Behind the Scenes
Production Notes
Scott Kingsnorth has been writing sketches regularly since 2006 and has had them performed on radio and stage by different comedy acts over the years, but it was Samuel Marlow's idea to shoot a handful of their avourites to preserve them for posterity that pushed The Lobotomy into production.
Cast with actors they had worked with before, and shot on location in Tunbridge Wells (sometimes in shops that sdaly no longer exist) The Lobotomy proved to be a lot of fun. The only location the crew struggled to find was a suitable physiatrist's office. Sam and Scott agreed that a real psychiatrist's office looks very different form the one people have in their mind's eye.
Eventually, after scouting many locations, Sam suggested filming it against green screen so they could composite the background in later. Which they did, but instead of a photographic backdrop, Scott used his illustration skills to come up with the background that met their needs. This style has become many people's favourite.
The shoot only took three days, and The Kingsnorth Lobotomy was well received at its premiere. The cast has continued to perform together on other projects since.
Director's Statement
Scott and I first met through work. Ironically nothing creative, but at a photographic and printing shop, which actually became one of the locations for the series. Because we were both working different shifts (I was never anything more than a part-timer), it was actually a colleague who said to me, "You should talk to the new guy. He’s a writer, too."
By the time I met him, Scott was already a prolific writer and had a vast body of sketches to choose from. In addition to his commissioned work for live comedy groups and radio, there were a number of sketches that required a different approach. Definitely visual, but requiring more control of what the audience can see than the stage would allow, the screen seemed to be the only logical medium. With internet television still in its infancy, we decided to have a shot at distributing them digitally, after a "premiere" to a select audience.
Typically, the sketches we were sure about and had buried in the middle turned out to be a lot of people’s favourites with The Psychiatrist getting the biggest laugh. Thus neatly proving what we suspected all along - that comedy is entirely subjective.
Following a live show at the Electric Lantern Festival we decided to undertake a second series after using the Festival gig as a testing ground for new material, and to see which needed an on-screen presentation. That series is currently in pre-production.