The George Kay effect: The author of “Lupin” and “Hijack” in the ITV series “The Long Shadow” and his support for the American attacks – Mipcom Cannes Special

George Kay looks conflicted. Speaking to Deadline before the writers’ strike was resolved, the UK WGA member put his pen down on an Amazon Studios film project and dodged a US ad campaign for his Apple TV+ series. Kidnapped. But it’s fair to say that the attacks coincided with a dire situation for Kay.

No difference to the main character KidnappedKay, Idris Elba’s brooding professional negotiator Sam Nelson, spent years maneuvering between three complex projects for Apple, Netflix and ITV/Sundance, all starting within four months of each other.

Just like Nelson’s character in Kidnapped– “He’s being hired by big companies… when it all starts,” Nelson’s wife explains to a police officer in the series. Kay is the man to go to if you want to deliver a character-driven thriller that will captivate viewers over multiple episodes.

Not only is he holding an airplane hostage for Apple, but he’s also the co-inventor of such an airplane WolfNetflix’s big French heist drama, which returns for its third season on October 5. Ten days earlier, ITV premiered Kay’s limited series The long shadowIt examines the consequences of the crimes of the so-called “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe.

Kay fully supported the strikes, but is a champion of the thriving writing scene in Britain and Europe and highlights The long shadow would not be affected by industrial action. “The WGA is great, but it’s an American union, it’s not the whole world,” he says.

That’s why he was excited to sit down with Deadline for this interview. That and Kay managed to get out of a manic writing phase. “I did these three series at once,” he says. “It’s probably been in full swing for about two years now, so I’m grateful for some peace and quiet.”

Kay started out as a development specialist on documentaries. He is a self-proclaimed idea generator and is recognized as a co-creator The chorusthe BAFTA-winning BBC television show in which presenter Gareth Malone transforms a group of aspiring singers into a life-affirming choral group.

“The ultimate developer can tell you, moment by moment, how a TV show might play … and have other people work on it,” he says. His penchant for dramaturgy in documentaries also manifested in part-time writing projects, which later became full-time work.

Kay’s early credits include an episode of The hourthe BBC’s popular Cold War drama about a British news program and Sky’s adaptation of it The tunnel, with Clémence Poésy. In 2016, he created the BBC series about a bachelorette party gone wrong Deer with her Kidnapped Winger Jim Field Smith before joining the first season of Kill Evein which he worked with Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Kay and Field Smith, who met in college, were also founders Criminal, the Netflix anthology drama in which detectives interrogate suspects in a police interrogation room. With a nod to his unscripted days, Kay jokes Criminal is no different than Total destruction, the anarchic physics game show. “It’s a format where you build a set and then invite different areas to come over and create their own version of the show,” he says. The series was remade in Spain, France and Germany.

Kay’s credits suggest a preoccupation with crime—an observation he embraces because it means he writes about “ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” for better or worse. Reflecting on why television is obsessed with true crime stories, he says: “They tend to be about dynamics that the audience can relate to. They happen in areas that are recognized by the public.”

Sutcliffe’s story

He was drawn to Sutcliffe’s story not because of the killer himself, but because of the way his actions had a profound impact on a community in the north of England. Convicted of the murders of thirteen women, Sutcliffe committed crimes beyond barbarity The long shadow, he only appears on screen in the last episode and his atrocities are never depicted. The closest the audience gets is a one-handed scene starring an emergency responder Years and yearsRuth Madeley receives a call from Marcella Claxton (Jasmine Lee-Jones), who has just been attacked by Sutcliffe.

It feels like the opposite of Netflix Dahmer, which was criticized for focusing heavily on the killer and delving into the gruesome details of his crimes. “There is a danger that we glorify these people,” says Kay when confronted with the Dahmer contrast. “I was aware that I didn’t want to glorify Sutcliffe in any way… I wouldn’t want to make a serial killer my main character because I can’t necessarily relate or understand their thoughts.”

