Paul Abbott is a British television screenwriter who has produced many successful shows such as Touching Evil, State of Play, Clocking Off and his more recognisable work Coronation Street and Shameless.After a hard start in life being born into an underprivileged family and a series of life events that lead to an attempted suicide, things started picking up for Paul when he won a Radio Times competition writing radio plays for BBC 4. He was noticed by Granada Television and became a script editor for the very popular soap drama Coronation Street.
Working as a producer and writing episodes for BBC and ITV dramas, Abbott really came to be strongly recognised for his work when he created Shameless. This was a channel 4 drama based on his own life experiences set on a council estate in Manchester. I particularly wanted to focus on this series as I can take a lot from it into my own film that I am doing. Being an adult drama there are many issues that Abbott deals with as well as creating very complex characters that elevate the scenarios they are in.
Although the series focuses on poverty and mine is more middle class, it still holds issues with affairs and characters that have darker sides to them on multiple levels. It also interested me as he is writing about what he knows and it is set in one location (which is where he was born) allowing him to be in depth and create a realistic view of the story. The drama went on to be commissioned for 11 series, winning a BAFTA award for Best Drama Series and is now being re-made for the american market.
Abbott has since gone on write more drama screenplays and is seen as one of the best British screenwriters of modern day.
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