Backstage at the BAFTAs: Writing and composing contenders weigh in on importance of awards

The BAFTA TV Craft Awards took place on Sunday, April 28, with British TV host and documentarian Stacey Dooley hosting the event at East London’s The Brewery. The ceremony was the first half of the two BAFTA nights honoring the year’s best TV, with the Craft Awards dedicated to below-the-line categories just like the Creative Arts Emmys.

We attended Sunday’s ceremony and managed to speak to a number of nominated artists, including Adiescar Chase, who serves as the composer for Netflix’s hit feel-good LGBTQ+ series “Heartstopper.” Chase explained to us how she created the iconic sound of “Heartstopper,” noting that her conversation with director Euros Lyn exemplified how she works on the show.

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“The great thing about ‘Heartstopper’ is that, in season two, Euros asked that I make the music feel new, feel like it’s developing as we are with the characters. So, a lot of stuff I did in season one was all in the box, all done with software. A lot of people don’t realize that — they think it’s all synthesizers or hardware,” Chase explained.

“So in season two, I bought a Cobalt 8X, a synthesizer. I basically went to a synth shop, played loads of different synths, just the Heartstopper themes, until I found one and went ‘yep, that’s the sound of the show.’ And it basically just breathes new life into it. We’re working currently on season three and I’m developing new sounds. Every cue I use will be updated or new. I re-use a lot of the themes and some of them might sound very similar but they’ve all been changed or developed in some way.”

Chase added: “It’s about creating something that’s universal so that people feel connected to the characters and the show no matter what their age is, whatever their background is, but at the sometime feel nostalgic and punchy and have that heartbeat in it.”

We were then treated to a trio of interviews with nominated writers, including the winner of Best Comedy Writer Jack Rooke, who won for his Channel 4 series “Big Boys.” This was his fifth BAFTA nomination overall and his first win, with the other bids coming all coming for “Big Boys.” This victory, and the response to his work overall, has been overwhelming for Rooke.

“The response to my writing work has been amazing,” Rooke said backstage after winning. “It was very stressful, winning. It’s amazing, it’s lovely. But it’s mostly quite traumatic. I’m going to give this to my mum for a year and then I’ll take it. It’s my mum’s story, too.”

However, Rooke is now looking ahead to new pastures, explaining: “‘Big Boys’ is the culmination of all my live Edinburgh shows and 10 years of doing comedy on stage and it’ll be done, hopefully, in the next two or three years. I can’t keep writing about 19 when I’m 31.  After ‘Big Boys,’ I’m really excited to figure out what I can write that will be very different. I would love to write a film, write a feature, maybe even direct, so something like that this has put in good stead for some creative challenges.”

He continued: “All the jobs I get offered nowadays are an LGBT drama or something set in a gay club but I want to do the opposite. I want to do a gangster film. I want to do me meets Yorgos Lanthimos. A thriller. I don’t see myself as just a gay writer writing gay stories. I’d like to do something very different.”

We then spoke to Rooke’s fellow nominee Mawaan Rizwan, who was nominated for both Best Comedy Writer and Best Fiction Emerging Talent for his BBC Three show “Juice.” This was Rizwan’s first ever BAFTAs, so the night was a special one for him as he explained to us his thoughts on his first BAFTA ceremony and awards ceremonies in general.

“It can be a really fine and buzzy vibe — you know what it is? No one can make art in a void. We need an audience to tell a story. When it goes beyond an audience and into awards your peers are going ‘you know what, you did alright, kid.’ It feels good. That accolade is validating but, yeah, it’s definitely not the reason to do it,” Rizwan.

While Rizwan didn’t win on Sunday, he does have another chance to win at the main BAFTA TV ceremony on May 12, where he is up for Best Male Comedy Performance for “Juice.” Jamie Demetriou is no stranger to that category, having won that award in 2020 for his breakout series “Stath Lets Flats.” He is nominated for that category again this year for “A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou” while he was also nominated on Sunday for Best Comedy Writer. Demetriou spoke to us about life after “Stath Lets Flats”

“Anything that I did after ‘Stath Lets Flats’ felt really different because I wanted it to. I really wanted the next thing I did to feel like I wasn’t treading water.  But I’m just up for trying to work out what the furthest I can go is. The furthest I could go is being someone else entirely, which is hard because I’m me and I have a way of doing things but I’m assessing my options. I’m hoping there’s some stuff,” Demetriou said.

Demetriou teased that there are some potential projects in the pipeline, although he wasn’t able to reveal any information about them. Sadly, for us “What We Do in the Shadows” fans, Demetriou said it doesn’t look like he’ll be joining his sister, Natasia Demetriou, in the FX vampire comedy. For now, at least.

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