EastEnders script writer earned staggering pay cheque for just 12 episodes
Former EastEnders script writer Richard Lazarus, who now works part time at Asda, penned 55 episodes for the BBC soap in total during his eight years as a core writer
Richard Lazarus wrote for EastEnders for eight years – and made a “considerable six-figure sum” for just one year(Image: INSTAGRAM)
A former EastEnders script writer has revealed he got paid a hefty penny for writing just 12 episodes of the soap. Richard Lazarus, who now works part-time at Asda, penned 55 episodes in total.
He spent eight years writing for the hit BBC soap from 2007 until 2015 as one of its 12 core writers. Core writers for the soap write around 12 episodes per year and, by the sounds of it, are rewarded handsomly for it.
He told The Sun: “It was kind of, you know, a considerable six-figure sum, I’ll say that, for a year. For which you would write 12 episodes.
He now works part-time at Asda and has written for several other TV shows(Image: INSTAGRAM)
“And you would go monthly-to-monthly short-term planning meetings, and then every 3 months, we’d go away for a week at a time for kind of long-term story planning, which we’d be looking at stories for, sort of, 18 months forward.
“You really couldn’t do anything else during that year.” Lazarus was asked to write an episode of EastEnders after he sent the BBC a script for a film script, which “came to nothing”.
He explained that he went with the intention of writing just one episode, as he “didn’t really know how TV worked”. But they clearly liked him as they asked him to do another one, and before he knew it, he was a core writer.
Lazarus helped create the gay romance storyline between Christian and Syed(Image: BBC)
He explained: “I’d written two episodes, and they asked me to, become one of their core writers. Which is kind of extreme. There was 12 core writers.
“10 of them were people who had been on the show for years and years. And whose names I knew very well, because I’d always watched the show growing up.”
During his years writing for EastEnders, he created the gay romance storyline between Christian Clarke and Syed Masood and helped introduce legendary Albert Square duo Roxy and Ronnie Mitchell.
Lazarus has also written for shows such as the BBC drama River City, CBBC drama The Dumping Ground, and mini-series By Any Means. He told The SUn he’s planning to retire soon but wants to keep writing plays and even musicals.
