‘Downton Abbey’ season 5: The lost art of Julian Fellowes
We entitled this article “the lost art” mostly because what you are about to get some very interesting information about how “Downton Abbey” works. While there have been great episodes and ones that are a little more bland, what is so incredible here is that all of it comes from the mind of a single writer. There are some shows out there with staffs of more than a dozen people in the room at various times, but here one man in Julian Fellowes does it all.
Speaking to GoldDerby in a lengthy, fantastic chat about how this show is made from a production standpoint, executive producer Gareth Neame praised heavily the abilities of Julian to effectively do most of what he does best:
“We have a curious setup, because we have one man who writes the whole thing … It works because we keep the sense of authorship for the show. You can tell is the same writer. The characters have a sense of consistency of voice. I don’t really know anyone else who can turn within a single scene, we can go from a high drama to a romance and to laugh out loud [during] … I think that is an extraordinary testament to Julian Fellowes’ talent and brilliance.”
Neame also explained in this interview the way in which producing the show works. He tackles many of the day-to-day production issues, and basically does everything that he can in order to ensure that Julian is felt merely to work on writing some of the scripts that he puts so much time and effort into. Neame is the only person who ever sends Julian notes on anything.
These two have been working hard on the fifth season of the show for some time, as it began filming early this year and will be through at the end of the summer. The new season kicks off in the United Kingdom in September most likely, and will return to America in January.
If you want some more season 5 news pertaining to Joanne Froggatt and the Anna character, just be sure to click here. Also, sign up today if you want some additional TV news on all we cover via our official newsletter.
Photo: ITV