The Emmy Awards delay left Jesse Armstrong's future up in the air: He still doesn't know if he's taken home his fourth consecutive Best Writing and third Best Series award for Succession , his creation that was fired in the spring And, as he considers how to continue his career after reigning in television, the British screenwriter will attend the Serializados Fest on Saturday to talk about the craft.
At SZS Fest, Peep Show is being screened, a comedy he wrote in 2003. How would he sell it to the audience?
Succession is based on a group of people most of us have never met: billionaires, media moguls, who control television and newspapers. Peep Show is the complete opposite - it's any two men you might meet on the street in the UK. It's a look at the strange things that can happen to us.
The inevitable question: Could Succession have a spin-off?
No, I think the story is complete.
Let's imagine that the characters exist. What about their lives?
With Roman it's easy. He is the classic playboy. It's in a bar or casino with friends. He has a very hard shell, so he gets away with everything that has happened to him and drops cruel jokes on the whole world. Shiv is still with Tom, in a frozen relationship, real and at the same time very fake. I don't know how long they will last with this mirage of a relationship.
In a Kendall?
Jeremy Strong was of the opinion that it would be very difficult for him to live. But I think the children of billionaires always find a way to get ahead. It even has a certain tragic edge: they can't help but be that person with a famous last name. He would probably find another business to invest in and convince himself that it is just as important as his father's. However, at night, as he drinks whiskey, he knows that the most important part of his life has already passed.
Brian Cox or Jeremy Strong had a reputation for having strong characters. How to deal with the actors and their expectations?
They may have a lot of personality, but they are very professional. I never had to control them. What was difficult was communicating to Cox that his character was going to die. But he accepted it when I explained the structure of the final season and how he needed time to see how his children were doing without him.
It was a cynical series in cynical times. But if you were to think about how to end the system you were criticizing, what would you advise us to do?
We want to know what's going on in the world and that's why we consume the media. We try to create our own perspective from this news and it costs a lot to get out of this system. And, when you escape the gatekeepers, you find information that is not accurate, that is false, or a new version of propaganda. What we can do is support the media that try to find objectivity. There is no definitive truth to be found, but there are those who try and those who don't. We must give our money, our support and subscribe to the media that tries to uncover the truth.
During the screenwriters' strike, there was talk of the precariousness of the screenwriters' rooms. Why are they important?
They are very useful when planning plots and figuring out how they work: talking about the story with talented people helps you get to the best version faster. Otherwise you can be stuck for weeks or months. Succession , moreover, was a choral series with many character profiles. It was great to have the perspectives of men and women with different life experiences and different families. When you have people at the table, the series gets richer.
What are your future plans now?
I do not know. It's hard for me to think of writing a series that doesn't have the talent and budget in the US, but it would also work on British TV. Maybe I could write a book, direct a movie, create a series... I like this feeling of uncertainty and I will take my time to decide.
