Writer on call

Has it been useful to attend the recording sessions? There are constant changes when you're sitting in the booth. You're making constant changes to this line here or the way this line was delivered, or we wrote it knowing in our heads what it was supposed to sound like, and why it was delivered a certain way to lead to the next bit and the actor might not have intuited everything. That's Amber's job.

I might whisper to her, but 99 per cent of the time she just nods because she's already got exactly what I was going to say. Because we wrote it together, she knows as well as I do how it's supposed to sound, and has a much better way of explaining it.

Then there are things that the actors have contributed too. Where Patterson has pointed out, you know, 'Nigel's afraid of fire, why is he lighting a lamp in this scene?' So he no longer lights a lamp. Things like that are why I'm really glad I'm here, because I want to be able to be there to respond and to make those quick adjustments.

To write a chant in 30 seconds because the actors are waiting for it, you know. So it has been a great experience. I've really enjoyed it - I don't think I would have known what I was missing if I wasn't here, but I'm really glad that I was.