https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/27/mika-watkins-intern--the-crown-to-showrunner-origin-youtube > Mika Watkins grew up on the coast of south Wales and always dreamed of becoming a screenwriter, but without any industry connections, she faced an uphill struggle. Now, six years after she became an intern with the producers of the hit series The Crown, she has written her own science-fiction series with a multimillion-pound budget and is considered one of the youngest showrunners in the world. > Watkins, 29, was talent-spotted by Andy Harries, producer of the Netflix series about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, and was commissioned to write her own script by his production company, Left Bank Pictures. Although he liked the script, Harries assumed it wouldn’t go anywhere “because the writer is unknown”. But YouTube didn’t care, and the 10-part series, which is funded entirely by the Google-owned platform, premieres next month.