Scott Ryan.
Scott Ryan can be grateful that Helen Mirren and her husband, director Taylor Hackford, are fans of his FX/Fox Showcase show Mr Inbetween.
The couple urged their Hollywood agent, CAA veteran Fred Specktor, to watch both series of the dramedy created by and starring Ryan as hit man for hire Ray Shoesmith.
Specktor binge-watched the show, obtained Ryan’s email from a friend in Australia, got in touch via Zoom and offered to represent him.
“Yeah, sure,” was the laconic response from the actor/writer who had been open to working in the US.
Specktor, who turned 87 in April, has an illustrious talent roster including Morgan Freeman, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Jeremy Irons, Geoffrey Rush, Peter Bogdanovich, Dan Aykroyd, Philip Kaufman, Stephen Hopkins and playwright Jez Butterworth.
Ryan tells IF he is keen to explore acting or writing jobs in the US after he finishes the third series of Mr Inbetween for the producers, Jungle Entertainment, Michele Bennett’s Pariah Productions and Blue-Tongue Films.
He expects it will take six months to write and shoot, teaming again with director Nash Edgerton.
“I’m happy to work for other people as long as it’s good,” says Ryan, who is developing several feature film ideas. “I’m not going to do rubbish for large amounts of money.”
As he told IF, the new season is likely to be closer in tone to the first series and not as dark as season two.
Justin Rosniak as Ray’s gormless best friend, Chika Yasumura as his daughter Brittany and Damon Herriman as his boss, nightclub owner Freddy, will all return plus, possibly, some characters from season one.