Bob Servant creator Neil Forsyth has told how he nearly drove off a Los Angeles road after finding out his sitcom idea had been picked up by a major US TV network.
The Broughty Ferry author’s Every Other Saturday, about a flawed father trying to win over his son after a divorce, has been put in development by ABC following a “surreal but exciting” week of meetings in LA.
The 34-year-old will now start writing a script before finding out next year if the project will make it to the pilot episode stage.
Neil said: “It was a rollercoaster of a week. It’s a one-shot deal, so it’s pretty stressful.
“You end up with a mob of about eight people going round the four American networks. It’s pretty intense, you have about 20 minutes to sell the show.”
After working out the basic premise of the show, Neil was put in touch with executive producer Jon Pollack, who has worked on other American programmes, including the critically acclaimed 30 Rock.
Neil said: “The meetings were actually very relaxed. They were nice people, comedy people. It was just all the pressure around it.
“You introduce the characters and how you see it developing.
“I should point out that my mother and father are happily married in Broughty Ferry and it’s in no way autobiographical!
“We were driving from ABC to CBS and Jon Pollack was in the car in front of me. I was desperately trying to weave through the LA traffic when he sent a text saying ABC had just bought it, which nearly took me off the road.
“It was a pretty exciting moment.”
Neil said the American television set-up was “a different world” from the UK.
Neil said: “It’s not like popping in to BBC Scotland and asking if they fancy an idea I’ve got. The meetings were on the studio lots, so it was very surreal but exciting.
“There are various stages that lead on to writing the script. I’ll do that over the next two or three months and I’ll find out early next year if anything is happening next.”