The surgery is open
In the past couple of weeks, I've met a lot of new or relatively new writers, first when I went to talk to the MA students on the television writing course at De Montfort University, and then at a rather overwhelming Writers' Room drinks. Many of the same questions cropped up, so in the spirit of giving, I thought the pre-Christmas blog could be devoted to comedy writers' FAQs. Bring them on and I'll try to do answers.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~26~RS~)
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Hello Micheal
I recently attended the Manchester writersroom event and submitted my radio sitcom. Do you think it would be wise to send a copy to Radio LE and a few other indies?
Thanks for your time.
mike
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Micheal
Wot is the posish of Writersroom onn sketsh shos? Obvisly any fule kno that for drarma WR want to see riters developp a propper storey ova 30 minits, but for komedy surely a grate sketsh pilot is a wizzard calling card why kan we nott send thes inn chiz chiz WR are uterly wet and weeds ect.
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Hi, Michael. Firstly, thanks for making yourself available like this.
Secondly, I am into writing drama, but I write with a bit of black humour, too. I'd say it's comedy drama, leaning more towards the drama than the comedy.
Would it be better to send scripts to BBC Writersroom and state it's for Drama, or Comedy/Drama.
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Hi Michael
Okay then, what does the first ten pages of my sitcom need to make you sit up and take notice?
And do producers mind or not when I 'cold-call' them via email? What's the best approach?
Thanks
Dan
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Hi Michael,
Can you talk about the diversity of opportunities that exist for comedy writers at BBC (radio, TV sketch shows etc) and which are the best opportunities for emerging writers.
What are the best entry points for a new comedy writer?
Maybe some words of advice from someone who deals regularly with entry level and emerging writers.
Thanks.
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Whizz, with spelling like that, you'll never get anywhere....goodness knows what your CVs like...LOL
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Micheal.
There's often advice and opportunities on this site for sketch and sitcom writers, but what if you want to write comedy scripts for entertainment or panel shows?
What's the best way into that side of things - topical gags, links etc?
Appreciate your time with this.
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helo clouds helo sky helomicaljackob
i hav sucesfly riten sketshes for three famose bbc raydio shos (jugles knos nuthing) and hav been payed wich is grate - but i dont no how to mak the mov to the tely. do i have to wayt for my raydio produsers to gett jobs on tely before i can submitt to them? wot is the prosedure?
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@CURBLD
Life can get messy if you send the same script to different people simultaneously. When you say you submitted it, to whom did you submit it? Tell me more and I'll be able to advise better.
@Whizz/Molesworth
Sketches differ from narrative scripts in the sense that while someone may commission a script and develop it, sketches have to be tailor made for specific shows. A sketch for Armstrong and Miller wouldn't fit on Beehive, for example. Sketch shows are almost invariably built around performers, often writer-performers, or around a concept, so the key is to study the market. If there is a show you feel in tune with, then send three sketches in the style of the show to the producer.
@Antonia
Comedy-drama needs to be both dramatic and funny. Why not say you're submitting a comedy-drama and see what the reaction is?
@Dan
I can't speak for all producers, but an e-mail is preferable to a cold telephone call. I think it's okay to e-mail and ask if you can send them a script.
I can't specify a template for the first ten pages. I want to be engaged by the characters, involved by the story, and laugh.
@Brett
The best way in is try to get people to read your work who you feel will be in sympathy with it. There's no point sending a sci-fi idea to someone who makes domestic sitcom (although they may, of course, be fed up with domestic and dreaming of aliens). By and large, producers make shows they have developed and like.
Radio is an excellent place to start, since there are many more radio hours than television hours. But do some research and think in a marketing sense, so that you direct your work sensibly. The writersroom is good at sending scripts they like to producers who might like them.
Marks and Gran always used to say that you need to have a script out in the world, a script you're working on, and an idea for the next one, because response times can be very slow.
@drvole
Entertainment and panel shows aren't really my area, I'm afraid. I guess that, like sketches, you should write some stuff in the style of the show, and send it to a producer.
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When the talking was over, we were allowed to leave our scripts in a cardboard box. I don't recall the names of the two speakers. Thanks.
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@CURB
Assuming it wasn't a recycling box, then I guess the writersroom are going to read your script. You may want to wait for their feedback, or you may want to send it elsewhere while you're waiting. The risk in sending it elsewhere is if you get fantastic feeback and you'll be kicking yourself for jumping the gun.
