A ‘Home & Away’ Scriptwriter Answers All Of Our Burning Summer Bay Questions
Home and Away is finally back from hiatus, baby! Unfortunately this means the Olympics has ended, but we’re ready to bunker in and see what endless drama Summer Bay will provide us with for the latter part of the year.
In a town where stalkers run rampant, mysterious murders occur, hot Parata brothers stroll around, good-looking policemen rock up unannounced, and former Bachelorettes go on long, slow-mo jogs to forget about their dead husband and bad luck with love, no one can ever say Summer Bay is boring.
But who comes up with all of these crazy ideas and how? We chatted with Home and Away executive scriptwriter, Louise Bowes, to ask her some of burning questions, from whether Leah deserves to be cut some slack to how Covid-19 has impacted the long-running Aussie soap.
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On how the Home and Away team come up with all their crazy ideas:
“In Home and Away production, the script department is one of the largest with 10 full time script editors, story liners and co-ords, plus me of course. Also, to add to that there is a team of freelance writers who are contracted on an episode by episode basis.
We plot our stories about six months in advance of what you’re seeing on air… starting with the story team putting together the shape and content for each week scene by scene. Then the writers are brought in and briefed, so they can go away and do their thing. Once the scripts are written, they’re delivered back to the full-time team whose job it is to make sure they’re all working as deliciously as they can be… and of course, part of that is getting the scripts ready for production.
As far as where we get our stories from… the simple answer is anywhere and everywhere. Our personal experiences, news articles, the internet, and sometimes the actors bring in ideas.”
On coming up with the story arcs for the main characters…
“It’s always about the character first… where they are in their lives, who they’re involved with, what they want, and whether it’s time to shake them up a bit… and the stories come from there.”
…and whether Leah deserves to be cut some slack:
“Nope! I know that sounds a bit cruel but let’s be honest, adversity is what makes a character interesting. If they’re just living a cruisey life, how do we know what they’re really made of? Do we aspire to be like them? Do we want to cheer for them to succeed? Do we engage?”
On how she became a scriptwriter for Home and Away and advice to anyone who wants to get into something similar:
“I actually fell into it, to be honest… I was a nurse and did a couple of weeks on A Country Practice filling in for someone, and I never left. It was no-brainer for me to change careers, I’d always been obsessed with telling stories, so I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.
For anyone keen to get into script writing, my advice is to look for any opportunities to learn the craft. And write, write, write…”
On what storyline has stood out the most in recent years:
“I’ve loved the recent modelling story for Bella and Nikau – the glitz and glamour of that was fun to play with. And the aftermath of that is still playing out. But equally, I’ve been really proud of the stories that have dealt with mental health and social issues.”
On how the show has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic:
“When COVID first hit, we asked ourselves whether we should incorporate it into storylines and the decision was made to avoid doing that. We wanted Summer Bay to continue to feel like the place you wanted to escape to. But of course, it was, and continues to be, a reality in terms of how we produce the show, so we’ve been guided 100% by health advice.
And so far, we haven’t had to change direction completely on anything… we just have to be super creative on how we achieve it. Home and Away production have a range of measures to minimise risk to cast and crew, including temperature checks on arrival, increased hygiene practices, and rigorous cleaning schedules are overseen by dedicated safety officers.”
On bringing the Parata family in and whether we can expect more diversity on Home and Away:
“The Parata family have been really well received and while they’re not our first culturally diverse characters and they won’t be our last, the difference here I think is that an entire family came in at one time. And that’s fundamentally what the show is about… the love of family.”
And what fans can expect from Home and Away for the rest of the year:
“So much! New romances. Sins of the past. Lives hanging in the balance. Secrets. Scandals… we’ve got it all!”