Interviews
Life And Death In The Warehouse | Interview with Helen Black (Script Writer)
What’s Life and Death in the Warehouse about?
It’s about what happens when corporations stop treating their employees like humans. And it’s specifically about what happens when one employee does that most human of things and falls pregnant.
Why did you write it?
I’m from a working-class mining community that was pretty much decimated after the pit closures. For them, like for many communities around the country, warehouse work became one of the few options available, mainly to young people. When fulfilment centres opened up, people were glad of the work – very glad. But then you start hearing from friends and family how they’re being treated, the hours they have to put in, the miles they walk each shift and these aren’t people scared of hard graft. And you watch the telly and never see people like this on screen. I mean, I love a big Aga Saga as much as the next person, but I just think it’s time that ordinary people got a bit of airtime.
What was the process of bringing the idea to the screen?
Executive Producer Aysha Rafaele suggested I meet Joe, our director, to chat about a project set in a fulfilment centre. So I had a cuppa with Joe and pretty much knew on the spot that I wanted to work with him. Then I received the research. I knew Aysha and Joe were meticulous and there was so much great stuff: interviews, reports, you name it. The task was deciding what to include in a first draft of the script. And from there we all just kept talking about what it was we wanted to say (we’re all strong personalities so yeah, it got loud sometimes), and looking at new research as it came in and I kept re-writing the script. Absolute joy really. And I bet Joe says I was the loudest voice in the room.
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