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I also left a script in 'the cardboard box' at the Manchester Roadshow. It's very much a waiting game, I guess, but I've followed the advice and started my next script, with a script in mind for the future.
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hello michael,
do you like to see casting suggestions when you receive scripts?
also, would it ever be the case that you'd say 'we like the script, but there's no way we're letting you be in it' ala stallone/rocky.
my sitcom is not about a loveable underdog boxer.
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@Antonia
That box sounds more and more intriguing.
@Bellars
To be honest, I don't care either way, but if a writer has particular actors in mind, by all means mention them.
Whether a writer should be in his or her own show is an interesting question.
Unless someone is a star writer-performer, then we would go through the normal casting process, so that we can say to commissioning, and then to the channel, that the writer is absolutely right for the part.
In the course of casting, it might be that the writer would feel someone else was better and gracefully stand aside.
But it's worth thinking about having to do rewrites while rehearsing, thinking about the other cast muttering behind your back that you've got all the best scenes and lines, and thinking about being able to give your best performance if you've been rewriting until the early hours.
There's no definitive answer - it has to be a case by case consideration.
I've worked on a show where the star and writer couldn't think about writing while shooting; on a show where the writer, also a performer, felt they should be in it and got on the nerves of cast and director; and on a show where the writer had an entertaining cameo role which allowed for the best of both worlds.
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thanks for the reply michael,
for me it would be a kind of bj novak / ryan from the office type situation - not a main character, but part of the ensemble.
out of interest, what do you make of the US Office? i know that quite a few of the actors are involved in writing, storylining and producing.
i think it's brilliant, albeit very different, from the original.
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Generally, I likie naming potential actors in scripts because it offers the producer a quick way of getting into the character. (After all, most comedy actors don't have much range and largely churn out the same characterisations throughout an entire career!)
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Thanks for both replies, Michael.
That 'box' looked intriguing! I think there were about eight scripts in all, unless more went in there after I left.
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@Bellars
Ensemble would be good.
I haven't watched a lot of the American Office, though I like it and it's a treat I'm storing up. The US style of production with writing teams and a showrunner, plus the volume of episodes, means that it's more feasible than here for people to step outside their designated roles.
@Aspie
Hello. I couldn't disagree.
@Antonia
Lucky box.
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Michael, 'Lucky Box'. I do hope so!
It was charged with electric dialogue, sparked with fiery plot, and burned with wit and hot, hot, drama!
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@Micheal
If Christmas comes can spring be far behind?
How's the showcase shaping up?
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@Antonia
See you on the screen, then!
@MisterP
The showcase is coming on okay, thank you. It will consist of 15-minute extracts from each of the six works, will be in a central London venue, will have a repertory company cast, and will be in the form of rehearsed readings - ie, actors sitting down with scripts rather than stumbling about in vestigial and unconvincing sets. Now all I need are some scripts...
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@Micheal
Are they all sitcom scripts or some sketch material? By the sounds of it I am guessing the former?
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@Michael
How come there aren't more adapted sitcoms? Would you rather work on original scripts than look to adapt novels, short stories, plays etc.,?
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@MisterP
Yes, they're all narrative pieces. The writers who got into the scheme on the strength of their sketches want to write narrative for their mentored projects.
@Aspie
There have been a few adapted sitcoms. Reginald Perrin was adapted by David Nobbs from his novel. Peter Tinniswood adapted his own work, as more recently did Danny King with Thieves Like Us (from The Burglar Diaries). And of course Men Behaving Badly was a book first. Rising Damp was a play.
I think the thing with comedy is an original voice with an original take on life, so the adaptations which work tend to be adapted by their creators. The ones that haven't been commissioned have been by other writers.
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If only I could live my life again, I'd go into acting/writing straight off regardless of parents forcing me into a secure national company with pay work or play and a good pension at the end........that's not looking so secure now!
I could have been a star...LOL
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The box update: When I placed my script there were about 20 in the pile. I would imagine 'the box' is a regular feature on the tour. The talk in Manchester was professional and friendly, but it did seem to focus more on TV drama/radio (not much comedy). The one thing that really stuck in the mind was the co-speaker/reader admitting that he hated sitcom!
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@Juggles
I always intended to live fast and die young, but hey. Here I am on a blog!
@Curb
I love this box. It's assuming mythical properties. I'm sure that someone who likes comedy will actually read the comedy contents.
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@Michael
On the subject of adaptations, I'd like to see more adaptations. I think it would add another dimension to comedy output. I've always fancied seeing a sitcom version of Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.
