am so scared of not being perfect that often I’ll sit for ages just staring at it. That’s why it’s great having a partner – after a while, he’ll just tell me “Enough is enough!” and I’ll get to work.


Meet Ryan CullRyan Cull

How did it feel to be shortlisted for Rocliffe?

It feels fantastic to be shortlisted for our script. Knowing that the members of the jury that we have looked up to and respect chose our script is a validation that we are on the right track and will push us to become better writers.

Which part of the writing process do you find most difficult and which come most easily?

I’m a bit of an over-writer; my first drafts are often alarmingly gigantic. This is something I’m trying to reign in. Writing dialogue is the part that comes easiest to me.

When did you get involved in writing comedy?

I started performing and writing stand up comedy 5 years ago with the end goal to one day write my own series. I knew no one would read my scripts until I proved I was funny and stand up is the ultimate test for that.

What inspired you to write comedy for the screen?

Every TV show I love is an inspiration for why I write. I'm obsessed with sitcoms and watch every different type of show to learn and see how they tell these amazing stories each week.

Which part of the writing process do you find most difficult and which come most easily?

The toughest part is the actual writing. There are so many things to distract you and ways to procrastinate. I'm writing this 30 minutes before its due because that's how I write. The easiest is the ideas part. Find someone you trust completely who has the same type of humour and it becomes so much fun to put a story together like a puzzle. Don't write alone. Comedy is lonely enough as it is!