This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, two former bankers who are the creators and co-showrunners of HBO’s “Industry.” Now in its fourth season, the series follows the exploits of a group of hard-partying, backstabbing bankers in London. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Mickey Down: Me and Konrad went into season one of “Industry” pretty green — I mean, totally green. We had no experience whatsoever. We’d been on a set probably once before, which was a film that we made, and now we were running a pretty big TV show with lots of collaborators, many of whom had been doing it for years longer than we had. It was kind of intimidating.
I think sometimes our default was to be a bit too micromanage-y as a result, because you’re just so scared that what you wanted was not going to be communicated. Which then, in another way, was bad communication.
I realized that, as the person in charge, your attitude permeates the entire ecosystem of a production. The head both rots and is glorified from the top. So if you come into work with an incredibly good attitude and you think it’s going to be a great day, you are lovely to people, and you are appreciative — all the things that you should be as a leader — then that just makes people do their best work.
Business Insider’s Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine.
Konrad Kay: Four seasons in, I think we’ve learned to be really good delegators now as well. We’ve attracted such a high level of talent that one of the most gratifying things is that they think about the show with almost more depth than we could ever think about it.
Being able to have the self-awareness and also the confidence to not be monomaniacal about every aspect of the show — even though a lot of this stuff does come through mine and Mickey’s typewriter when we write, and through our eyes and hands when we edit and produce — empowering people and letting go a little bit really has enhanced the quality of the show.
Here’s a typical day in our lives working on “Industry.”
Filming can start early and go late, so we run on caffeine
Down: We do a lot of splits, so we film day and night. But honestly, even if you’re in a split, you wake up at 6:30 or 7 a.m., which is terrible because you might finish shooting at 2 o’clock in the morning, drive home, and then you’re up at 7 a.m.
But it’s because you have so much adrenaline when you’re filming. It’s a marathon, but you’re running quite fast the entire time.
Kay: My alarm goes off on average at 7 a.m. If I’m not drinking and taking lots of magnesium, I struggle to sleep past 6 a.m., to be honest. My body just wakes me up. And then I’m too anxious to go back to sleep.
Down: I definitely was not a morning person. Now that I have two children, I’ve got an internal alarm call. I haven’t set an alarm for years because my children will either wake me up, or when I’m away from my children filming, the body clock of them will wake me up anyway.
I really try and limit coffee now, because when we’re on set, all bets are off. So I have one before I get to work — as soon as I wake up — and then I have one before lunch, and then that’s it for the day.
Kay: I drink an unhealthy amount of coffee. The cheaper, the better — I need it to taste like mud. I really like Dunkin’ Donuts. I drink maybe six or seven cups a day, at least.
Down: Then you’re like, “Why can’t I sleep?”
We survive on Skittles and Oreos on set
Kay: Generally, I’m pretty routine. My main thing really is coffee. I drink industrial quantities just because I enjoy the flavor and it keeps me sharp. But I like diet Red Bull. I like Sour Skittles. I like chewing gum. I like green apples. Me and Mickey can just look at our assistant Sam, and he knows when to get us a Diet Coke.
Down: He was very good at sneaking into these stately homes we were filming in, which we weren’t allowed food in, and sneaking in some Skittles or a custard cream or Oreo.
I eat quite a lot on set. I had McDonald’s on set for the last week, which was probably the highlight of the entire production, including all of the filming. But I always lose weight at the end of the shoot because we’re standing and running around, and my heart rate is through the roof.
Exercise and multiple baths a day are part of our self-care routines
Kay: I like to exercise quite a lot. I got sick about a year and a half ago, and I lost so much weight that I remember people looking at me when I was in the hospital and thinking, “Fuck, if I look like that through their eyes, I must look terrible.” So I decided to start going to the gym.
Down: This is going to make me sound like Little Lord Fauntleroy, but when we stay in a hotel, I have to have a bath.
Once, an email was sent that said, “Unfortunately, this hotel isn’t up to Mickey’s specifications.” It wasn’t a not-nice hotel, I just had to have a bath because I’d much prefer a bath. It massively calms me down.
I sometimes have three a day. This is not on set, obviously, because I can’t when I’m on set, but I have one in the morning, and then if I am working from home, I’ll probably have one at about four in the afternoon. And then if I’m going out that night, I’ll have to have another one before I go out. And if I come back not too late, I’ll have one before I go to bed.
It’s probably why I’m late for everything.
We try to disconnect from our phones at home, but there is some Duolingo between takes
Kay: My phone is a disaster for my life, really. I have an untrammeled phone addiction that is horrendous. I literally have to put it in another room, and even then that only lasts about 10 minutes.
It’s to the point where I’m so worried about it that I’m going to try and do something about it, because it’s kind of huge years of my life it’s eating up at this point.
Down: There are obviously incredibly stimulating moments on a film set. There’s also a lot of lazing about, so I find myself trying to learn French on Duolingo in between takes sometimes. Obviously that didn’t work out.
I think everyone has a bad phone addiction. I also have to put it in a different room, especially when I’m with my children. There’s a period in the evening where I always have to leave it downstairs, when I take them up to bed and do their bath and read to them. Because even if I’m totally engaged with them, but it’s on me, I can feel my hand reaching towards it. So I make sure it’s not there.
But on the set, I kind of don’t really mind having a phone out on set as long as it’s not distracting you from directing and being in the moment with the actors. I think it’s fine to look at your phone a little bit.
Kay: Chris Nolan would absolutely hate being on our set.
We love going to bed early and don’t party like the characters on ‘Industry’
Kay: Mickey laughs at me. I go to sleep earlier than his 5-year-old daughter. So I love bed, I love sleep. The idea of going out on a weeknight makes me feel ill. I want to be in bed by 8, asleep by 9, 9:30. Really late for me is like 10:30, 11.
I’m pretty good at taking sleep supplements and stuff. To be honest, for somebody who drinks as much coffee as I do, I sleep pretty deeply and undisturbed. The only thing is when I’m up, I’m up.
Down: I need to have at least seven hours sleep. I aim to get into bed at 9, but then life will happen, and stuff will happen, and I’ll probably get in about quarter to 10 or 10.
I read way more than I used to — loads of nonfiction, sometimes for the show, sometimes not. I read a lot of history, like those big, big tomes. It really helps me sleep. I also have a bath.
Kay: The thing is, we get to do all the cocaine and partying vicariously through fiction. So now we’re just like a couple of geriatric 65-year-old women. Tea, toast, and baths is what we aspire to.
Season four of “Industry” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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