Sam and I had a fantastic session together today. We worked flat out from 9am until 1.30pm. We raced through episode 5, we discussed episode 6; we even had enough drive and inspiration to outline series two! We also began to imagine another comedy drama series, on a completely different theme. The next Sam and Anna collaboration would be about couples; forty-somethings with marriages, children, second marriages, affairs, broken promises, failed dreams, sadnesses and triumphs. The new series would include characters like Charlotte and Ray; one minute they’re on top of the world, happily married, a golden couple, in love with each other, sustained by shared values, the importance of good friends, good wine and their thriving careers helping others. The next minute, Ray is struck down with depression.
Sam and I ask each other - is happiness just a short period in the sun or is it a long hot summer? Is it a brief and brilliant moment at the centre of the stage before the spotlight moves on to someone else? Can happiness last or do we all experience a high before rolling around to the bottom of the ball? Is happiness cyclical or is happiness random?
Charlotte and Ray can’t have children of their own so they adopt – two lovely boys; happy, laughing children who bring them more angst and more joy than they thought possible. Their house is filled with other children too, plus their parents enjoying Sunday lunch, listening to music, talking of the future and drinking wine. Everyone wants to be invited to Charlotte and Ray’s house because you always come away feeling better than when you first walked in.
But the depression took those happy Sundays away – from them as well as from us.
I feel pretty wonderful when I drive away from Sam’s house this morning. We are such a good partnership. Writing with her is so much easier and so much more enjoyable than writing alone. My phone starts to ring as soon as I pull out of the drive but I don’t pick it up. I don’t worry too much; it’s probably something to do with my day job and I’ll deal with it when I get home, it’s only 10 minutes away.
But it was Sam and she was hoping to catch me before I got too far down the road. Apparently, the whole time we were working and having fun in the kitchen the letter from the BBC was lying in the hall.
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