Write On: 'Colin From Accounts' Co-Creators Patrick Brammall & Harriet Dyer

“We never wanted to make a show about dogs. We wanted to make a
show about people. And then secondary to that, people who love
dogs. We made sure we had some of Colin [the dog, in season two],
like there’s that lovely episode in seven where Gordon becomes a
stage mum to a TV dog, which is so funny. But yeah, we just
wanted it to be interesting,” says Harriet Dyer, co-creator and
star of Colin From Accounts about the shift away from Colin the
dog to focus more on the relationship between Ashley and Gordon,
and develop the supporting characters.


In this episode of the Write On podcast, we check in with the
real-life Australian married couple Patrick Brammall and Harriet
Dyer now that season two of Colin From Accounts is out on
Paramount+. Brammall and Dyer talk about balancing the tone of
the show that continues to have a few scatological elements and
misbehaving body parts, but keeps the characters grounded as
Gordon deals with a loss. “Episode five is a bit of a departure
from the structure of the show and mixes the light and the dark
with the comedy butting right up against the tragedy. We played a
bit more with that as well. We did stuff that interested us and
made us laugh,” says Dyer. 


Brammall also shares his advice for taking control of your
creative life. “I started writing plays with a friend of mine
because you have no agency as an actor. You’re waiting for the
phone to ring. You’re waiting for someone to give you work. You
can’t create your own work. And I’m like, well, f*ck this. I want
to create work. But you definitely need a big old f*cking dose of
luck on the way… And now more than ever, there are ways to make
your own stuff and get it out there and produce it. But of
course, the flip of that is that there is way more people doing
that as well. How does one stand out? I don’t know. All I would
say is it’s not going to happen if you don’t start doing
it!” 


To find out more about Brammall and Dyer’s writing process,
listen to the podcast.