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@Aspie
The complicating factor is always rights, which can be expensive. One has to option the book/play/story, and then pay sensible money per series on top of paying script fees. The original writer might well want to be a consultant or associate producer, which again adds cost. Or, if the writer is dead, the estate would have a say to ensure that the legacy was protected.
Given that programme budgets are being cut across the industry, that has to be a consideration.
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@Juggles: You can STILL be a star. T'aint never too late.
Michael: 'The box' is assuming gigantic mystical proportions Got a good feeling about that box. Remember velvety voiced Michael Miles, Take your Pick? Open The Box?
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@Antonia
A source tells me it contained 80 scripts in Brighton! If that box could speak, eh?
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The worrying news is that as part of the BBC's cost cutting exercises that are taking place is that the Writersroom have had their central heating removed and a log burning stove installed.
Re mentors Micheal was each writing unit assigned a specif mentor or are there various mentors across all the projects? And who were the final mentors? Apart from your own considerable self of course, and I am not entirely talking anout waist bands.
:)
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As an exercise, maybe somebody could rephrase the above in English.
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@MisterP
There are two scripts in existence at present, each of which has a mentor. Others will be recruited as scripts arrive - all the treatments have been approved but people are at various writing stages and mentors need to see scripts.
I'm marrying sensibilities, so from a range of volunteers I'm choosing who goes best with whom.
I'll announce names when I publicise the showcase.
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Box, box
What do you hold?
I saw you first
so square and bold
at the BBC
a nugget of Gold
The way you spoke
from colourful folk
a secretive cloak
to be uncovered by readers
discovered, nurtured, grown
like old Cedars...
Box, box
The script is there
It waits for you
erupt and share
with the BBC
one and a Spare
the way you show
not tell you know
a plot to grow
to be produced by the best
shaped, shorn, built
like a fledgling's nest...
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Hi Michael.
Thanks for taking the time to read these posts.
I'm gagging to make the jump from music journalism to sit-com writing and poss performing.
I've got a pilot script sitting in my drawer, which I don't think is yet good enough to go much further, but don't relish the thought of sending it to writersroom, waiting ages to get it back with no comments, 'cause that won't really help.
I've had a plain thanks but no thanks rejection letter from Objective and a fairly positive rejection email from a friend's contact @ Hat Trick that was complimentary but said "The subject matter (the lives of pirate radio DJs and their listeners) is a non-starter at the mo 'cause others are doing similar."
What I really need/want is constructive comment from a professional(s), who has proved themselves by actual making stuff I like (Pulling, Peep Show, G & S, Father Ted, Mighty Boosh, Thick Of It, Porridge, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools etc etc) who can tell me why/if my work is pants and where I'm going wrong.
Now the only thing I can think of aside from constantly sending my work in to indies/ the occasional comp that comes up on writersroom etc is trying to find out what pubs Ianucci/Bain/Armstrong/Linehan/ and my other writer heroes drink in and maybe bribing with booze for advice, but that's a bit too odd, even for me.
Any other ideas?
Or is this the way that everyone starts out: years of wondering if you'll ever be good enough followed by a lucky break or hopefully enough improvement/talent to actually be worthy of a commission?
A few people have suggested pitching a few sketches to shows with big writing teams, so I may give that a go, but knowing how massively busy I am in even my lowly job, I daresay anything I sent would be completely ignored.
Anyway, I daresay I'm far below most of the above bloggers in terms of career development, but if you can point me in the right direction, or even suggest something that hasn't occurred to me I'd be eternally grateful.
Cheers.
Oh and I've realised this post is a bit long. Sorry.
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can I ask you Micheal and this may be out of order. I crave for old progs like I Love Lucy and the Beverley Hill Billies also getting away from comedy, progs with Larry Adler and old variety shows etc etc. Why do the beeb not look back in the archives and repeat these wonderful shows?
There'd be a big audience for them. Is it that the beeb has a really young staff and they've never heard of them? I don't mean to be rude, just honest
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@MisterP & Antonia
Conflating two ideas...
The writersroom readers were shivery
When the postman said - special delivery!
"A box full of writing?
"That's really exciting."
And the pages went straight up the chimney.
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@Juggles
I don't know which of the shows you mention were actually on the BBC, but the BBC's own shows tend to be repeated.
I'm not sure whether old variety shows still exist physically - there was a policy of re-using tapes.
