Screenwriter Mark Stay introduces exclusive production art for the British sci-fi adventure Robot Overlords. It’s in these drawings that he first saw the robots of his imagination come to life.

As a screenwriter you try and make the film that exists in your head come alive on the page. Your words will be read by the director, producer, the actors, the production team, but first your screenplay will usually end up in the hands of some poor development exec who’s probably on their ninth script of the day and already wordblind.

This is made all the more difficult when you’re dealing with mythical worlds or science fiction. The robot in your head could be very different to the one in the reader’s. So we were blessed that during the writing of Robot Overlords (2014) we already had a crack team of concept artists hard at work designing the robots based on our words and a few hastily scribbled doodles on the backs of napkins.

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From this we were able to compile a Robots Compendium, an illustrated booklet that enabled everyone in the production to know what our metallic antagonists looked like. And, as production progressed, we moved to full-colour and 3D renditions.

Here are a few examples, featuring the work of Jack Dudman and Paul Catling, along with the robots’ descriptions in these excerpts from the original screenplay.

“A SENTRY ROBOT stands on a street corner. A nightmare of a hulking, metallic humanoid, two stories high, its head a dazzling searchlight, its right arm a humming laser cannon.”

The Robots studied us for years before the invasion and discovered that we were instinctively fearful of people with big muscles and small brains. This informed the design of the Sentry, the foot soldier of the Robot Empire.

“A robot AIR DRONE arcs over the rooftops, a jet-type engine flanked by crooked wings to form an upside down “W”.”

In the book I described the Drone as being like a Bird of Prey. I knew I had a brilliant editor when she asked, “Klingon or Romulan?”

“A vast SKYSHIP ROARS into view, its engines blasting dirty black fumes downwards. It’s hurtling towards the ravine…”

When my wife saw this one she said it looked like a big Stickle Brick. I didn’t pass that on…

“High above, a gigantic CUBE descends through the clouds. Held aloft by four jet-like engines on its underside, spewing flames and fumes.”

We wanted the Robots’ technology to be functional and without any human-like design flourishes. So, if the Robots needed a communications hub/flying energy source, they would put it in a cube and stick some powerful rockets underneath. The cube motif continued with the other Robots, who all fold into cubes when not operating.

“A robotic imitation of a nine-year-old boy looks directly at us. Almost human… but not quite.”

As part of their study of humanity, the Robots also discovered that we respond well to children and so they designed a human-like child Robot to liaise with us. Only they got it horribly wrong and came up with the creepy Mediator. It’s a testament to actor Craig Garner’s performance that many think the Mediator is either a real robot or a CG  creation.

“High on a hill, a robot SNIPER – a long laser cannon mounted on six jointed legs – watches and waits.”

In keeping with the Robots’ functional designs, this is basically a gun on legs, but one that can leap through the air like a spider. I love the drill bits on their legs, which stab into rock and help steady them when taking aim. I think that came from our VFX supervisor Paddy Eason.

“Something moves between the high branches, reaching out with long tentacles, gripping the wood then swinging onto the next tree. OCTOBOTS take their positions, lying in wait to pounce.”

Cut from the final script, the Octobots were despatched to manoeuvre through the dense woodland to capture or kill our heroes. In the end the scene did little to forward the story and so was dropped.

“Through the canopy, six tiny insectoid shapes – SEEKER ROBOTS – jerk and kick through the air like crane flies, tiny helicopter rotors steering them and creating eddies in the floating dust.”

Also cut from the film, these were designed to hunt in small spaces, but the scene in which they appeared was dropped during rewrites.

“Two RUNNER ROBOTS rest idle by the side of the road, their sensors pulsing like digital heartbeats.”

Another cut from the script, these were involved in a high speed chase with an ice cream van! Sorry to lose that one as it would have made for a very surreal action scene, with kids blasting Robots as the van played a ‘Popeye the Sailor Man’ jingle.

“A strange machine; circular, like a giant eye. Dozens of cables, thick like tree trunks, snake across the floor.”

Not a robot, per se, but a device used by the Robots to scan our minds. Why do they do this? And what does it do to the victims? Well, you’ll have to enjoy Robot Overlords in order to discover the truth behind the occupation…

Robot Overlords, backed by the BFI Film Fund, is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

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