Robert Popper
Robert Popper is a British
comedy producer, writer, actor and author. (Information found from
RobertPopper.com)
His full name is Robert
Darren Popper and he was born in London.
(Information also found at
RobertPopper.com)
As a writer he wrote three
books the timewaster letters, return of the timewaster letters and the
timewaster diaries.
He began his career in British
television working for the comedy script under Peter Richardson. He then worked
on the big breakfast, writing for comedy puppets zig and zag. ( information
found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Popper)
He made his first actual
television appearance as a comedian on the eleven o clock show as Simon Michael
Simon. He then later left to work on his first series of look around you with
Peter Serafinowicz which was nominated for a BAFTA and a British Comedy Award
in 2003. After that he co wrote the short film hello friend with Graham Linhan.(information
found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Popper)
Robert appeared in Simon Pegg
and Edger Wright’s movies hot fuzz with a role with only three lines which were
“ I’m not Janine”.
From the Skype call with
Robert Popper we asked the following questions and received the following
answers
1.Did you go to university
and how did you get into the media industry?
His reply was yes I went to
Manchester University and studied French and Italian. To get into the industry
back then you had to write a letter to a producer and to be different I wrote a
mad insane letter to the producer to make me look unique.
2.Do you prefer to work
behind or in front of the camera and why?
To this he replied I like to
work behind a camera, as I like to oversee everything like a producer would.
3.Whats your favourite thing
you’ve worked on?
To this he replied the
favourite thing I’ve worked on would have to be Look Around You but I also
enjoyed writing The Timewaster Letters series.
4.How and where do you get
your inspiration for writing from?
To this he replied the Friday
Night Dinner was inspired from personal experiencers with his family.
5. Do you choose the actors
who play your characters?
To this he replied that all
that helped with the creation of the idea get to help choose the actors. He
also said that if he didn’t like the actor then he could refuse to work with
them.
6.How do you end up working
with the same actors?
We asked if it was just a
coincidence but he said that in this business you find people that you like and
when you see a part where you think they would be great in it you give a
suggestion for that person.
7.Can you tell us about your
role in Hot Fuzz and why it wasn’t it a big role?
He said that he found the
role from his acting friend Simon Bird who offered him a role in the movie but
didn’t say how big of a role it was until they started shooting.
8.How does script editing
work?
He said that when script
editing the main thing first is to think of an idea that would sound like a
good story. As a side note he said that sometimes the stories are based off of
real life experiences but have to be changed as even if t may be true other
might see it as being unrealistic.
9.Can you explain what is
involved in being a producer?
He said that being a producer
means creating an image in your head of what you want to accomplish for this
movie or TV series and turn that into reality.
10.What is involved with
being a commissioning editor, what have you commissioned and do you have any
regrets?
His reply was that he doesn’t
anything and his favourite part about being one is seeing all the bad ideas as
they make him laugh. He also said that a commissioning editor is someone who
checks on everything.
11.How has the industry
changed in the last 20 years?
He replied by saying that he
started as a runner and they didn’t have internet so everything had to be done
with letters. And finally he also said that back then they allowed you to make
some really weird things back then.
