Charlotte Regan is the writer-director of Mint, the upcoming BBC drama about a Scottish crime family and a budding romance between Shannon (Emma Laird) and Aaron (Ben Coyle Larner), two young lovers from rival firms. The series has some of the beats of a crime-romance-family drama, but also heightened visual moments such as Shannon levitating, or the rival crime families squaring off in a operatic slow-mo sequence. Working once more with Scrapper producer Theo Barrowclough, Mint is imbued with the signature spirit and humor Regan brought to her acclaimed indie pic, which starred Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson.

Produced by Jolyon Symonds’ Fearless Minds banner alongside Conclave producer House Productions, the Mint cast also includes Laura Fraser, Lindsay Duncan, Sam Riley and Lewis Gribben and it just had a splashy world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Ahead of its premiere on the BBC in the UK later this year, it will get a big push with international buyers when distributor BBC Studios holds its annual Showcase event next week.

Deadline caught up with Regan while she was in Berlin for the Mint premiere and got the lowdown on the show… and why she wants to make an alien movie.

DEADLINE: Mint has been described as a crime series but that doesn’t really cover it, it’s also a romance and a family drama, how do you see it?

REGAN: I’m really obsessed with gangster films, but knew that I didn’t have the money or the experience to make a sensational shootout film, so I was like: ‘Damn, I’ll have to do a romance.’

Actually, I also love sweeping romances, so it’s like trying to be a combo of my favorite things, which is the action and the fun of gangster flicks and the sweeping romance of the very dodgy rom coms that I watch every evening, and with some magical realism mixed in.

DEADLINE: We literally see sparks fly in a scene when Shannon and Aaron first meet, and you incorporated some really out-there magical realism elements. What were you aiming for visually?

REGAN: l love cinema and TV that feels like it’s been made with an audience in mind. It might be a silly thing to say because obviously everything is being made for an audience, but I love stuff that feels visual, it’s just the language of the filmmaking that I enjoy. I came up through music videos, so that plays a big part in it because a lot of music videos are visual interpretations of ideas versus straight-up stories.

DEADLINE: Your film Scrapper told a serious story but had a sense of joy and Mint deals with the workings of a crime family with a similar spirit. Is that a conscious choice?

REGAN: I don’t want to make really gritty, harrowing stories. I want there to be depth and I want there to be emotion, but I want what I make to be enjoyable. I love things that you can watch and enjoy, and you don’t turn it off and have a cry and then the whole evening is really heavy.

Things can be easier to take in if you approach them with a different kind of tone if they have that visual fun in there. You almost subconsciously take in the context of what’s going on. It was the same with Scrapper; I always wanted to make a film that was about working class people that allowed them to be happy and to be funny and not just depressed all the time.

DEADLINE: Ben Coyle-Larner is a star in the music world, but new to acting. Why was he right for the role of Aaron, and did you need to help him during the shoot given it was his first major role?

REGAN: I’d seen him at multiple shows, and every time, you can tell he’s almost experiencing it like it’s the first time he’s been on stage. His emotions are so easy to access.

We happened to meet at market one day, and we spoke for a few minutes. Straight away I called Theo, and said: ‘It can’t be anyone other than Ben.’ He’s so creative and he helped me with a lot of ideas. He’s just a storyteller in in every way.

He didn’t need anything on set, he was the one giving me energy… and bringing homemade focaccia off for the crew each day, so he was actually the one assisting the rest of us.

DEADLINE: How was it making a big series versus making an indie movie?

REGAN: It honestly felt the same as making a film. The writing process differs in that the stories are so contained, and they almost need a beginning and end within each section, but when it came to the actual making of it, they very much let us set it up like a film.

I don’t actually know the financials, but it felt like we had a touch more money in that: ‘Oh, we can actually make people fly!’ In Scrapper that would have had to have been a GIF or something.

DEADLINE: You’re from London, but set Mint in Scotland. What was behind that choice?

REGAN: The whole thing of the story was almost seeing the kids from the family as kind of celebrities. They’re in this bubble where the entire town treats them differently. If we were to do that in London, I don’t think it would’ve been quite the same, because it is massive and I don’t think men like Dylan have the same kind of hold over a town.

And then I also think Scottish crew are some of the best in the world.

DEADLINE: Emma Laird is Shannon, this outwardly confident daughter of a crime boss, who is desperate to find real love. What did you ask of Emma?

REGAN: Emma is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. We wanted Shannon to be quite bratty and unlikable in some ways, and to make lots of mistakes. Emma is one of the bravest actors I’ve ever met and she just brings that kind of depth.

We wanted Shannon to have this immaturity. She’s almost been locked away from the world and under-exposed to people outside of her family. So, once she is let free or allowed to communicate with people like Aaron, she doesn’t quite know how to do it, or she doesn’t quite know the consequences of her actions in the real world.

DEADLINE: How do you feel in that in-between moment now the series has wrapped but has yet to go out on the BBC?

REGAN: You can try and tell your story for what it is, but then really it’s up to audience to decide that this [series] is about this. And so, I get very nervous. I’ll just have to delete my Instagram.

DEADLINE: What are you working on next?

REGAN: I’m writing stuff, but I don’t necessarily know which of those things I’ll do next. I want to walk my dog for a couple of months, he’s feeling under-walked. Then, it just depends what the story is.

I really want to do a film about aliens, but there are no alien scripts yet.