Chris Lang, writer and creator of new UKTV original drama, I, Jack Wright, explains how the inherent drama and conflict of inheritance kick-started his creative process.
Where There’s A Will There’s a Screenplay
I’d always wanted to do something about wills, but I guess the idea fully crystallised when a friend told me about her dad’s will, which had largely disinherited her, whilst advantaging her younger sister. She understood logically why this had happened (she was wealthier than her sister who had always struggled financially) but I could see that no matter how understandable my friend thought her father’s decision, it still really hurt. It still felt like a rejection. She told me it felt like her dad ‘loved me less’. And much as I felt sad for my friend I also thought….’hmmm, there’s story to be mined here!’
All drama is ultimately about conflict, and a contentious will causes unbelievable levels of conflict. The truth is money is a very sharp chisel to stick in to the natural fault lines of any family and then work those wounds open. When the money is wrongly equated with love, the division and conflict are even greater.
So I wrote a pilot script, sent it to my agent, who then suggested I meet the production company ‘Federation Stories’.
I’d briefly worked with Polly Williams (the chief exec of Federation), back in the early noughties, on a long forgotten crime show (from which I got sacked!) but I remember liking her, so took the meeting, and we got on really well. I sent her the pilot script, which she responded to very positively, with lots of good suggestions to move it forward. She also had a real enthusiasm and energy for the business of ‘selling’ projects, for getting out in to the market and hustling, and so I decided to go with ‘The Feds’. That was about three years ago, and I’ve never regretted the decision, they are a fantastic company, and we are incredibly creatively aligned.
I pitched it as a unique hybrid of genres. A family saga, wrapped in a whodunnit, shot through with a legal thriller. Exotic and a little heightened, but still with muscular emotional stories. And some ‘funny’. We started pitching it early 2023 and had a lot of interest from a lot of platforms quite early, but the industry was already moving into a difficult phase, and so we began to realise that we would need to be quite creative in terms of how we got the project financed.
In the end we struck a deal with the BBC, U, and Britbox US, which felt much more like doing a film deal, where we had these multiple partners. From a creative point of view, I really liked this approach, it meant we retained more creative control then if we had just been financed and green lit by one broadcaster.
So I was greenlit to start writing the whole series in about May 23. I obviously already had a script for the first episode, but I also had a very detailed breakdown of the story for the whole series, so scripting felt like filling in the dots – I had already done the really hard work, the structuring and character arcs, with the series storyline.
And in terms of scripting, for me it’s always about simplifying and clarifying. I find the most important part of writing any screenplay is editing. I spend more time cutting lines, scenes, locations and characters, than almost anything else, with every pass, making sure I am telling the story as economically as possible.
We started casting in late 2023 with the same team who cast my show Unforgotten, Victor Jenkins and Seth Mason (who are brilliant). Some of it was straight offers but most of it was meeting people. I so much prefer auditioning in a room rather than watching tapes, that connection with the actors is stimulating and fun and often incredibly informative. Actors are generally super smart, and it is always interesting hearing their take on a part. I’ve often incorporated thoughts in to a draft that have come from an audition discussion.
So some parts were easy to cast, some much tricker and involved leaps of faith (all of which, I should say, paid off in spades) but casting is one of my favourite parts of making a show, hearing your words spoken out for the first time, is always a thrill.
We were then ready to go in to prep at the end of 23, with all six scripts ready – I will never go in to prep without all the scripts ready – it just saves so much money if everyone knows what they are actually going to be filming.
We started shooting in early 2024, with a unit base near Watford, and shot all over south east England, with a few days in Paris at the end. It was a three month shoot with a two week period of double banking and was blissfully problem free – I think we had only one small re-shoot in the whole schedule, and I knew from the very first few days of looking at the rushes, that Tom (Vaughan) our director, was doing a superb job, so that when we wrapped, we were in with a very good shout of being able to edit the raw material in to a propulsive, intriguing, and gripping new drama.
Now, as the show launches, I find myself reflecting on how making a TV drama isn’t so different from writing a will. You create something deeply personal, try to be fair, try to honour what matters most — and inevitably, you have to make some tough choices. Certain parts of the story get promoted, given the spotlight, while others are quietly edited out, no matter how much you love them. It’s a strangely parental process: nurturing every scene, every character, then letting go. And just like with a will, not everyone will agree with your decisions — but if you’ve done it with care, intention, and emotional truth, then hopefully, it all adds up to something that feels right.
I, Jack Wright premieres on U&Alibi on Wednesday 23rd April at 9pm and Britbox on Thursday 24th April. Written and Created by Chris Lang, Produced by Federation Stories it stars John Simm, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Daniel Rigby and Trevor Eve.
Jon Creamer
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