American imports would be subject to a rights negotiation, but you could track down DVDs on the internet, or wade through digital channel listings, because most things seem to be available somewhere.
The BBC is embarking on a massive project to digitise all of its archive which will then be made available.
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@punkrockhack
In essence, you'll get helpful comments from people if and when they feel your writing is worth helpful comments. It feels at present as if you're getting there but aren't quite there yet. Sadly, there's no substitute for thinking them up, writing them and sending them out. Comfort yourself with the thought that everyone is really keen to find talented new writers, and talent won't be overlooked.
Then, having got someone who likes your writing, you'll have to come up with the right idea with the right execution at the right time, which can be frustrating.
Does it make sense to suggest that your sketches would be ignored because your job is busy? Why not have a go, but target them at the show you want to write for.
But bear in mind that writing sketches and writing narrative comedy are different skills, and you may want to hone one at a time.
I hope it works out.
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Great poem Micheal!
Now we know which part of the Emerald Isle is your spiritual if not geographical home!
:)
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@MisterP
To be sure. Shillelaghs all round, bedad!
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I thought you lived on a luxury yacht.....near rood
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@Michael
Scripts gone up the chimney! That can only mean one thing - they're smokin!!
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Michael,
Student sitcoms...what's the deal?
I've heard...
1. Producers are sick of student digs-based scripts.
2. A student-digs-based sitcom is about to be shot - or aired - by the BBC.
I ask cos I've written one.
Though I like to thing its comedy and warmth lie in the relationships of its characters rather than a 'we're students - let's make a chair out of beermats' kind of way, it is nevertheless unmistakeably studenty.
Go ahead, wreck my dreams...
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@Stuey
Student sitcoms are not in great demand. I had a good one that got knocked back, as it happens. I'm not aware of one about to be commissioned, but it could come from an indie. So I think you've chosen a hard sell subject.
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@StueyR
IMO, the problem with student sitcoms is that once you stop being a student you immediately start hating students. It's enough that they're out there having fun and sex and alcohol, without seeing them on our TV screens too.
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Hmm, yes, as I'd suspected, thanks Michael. And I know what you mean, Aspey.
I'm thinking of writing my next sitcom from the perspective of a Runner on a TV chat show, but I'm worried that an abundance of existing media-based sitcoms might mean this is a bad idea?
Is that the case, Michael?
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@Stuey
You're right, there does seem to be an over abundance of media-based sitcoms, yet this doesn't seem to stop them being made!
Indeed, I distinctly remember being told by producers that media-based stuff was a no-no, yet nobody seems to have passed that message onto the commissioners.
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@Stuey
There are several runner ideas around, so that's not a good idea either. Sorry. Also, have you been a runner on a TV chat show? If you haven't worked in TV, it will all be fantasy and thus not carry conviction.
As ASPIE says, people tend to shy away from shows set in or about the industry. Worth noting that's true unless they are star-led (eg Extras, Vivienne Vyle and Lead Balloon spring to mind).
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The trouble with writing
There is always trouble with writing, there is usually trouble with most things. The trouble with writing right now is the imposition of uniformity. You want to write for the BBC? Well, even if you're good enough, they don't really want you to be original. What they want you to become is a contributor of episodes to their soaps and established series. The purpose of their approach is to knock the originality out of you. They want you to conform to the needs of the market place and to adopt the house style. If you can do it, it will pay well and keep you in work and comfort for many years. But it might also stifle what brought you in to writing in the first place - the desire for self-expression. You cease to express yourself. You are hired only to express and to articulate the feelings and the requirements of others.
Why on earth does a writer need so many other editorial voices telling him or her to change his or her script in this and that direction? Plainly to conform to the needs of the house style. If you're writing what you want to express, you don't need anybody to tell you how to do it; you're doing it already.
To compare writers to painters, the writer and contributor of series episodes is effectively a portrait painter commissioned to create an image of his patron. If the patron doesn't like the result, he can and will demand changes. If he feels his nose is too big, then you will be asked to paint it smaller. Otherwise he won't pay you.
The opposite of this is the painter who represents the world as he sees it. Of course, he has no guaranteed market for his work. He may never sell what he has created. But he does retain his individual vision and independence.
And that, basically, seems to be today's choice - harness whatever talent you may have to the needs of the market place, or write what you really want to but be prepared to be left out in the cold and have trouble selling your work. Meanwhile the soaps and the cop shows and the medical dramas will continue to eat and spit out writers as they always have.
