#84 | Paul Kitson | West End to the BBC

Producer and writer Paul Kitson on 23 years across West End theatre, film, and campaigns for Channel 4 and the BBC. Paul Kitson is a success-driven creative with 23 years of experience in production, writing, and creative direction across stage, television, film, and educational institutions. Paul played a key role in one of the fastest selling shows in West-End theatre, wrote and sold feature films to Oscar®-nominated producers, served as Creative Director for HRH and The Royal Princes Trust, and ideated, developed, and delivered successful ad campaigns for Channel 4 and the BBC. To learn more about Paul: www.paullawrencekitson.com Chapters 0:00 Welcome Paul Kitson 2:31 Professors who rarely visit China 5:01 A taste of life in the camp 7:33 A natural progression into the arts 10:08 Casting a dance instructor's story 12:38 The big lift at the finale 15:11 Insurance and getting out 17:42 Waiting in the background 20:18 From actor to writer 22:55 Puppet masters 25:26 Recovery days in the West End 27:57 Injuries every week and busy understudies 30:28 The rise of high-quality UK television 32:58 How Covid affected him 35:33 Making it through Covid 38:11 A huge real estate market 40:42 Places where you can't talk politics 43:15 Summer jobs in finance 45:50 Falling day rates for photographers 48:25 College athletics and the Paris Olympics 51:02 The Californians sketch 53:35 Artistic director at a London club 56:10 A very good storyteller 58:44 Walking a tightrope every day 1:01:17 Ryan photographing bird inoculations 1:03:52 Productions controlled by a few people 1:06:27 A solo ride from Canada to Argentina 1:09:02 His next film about the theatre 1:11:33 The Book of Mormon 1:14:04 Consistency 1:16:34 A creator who started in LA 1:19:04 Beach, hiking and skiing near LA 1:21:35 No plans to leave 1:24:12 New characters arriving mid-draft 1:26:49 Writing on spec 1:29:20 Hunter S. Thompson 1:31:54 Who are you? 1:34:29 An incredible filmmaker 1:37:00 Loving what he does 1:39:33 Morning meditation 1:42:05 AI programs for writers 1:44:40 Who pays for the books AI learns from? 1:47:11 Not really studying the book 1:49:41 Hours of research for the podcast 1:52:15 Skynet and the robots 1:54:47 If AI takes over 1:57:20 Who benefits from a crisis? 1:59:54 Creating the problem and selling the solution 2:02:24 Shooting at the range 2:04:57 The film he's about to wrap The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world. Follow the Podcast X: https://x.com/RyanPylePodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpylepodcast Follow Ryan Pyle YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanjpyle Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanpyle X: https://x.com/RyanPyle Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpyle https://www.ryanpyle.com