White Van Man Creator: Auditioning for a role in my own show
For ages after I told my friends that I was writing a series for BBC Three, everyone would ask the same few questions: 'Who's in it? Can I come and be an extra? When will it be on?' And the question they asked above all - 'Are you going to be in it?'
It's a sensible question I guess. Most of them knew me as a stand up comedian and comedy performer as much as they did a writer, so of course they assumed I'd be in it. Truth be told, it wasn't until they started asking that I even really thought about it. I'd just been writing the thing and putting words in these character's mouths. I hadn't really thought about who would actually be saying them, let alone if one of them should be me. And was it even that easy? Just because I was the writer didn't mean I could just go - I want to play so and so - and that would be that.
I'd toured in plays and stuff, and worked my whole life as a performer... but I hadn't really done it in a few years and I don't really want to end up the guy surrounded by really amazing actors, screwing up his own script. Personally, I like to have someone else to blame.
But the question kept getting asked and I started to think, yeah, maybe I should do something. I even knew the part I should/could play. Martin the Policeman (I wont tell you his surname because it's a joke in the show - let's just say this. His surname is awesome).
So then, one rainy day over a coffee in the production office I decided to 'put it out there' and I mentioned it to the producer. Bless him, he just smiled and said - 'Good. I think you should'.
He however wasn't the only one to convince. The Execs and more importantly the director had to give me the okay. Iain (the director) did something I love him for. He asked me to audition. And so he bloody should. He didn't really know me at that stage and although he knew I could write, when it came to acting, I might well have been a plank of wood.
Now, when I say he made me audition, he made me audition. I think Iain hoped I'd be good (mostly because he didn't want to have a very awkward conversation if I wasn't), but he made me audition properly, in front of him, the producer, the casting director AND then sent the tape to the Execs for approval. And so he should. It's not fair to anyone otherwise. You can't just point at a character you made up and go 'That's me that is.'