Iannucci used LA experience for 'Loop'

Armando Iannucci has revealed that In The Loop was partially based on his own experience trying to make a TV show in the US.

The British comedy creator had been involved in an unsuccessful US version of The Thick Of It (the BBC sitcom on which In The Loop is based) and mirrored his own feelings of being overwhelmed in Los Angeles in the movie's story, which sees UK minister Simon Foster summoned to Washington.

He said: "I used my experience of that, the fact that you go out to LA and lots of grand-sounding people with vice president in their title say great things to you and then it turns out that they're all rubbish, I used that experience in the film.

"The story of Simon Foster going out to Washington and being quite excited and then realising that it's a dysfunctional mess is based on my experience of going out to LA and discovering the same thing."

Discussing the unaired US pilot for The Thick Of It, Iannucci said that he realised the show wouldn't work when family network ABC acquired the rights.

"The BBC sold it to the highest bidder rather than the best bidder," he noted. "I really wanted to go to HBO but they took it to ABC which is one of the main family networks run by Disney. Already you knew it was going to be a disaster.

"They made a pilot that I wasn't that involved in. I went to one meeting, there were about 30 people in the room and it was to talk about the colour of the ties that the cast would be wearing. At the point I thought, 'This isn't going to work!'"

> Click here to watch our interview with Armando Iannucci