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@Micheal
I notice now that material that has been made is looked at as a legitimate way of submitting something. Not necessarily as a final product but as a tater. My agent has a client with a comedy in development with the BBC purely on the basis of a ten minute clip he filmed. He is a writer/performer.
Given that is relatively cheap to make a radio pilot. Is that worth doing? I have a project in mind that a couple of well known actors want to get involved with. I enoy making things, haven't made a short film for ages, my MA in film directing seems a distant memory so I think I might just do it for fun.
Do you have any insight in this sort of thing happening with radio as it has on telly - sitcom or afternoon play. Different departments I guess. Or are they?
I know I could find all this out but it's Xmas and you are offering... so I thought I'd ask.
:)
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@Mister P
"Not neccessarily as a final product but as a tater."
Let's not bring vegetables into this. And it's spelled potato. :)
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@arniespoons
In comedy, original voices are greatly in demand, and there is also some demand for people who can write episodes on existing shows. These tend to be beginning writers, and involvement with production is useful in learning.
Comedy is a rather different world from continuing drama.
@MisterP
If one can achieve a professional standard of acting as well as writing, then taster material is fine. We often make tasters of shows we're pitching, and a d-i-y approach to both television and radio is increasingly common.
But I'd stress the professional presentation aspect. It's easy to make things look good/sound good now, but the performance has to be persuasive, and most things I see are let down by amateur acting and indulgent editing.
I'll have chips with that.
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@Micheal,
I have Liza Goddard and Nicky Henson on board. Well for the show not for the radio version 'tater' - tasty though it might be. But I thought I'd see how things stand before progressing. I'd have to adapt the script for radio first, but as it is primarily a dialogue led piece I don't forsee problems there. I was also going to hire a pro studio and have a pro director also in place.
I guess the problem... is if you have a finished 30 minute pilot or 45 minute afternoon play that someone could listen to in their car or at home etc, would the BBC say yes let's remake it, or would they take it as it is (On radio obviously).
And the final one is - would it work as a pitch for TV as an audio piece that could then be looked at developing for Television. Or would the fact that it was presented in audio form kind of direct it towards radio development initially should it be liked enough?
Questions. Questions. Questions.
:)
@Arniespoons .. there is a hint of what you say going on in TV at the moment. creativity and voice should be at the heart of drama. I think things will change sooner or later because if they don't things will be changed for them I am guessing.
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@MisterP
These are just my thoughts rather than definitive responses.
Just as with scripts, I think a broadcaster would have notes, so what you've shot/recorded would be unlikely to be broadcast in that form. Hence, an 8 or 10-minute taster would be best, accompanied by a script.
I wouldn't immediately view an audio taster as a taster for TV, and I think I'd rather just see a script. If actors are attached, then I should be able to hear them in my head, particularly the two you mention.
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@Micheal
What you say is pretty much what I suspected. I was just looking for an excuse to play around and make something. :)
Actually the script is one you have read before which I have recently re-written,
You said this about it at the time...
"Everything is beautifully dovetailed and balanced and paid off, and I
haven't for ages read a script that is so beautifully put together.
I enjoyed the sheer mechanics of it.'
Unfortunately, however, you carried on with a 'but...'
I didn't keep that part of the letter, :) , but it was along the lines of you didn't like one of the main characters.
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@MisterP
Sadly, there's often a 'but'.
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But I was so admiring your writing style up to that point.
But yet.. as they say... onwards and downwards.
:)
Re your showcase meanwhile... are you getting comedy big guns to be the rep company. Or are some of the writers performers going to perform in theirs and others work? Or is that all still up in the air.
Re your earlier point about writers not sometimes appearing in their own work I seemed to remember that JImmy Perry wrote the part of Private Walker for himself to play in Dads Army but decided against doing it in the end - or was told he couldn't by David Croft - not sure which.
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Michael, cheers for that.
Amusingly, a mate of mine who I work with who has similar ambitions got an email to say R4 were interested in the sketches he submitted to RFTP (on writersroom a while back).
Got nothing back for mine. Sigh.
Onwards...
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@MisterP
Hey, sounds like Michael liked a lot of what you did. Might have been wise to keep the 'but' comments, so you do something different next time. Rejection is so hard, but the people who make it are the ones who can deal with the rejection and keep on going, and growing.
@Punkrock
Interesting, and good on your mate. When did he hear?
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Hi Antonia
Thanks for that. I must admit I was joking about the but bit.
