Write On: 'Sunny' Co-Creator & Showrunner Katie Robbins

“I think that Sunny [the robot], as a character, is kind of
emblematic of this conundrum we have with A.I. In one scene she
is cute and warm and is serving Suzie's [Rashida Jones] emotional
needs and is brimming with potential. And that's really enticing.
And then in the next scene, she is diabolical, and is going to
like, cut a bitch! That is A.I. There are so many great things it
can do, and there's so many terrible scary things that it can do.
At the end of the day, it's up to us as society to figure out how
we're going to use it,” says Katie Robbins, showrunner and
creator of the AppleTV+ show Sunny.


 


In this episode of the Final Draft’s Write On Podcast, we talk
with Katie Robbins about delving into artificial intelligence,
Japanese culture and making a robot appealing (and frightening)
to audiences in her show Sunny. Based on the book, The Dark
Manual, by Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan, Robbins says she made
changes to the story to allow for exploring isolation and the
importance of female friendships.


 


“I was excited about the idea of giving [Suzie] a couple of
female friends. So one is in the body of a robot and then the
other is this aspiring mixologist who she meets in the pilot,
Mixxy [Annie the Clumsy]… and telling the story of a friendship
like love triangle. Mixxy is a little jealous of Sunny's
relationship with Suzie and Sunny is really jealous of Mixxy's
relationship with Suzie. The film The Favourite was a big
influence for a lot of their relationship dynamics. And it was
really fun exploring what that is if one of the friends is an
A.I.” she says.


 


To hear more about the show Sunny that’s currently streaming on
AppleTV+, and hear Robbins’s advice on writing TV pilots, listen
to the podcast.