Charlie Brooker - Inside Black Mirror

So we both recognised what a huge turning point this was. With Channel 4 being the original commissioner, they had to be involved because they took the financial risk in making the show. Which was perfect for us, because then it meant we’d keep Channel 4, our Black Mirror DNA. We thought Channel 4 would be delighted because we thought we’d delivered the money that they’d said they needed. Netflix respected that Channel 4 were the original commissioners, seemed happy to be equal creative partners with them. It was a very grown-up approach. Because Netflix were so keen to get the show, I think they would have done anything to find that marriage.

Cindy Holland (Vice President of Original Content, Netflix):There’s simply nothing like Black Mirror on television anywhere in the world. It really stands alone in its creative approach, its voice, the look and feel and the format – it’s utterly inventive, groundbreaking and moving. We were huge fans of what Charlie and Annabel had done. We also had Seasons One and Two on Netflix and saw how the audience responded.

Annabel Jones:For whatever reason we could not seem to get Channel 4 to engage with the idea. We couldn’t even get a meeting. I think it was at a time when Netflix represented a challenging future and it threatened Channel 4’s streaming platform 4OD.

Charlie Brooker:It was incredibly annoying.

Annabel Jones:We now had two-season commitments from all of the big American players. Didn’t matter what ideas we did, it was totally there for the taking. And the message we heard from Channel 4 was, “Well, maybe we could commit to three episodes.”

When we finally got into the room with them, we didn’t even get to discuss a co-production deal. I suspect Channel 4 might have been reluctant to work with Netflix but I also suspect they were nervous about our ability to deliver such a long series. Charlie and I knew it was unlikely we could go from doing three films per series to ten individual films in one year, while maintaining the quality.

Charlie Brooker:Usually when we’d done three, we’d been doing other things as well. So I realised that if I wasn’t doing other things, we’d have more time and could probably do six.

Annabel Jones:I think it came down to nervousness, but no one articulated that. If they had, I’d have had more sympathy for their position. So there was some confusion at their end, I think.

Charlie Brooker:Then they said they’d do it if they could get all six worked-up treatments in advance…

Annabel Jones: …which is a lot of development work. And would mean us turning down all of the offers from the US networks because we only had a few weeks to respond to their offers. Instead, we’d have to work up all these ideas and then cross our fingers hoping that Channel 4 would like them and then green-light us…

Charlie Brooker: …which of course was worrying, given how they’d rejected ideas apparently outright in the past. Still, I desperately wanted it to work. I sent Channel 4’s chief exec David Abraham an email, saying, “Can we please make this work?” I would have loved it if everyone was happy and Black Mirror could still go out on Channel 4 and Netflix.

Annabel Jones:Eventually, we realised this was not going to happen with Channel 4. We had to push ahead and do this deal with Netflix. So that’s why it sticks in our craw when we occasionally hear people say, “Oh they took a load of Netflix money and ran away from Channel 4.” You can see why, from outside, it looks like the Americans came in waving a load of dollar bills around and we all jumped. It wasn’t that at all. But once again, I do have to say that if it wasn’t for Jay Hunt and Channel 4, Black Mirror would never have existed.

So, you suddenly find yourself going from three episodes to six episodes. Suddenly your budget and your aspirations are a lot bigger and you’re filming overseas. Suddenly, the operation becomes fucking huge.

Lucy Dyke (producer):I joined Black Mirror at the start of Season Three, when there was a lot of recalibrating to do. Laurie Borg and I were among the show’s new producers, and together with Annabel we all had to work out how this new season should break down in term of budget and episodes.

There was definitely an expectation from Netflix to make it bigger and better, more international in its conception, and Charlie was already responding to this in the writing. Some of the ideas were clearly more expensive than others, but we were aware they needed to fit together as an anthology series, so we couldn’t blow the budget on one particular episode and leave nothing for the rest. It’s a balancing act, because you don’t have consistent sets, characters, familiar locations to fall back on like you would with a linear series. So while the budgets were bigger, so were the ideas, and therefore so were the production challenges.

Joel Collins (series production designer):Moving to Netflix wasn’t really a transition on any crazy level at all. In fact, it was quite remarkable – a big support network. If we wanted to go bigger, Netflix were there to help, and if we wanted to stay the same, they were equally happy. There was no obligation to do certain things. Introducing American settings to Black Mirror wasn’t so much a mandate as it was a good idea.

Jina Jay (series casting director):Netflix brings a global audience and that feels so meaningful. I like the idea of a shared experience all around the world, and from the moment I arrived on Black Mirror , the show was a joy to cast. It’s so liberating to work with Annabel and Charlie. When we’re flushing out who is best for a role, the conflict is always constructive and my taste feels very in sync with theirs. It’s a completely free and confidential space to say whatever we like with passion and commitment.

Peter Friedlander (Vice President of Original Series, Netflix):We were confident that, with Netflix’s tech origins and love of tech, we could be great partners with Charlie and Annabel. We told them that we were enthusiastic to explore these powerful themes without any restrictions. We were happy for them to play with running time – as seen with the episodes Hated in the Nation vs Metalhead – to set and shoot the stories in locations around the world and other narrative innovations yet to come… what could Black Mirror look like without any borders?

Charlie Brooker: San Junipero was a deliberate raspberry-blow to people who said we’d gone all American now. So it was quite amusing to me to go, “Right, okay, we’ll set this one in California.”

That was the first script I wrote for Season Three, and so it was a real relief that Netflix liked it! And while writing that, I was consciously aware that this was a departure. I did partly want to stick a flag in a new bit of territory. I thought, “If we can do this, and broaden the tone of the show, then that actually makes my job easier, because I’m not having to think of six variations on the same identical tone and theme every time.”

We don’t want viewers to continually wonder when the main character’s iPhone is going to fuck him up, or when he’ll turn out to be a child murderer!

So instead, they’re wondering that five times out of six.