The long shadow, produced by New Pictures in association with All3Media International, features a cast that examines the police who hunted Sutcliffe and the women who were his victims. Emily Jackson, a mother who turned to sex work when her family faced financial difficulties, was Kay’s entry in the seven-part series. “In another drama you would start with the discovery of Emily Jackson’s body, but I spent the whole episode getting to know her,” says Kay. “It shows the ambition in terms of pace and scale.”

Jackson is played by happy valley Starring Katherine Kelly, who impresses in a small role for an established British TV star. Although many of the cast only appear in one or two episodes, each actor was given the full seven scripts to understand their place in the series. “That’s the long shadow of these crimes,” Kay said. “It seeps into the fabric of society. If it weren’t so smooth, we’d call it the Yorkshire Ripple. It’s a silly sentence, but that’s exactly what it was. It was part of the north of England and affected everyone’s lives.”

Growing up in Berkshire, an English county west of London, Kay saw the cultural divide between North and South in Britain as an obstacle he had to overcome when writing the series. He visited the church in Chapeltown, Leeds, several times to interview people. New Pictures received “mild criticism” of the series from family members of the victims, the author adds, some of whom were concerned about being linked to Sutcliffe’s crimes.

Kay recalls an interaction with Richard McCann, son of victim Wilma McCann. Richard disagreed with the show’s original working title: The Yorkshire Ripper, saying that those involved in the murders were uncomfortable with the name Sutcliffe. “We don’t like that verb,” ​​he told Kay, saying it had become a “dark brand” for the killer.

“We said he was absolutely right,” says Kay. “We had to change it, respond, learn and grow in our creative process. That’s why we changed it within a month of the announcement. I want to be very open about how writers and television producers need to change, not pretend everything is fine. If you do good research, you learn.”

Kay says there are dangers in factual dramas that recount events that just happened. Asked about current political series in the UK, including Sky’s Boris Johnson drama This England and Banijay’s plans to investigate Liz Truss’ tenure as Prime Minister, he believes these events do not yet have their full historical context. “I think it’s really good to go too fast,” he says, adding that he needs “perspective” in his work, otherwise it can create “strange blind spots.”

A morning writer, Kay is usually at his desk by 6 a.m., enjoying a productive “golden hour” before his house wakes up. He continues writing all morning and leaves the afternoon free for lectures and meetings. He wrote The long shadow And Kidnapped parallel, with the time he spent on each script, separated only by a sandwich or dip. Kay enjoyed going into ‘a completely different gear’. Kidnappeda fictional series with a “muscular” script, with descriptions of action scenes in the confined spaces of an airplane.

Kay says he was “aware of Idris” when he wrote the first episode after Jay Hunt, creative director of Apple TV+ in Europe, suggested Elba for the lead role. During filming, he relaxed his script when Elba managed to capture Sam Nelson in a single facial expression as he walked out of the hijacking. “You don’t want everyone to talk too much [on the plane]because it naturally reduces anxiety,” he says.

These are all signs Kidnapped did well for Apple, perhaps helped by the program’s weekly release strategy. According to Kay, waiting for new episodes is a “forgotten pleasure” in television and something writers can put up with if informed about it by streaming services.

“As long as you know what the plot is going to be in advance, I think that’s very helpful for writers,” he explains. “We knew we weren’t going to go out all at once Kidnapped, so I could take that into account in the way it was written. You know you’re going to get a break, so you end up in a cliffhanger here and there.”

Kidnapped was a limited series, but Kay says there is a possibility the drama could return for a second season. However, involvement is unlikely as he is under contract with Netflix. He signed up for the first season of Kidnapped And The long shadow before agreeing to his deal with Netflix, which would allow him to cover several projects in Europe. “I don’t think it’s necessarily healthy to tie a commissioner to a writer because you want more flexibility,” he says of his overall contract.

After a hectic period of writing three projects, Kay is grateful for a quieter period of development work. But like many other writers, he would welcome a more vigorous return to the keyboard after the strike is resolved. “Sooner or later we all want to work on something else again,” he says. “So yeah, I’m looking forward to doing the next thing.”

His latest purple streak suggests crime fans will be excited.