Inside the mind of a budding screenwriter: Skins actor and writer, Daniel Kaluuya

Daniel Kaluuya (second, bottom left) with his fellow Skins cast mates.  

Daniel Kaluuya, aka ‘posh Kenneth’ on Skins, has made the transition from actor to screenwriter for the BAFTA nominated drama. His first full Skins episode as writer aired this spring.

Daniel also presents the Skins Podcast (Skinscast) and his previous roles include playing Reece in the BBC drama, Shoot the Messenger. And he’s just 19 years old this year.

Episode 8 of Skins, which Daniel wrote, belongs to the second series of the E4/Channel Four drama. It sees Jal (played by Larissa Wilson) agonising about how best to break the news to her friends, family and boyfriend Chris (Joe Dempsie) that she is pregnant, at just 18. However, the episode makes it clear that the eccentric group of teenagers have been hiding plenty more secrets from each other. It is a hard hitting, emotional episode which showcases Daniel’s first ever complete script for TV. Not a bad start to a career in television drama. So, how does he feel about it all?

“I think it was received really well, from what I’ve heard from people that read some of the newspaper reviews,” says Daniel. "It still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve done it, really.”

So how does he go about writing?

“I usually don’t stop writing until I finish a section so when I’m in full swing I’d write 15 pages in a go,” explains Daniel. “I prefer writing like that - I just get carried away and can’t stop.”

And then there’s the editing. On completing the script, “you go in and meet with the script editors and producers, and talk about the most effective changes for the episode to carry an extra punch,” says Daniel.

The next step involved revealing the script to his fellow cast mates.

“It was quite daunting because I wanted them to like it as it’s the material that they’d be working on for the next two weeks. So I didn’t want to disappoint them especially Larissa who plays Jal”.

As a screenwriter for Skins,like other TV drama series, adhering to the traits of established characters such as Chris and Jal is all part of the job.

“It was quite hard, especially because I knew both the actors very well, I wanted to get their voices spot-on,” says Daniel. “But then I tried to forget that and just had fun with it and tried not think of them as ‘Jal’ and ‘Chris’ in Skins just treat them as this character in this situation. How will they react? What will they say?”

Daniel says it was “surreal”, sitting down with his family to watch his work on TV for the first time. “I was quite calm about it, but when it got to the end and you see your name up there, it was probably one of the best feelings!”

So, which was more worrying for the actor and writer, revealing it to the cast or his family?

“The read-through,” admits Daniel. “The cast seeing it for the first time was more nerve-wracking because of the way Skins works, they don’t tell the cast what happens in the episode until a few days before the read-through. Plus there’s a lot of secrecy and it felt that there was a lot of pressure because of my age: I was the teenager writing for the teenage show, showing everyone for the first time was hard.”

“I’d always been on the writing team from series one, but on series one I was a contributor which is when they bring young people in and they give their opinion on the scripts and what rang true and what didn’t. I co-wrote an unseen for series one and when series two came along they offered me a chance to write an episode.”

Although gradually gaining a larger writing role on the show, for Daniel, writing a complete episode was certainly not a planned move.

“I never expected to be offered it. The creator, Bryan Elsley, had mentioned it but I kinda didn’t believe they’d follow it through. So when I was offered it, it really did take me by surprise”.

The future looks even brighter for Daniel. “I’m writing for the third series at the moment, very early stages,” he explains. “Also I’ll be acting in a play at the Royal Court called Oxford Street so I’m trying to manage the both.”

Juggling the two disciplines of acting and writing seems to work for Daniel. He can’t begin to choose between the two.

“I need both,” says Daniel. “I get bored easily so I always go to the other that I’m not currently doing”.

When it comes to the best advice he’s ever been given it is short and simple. “Feel free when you write,” he recalls. And his own advice for upcoming screenwriters is just as clear-cut: “Write for theatre as they’re more willing to read scripts,” says Daniel. “Just tell good stories, honestly.”

Daniel is currently appearing in Oxford Street running at the Royal Court Theatre from 2 – 31 May 2008.

Watch the full Skins episode at E4.com/skins.

Here’s a taster of the episode written by Daniel.