And I know something about rejection - As a baby I was bottle fed by my father,
Maybe comedy's not my piano!
:)
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@Michael
A quick cheerful Christmas question. How often do you see talent wither and die and never reach it's full potential? What percentage of fresh voices do you think just don't pan out? And why?
(And try to answer without any references to Mister P!) ;)
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@Punk
Just keep banging away and I'm sure someone will bite.
@Antonia
How nice to see the spirit of Christmas on the blog!
@Aspie
You always ask quite simple-seeming questions that need quite lengthy answers.
Yes indeed, some people seem to have just one good idea in them, which can equate to one good script or possibly one series.
A number of writers feel on the verge, but fail to transcend, despite lots of help and encouragement.
Some feel as if they could be television writers, but realise they are theatre or radio writers.
As to why, well, maybe some people are only capable of one good idea, have one thing to say, say it, and stop.
Some people, I think, decide they don't like the process.
Some people lose confidence or are easily discouraged.
Some people think it's about art when really it's about work (a number of successful writers talk about it as a job, which is a sensible attitude).
Some people find having their work criticised in public too hurtful to want to go on.
If you think about writing as singing, then some singers are too shy to face the audience, some have a natural voice but don't want to train it, and some want to write their own music irrespective of whether or not it pleases an audience.
That's probably the best way I can explain it.
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@ Mr P: Not bad being bottle fed by your father, equal rights and all that.
@Aspie: I like that question, and good answers from Michael, too.
@Michael: You know when you said some people lose confidence, or don't treat it as a job, in your experience, are they the people who don't consider themselves to be 'writers', but were just giving it a go?
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@Antonia: it was a bottle of whiskey!
On a serious note I think a lot of would be writers have a glamorous idea of being a writer. Sometimes the reality of it is more akin to being naked in a Danish harbour at six in the morning having a bucket of cold herring thrown over you.
Anyone who writes is a writer, and have every right to consider themselves as such. True success has little to do with money in the bank earned from it.
At least that's what I tell myself.
:)
ps and stay away from those cheap Scandinavian cruise liners that advertise hilarious party games.
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@Antonia/MisterP
Lots of people consider themselves to be writers, and as Marc says, they have every right to, whether published or not.
Aspie was talking about writers who seem to be able to/want to do it professionally, but don't pursue it.
Lots of people in my area of work write scripts and send them in, and most of them will never go further than the desk of a reader, just as publishers are inundated with manuscripts.
If people enjoy the process then that's great, but the job aspect is the hard bit, and it's not just that first commission, but the commission after that, and after that.
You need to be quite resilient and determined to make it work.
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@Mr P: Oops I'm taking everything literally! Guinness would have been better for you!
I agree anyone can call themselves a writer, but when it's in you and you have to write, and you DO write all the time, you'll have more chance of success, I think.
There's nothing wrong with trying it, or thinking you might be able to write a script, and that's what I'm getting at, are the people who don't continue, sually those who find they really have to work at it, and treat it like a 'proper' job.
I agree, true success is loving what you do, but at some point others have to love it too, if you're going to make a career out of it.
Hmm, maybe some people imagine they'd enjoy the process, then find out they don't, for whatever reason.
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To everyone:
the mysterious 'box' of delights is both real and metaphorical. In Manchester it was a box, in Cardiff a green post bag, in Brighton a holdall. We're not sure what it's next incarcation will be. But most likely one of those three again. Whichever, it's also always very heavy.
really, we're just saving you postage. the scripts will go through our system as usual (but beware - if you've already sent it to the system previously, then we'll return it unread)
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@All
The surgery is now closed, and the blog will resume in January.
Thanks everyone for your contributions, happy Christmas, and see you next year.
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Happy New year to all, can anyone point me in the right direction,
I 've been attempting to write a script for TV, for a while now, I keep going back to it, fiddling about, leaving it.
Are there any writing groups in the liverpool area, somewhere I could let loose my ideas, even if it's to see how short of the margin I am.
More importantly, if nothing else - get some inspiration.
Thanking you inm anticipation.
Briantate
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Briantate
As the Doctor is away from his surgery might I suggest you google Screenwriters workshop they may have some activities local to you.
Also the 'Writing for Performance' website
which has some excellent links and, ahem, scripts.
Also, as it is best not to assume, try the writersroom main pages if you haven't been directed to this blog from there already.
Happy New Year and good luck with the fiddling!
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briantate
Have a look in the library, they'll have notices up of local groups
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