Jessica Sirkin (TMS): Can you tell me about the connection between The Minister of Chance and Doctor Who? How did the Minister go from being a Time Lord in a Doctor Who audioplay to something very different in his own series?
Dan Freeman: The Minister – then played by Stephen Fry, was a Timelord in the BBC webcast (the first ever webcast) Death Comes to Time, in which his TARDIS is revoked, so there aren’t any overt connections to Doctor Who left, really. I certainly don’t think about Doctor Who when I write The Minister, and I think Julian Wadham has totally made the character his own. It sounds odd, but I don’t feel there’s any connection between them. I do, however, feel a strong connection to Doctor Who fans, who have made The Minister extremely welcome.
TMS: While the Minister is gives his name to the series, the main character the audience follows is Kitty, a tough, young girl. Why did you decide to make a character like Kitty your audience’s window on this world?
Freeman: That is a very perceptive question and I’m glad you see it that way. Kitty is trying to discover what The Universe is all about, and what her place in it is. She’s physically tough, and very feral, but she’s also very vulnerable and sensitive, so I think she’s someone you can root for – and of course enjoy it when she wins in fights!
TMS: What was your biggest challenge bringing The Minister of Chance to life? How did you overcome it?
Freeman: It’s always been publicity. Getting the cast in one place was difficult because of scheduling, but it’s always been very hard to just let people know that the series even exists! Things like this take a huge budget, and we just don’t have any!
TMS: You cast two different former Doctor Who Doctors as villains. What was it like seeing them act from the other side of the fence on a story with its roots in Doctor Who?
Freeman: I know McCoy very well, he is a dear old friend, so I know what he can do inside out. He’s fantastic at serious stuff because he’s such a terrific comedian, he can be vicious as well as slightly pathetic at the same time. He’d be a great Grendel! I love watching him spout poison and rage as The Witch Prime. McGann was cast not for his Who connection, but because he’s silky and seductive. He’s good-looking, has a lovely voice, is almost sweet, and that’s what Evil looks like, especially in the 21st Century. Durian is a media-savvy demagogue doing unspeakable things, but he’s pretty so he gets away with it. That’s really what I’m trying to say through that character: the bad guys always look good.
TMS: You released a teaser for a video version of The Minister of Chance and are working on getting a mini-series funded. Can you tell me about your plans for The Minister of Chance as a video?
Freeman: We have a movie in pre-production, that’s slightly on the backburner at the moment as I’m working on another series called The Light of September, but hopefully I’ll return to that in mid 2015.
TMS: How did you get involved with The Minister of Chance, Clare? What drew you to the project?
Clare Eden: I was introduced by a mutual friend to Dan Freeman, the writer/director of The Minister of Chance – he had written the character of the Minister into a previous project and wanted to give him a universe and adventure of his own. My own skillset, from a background in agenting and administration, dovetailed very neatly with his creative flair… he had the ideas, I was able to realise them with him, and it seemed like a very exciting opportunity to do something out of the box! I just thought his script deserved to be made and we decided to go for broke and make it ourselves for independent download, and back then it was pretty pioneering! We were a lone voice in the wilderness, spending much of our time explaining what it was. iTunes came to us insisting that we should release through them as well as our website – they even relaxed their usual deals to make it more feasible for us financially… and they had no section relevant at all for it -we were in under albums ! Nowadays so many more people are making projects like this that it is hard to remember quite how ground-breaking the Minister was!
TMS: You put together an all-star cast on a shoestring budget. How did you manage that?
Eden: My previous experience as an agent undoubtedly gave me a confidence; my clients had always been very responsive to a good script, and audio not only particularly appeals to lots of actors but requires a relatively small commitment of time. I knew we had a gem of a script in our hands so I just went to an agent offering a part… The actors we approached knew we didn’t have a big budget but seemed to respond well to the pioneering nature of it. As it went on through its six parts we really tried to ensure they enjoyed working on it with us, a hard working environment, but one in which it was not just possible, but positively encouraged to enjoy your working day!
TMS: The Minister of Chance was supported primarily by crowdfunding. How did you make that happen?
Eden: Again, this was a new area at the time – and an area that has since become a much more established part of project financing. I’d love to answer with a cerebral analysis of the process but the reality is that it was like jumping off a cliff – we heard about it, we thought we’d try it. We made up the sort of perks we thought we might like and when we pressed the button sending it live we had absolutely no idea if it would work. Thank god it did! As we went further though the series we learnt from mistakes, honing the process each time, and the project I have just funded through Kickstarter has undoubtedly benefitted from that first sharp learning curve on the Minister!
TMS: What was your favorite part of working on The Minister of Chance? What made this a different experience from other projects?
Eden: It is very rewarding to work on a project that isn’t handcuffed by commissioning processes.. we weren’t being forced to compromise for our backers – we were answerable to our backers in that the funding came from a group of fans who invested their hard earned cash in their faith in us and the project, but it’s a very different feeling being answerable to fans rather than suits. There is also something very uplifting about working with other creatives in such a tight group on something in which you really believe.
TMS: I know you have another project in the works involving a Doctor Who alum. Can you tell me a bit about that project?
Eden: I’m producing Strangeness in Space – still with a 3d sonic movie kind of soundscape but this time a comedy sci-fi adventure. It’s written by a comedy duo Trev & Simon and stars them along with Sophie Aldred, the fabulous Ace in Doctor Who. The three of them end up in space on a broken down ship orbiting Planet Mirth… will they make it back to earth and who and what will they encounter there! They are on board with L.E.M.O.N, a computer robot voiced by the brilliant Barnaby Edwards (a dalek in his other life!) This project is aimed at families – anyone 8 to 80 and beyond – it’s different from the Minister in that respect, but I’m aiming at the same high quality production values, and have again found that having a very good script opens doors to a wonderful cast of actors!!
Jessica Sirkin is a speculative fiction writer and technology journalist living in Boston with her pet rabbit, Lenore. Her short story, “The House in Winter” was a runner-up for the “Apex Magazine Best Story of the Year 2014” and was made into a podcast. She spends of her time sitting in front of a computer and should probably get out more. Follow her on twitter @jessicasirkin or find her onLinkedIn.
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Published: Jun 1, 2015 06:00 pm