It's been a rollercoaster few weeks for us and them, and it always goes by in a flash, so it's hard to believe it's nearly over. They've written wonderful adaptations of fairy tales - some of which I'm sure will get made as films one day. They've stood on sets and watched filming. They've structured and restructured the same episode of Holby City. They've watched a lot of telly and lots of movies. They've had wonderful generous sessions with Russell T Davies, Richard Curtis, Tony Jordan, Peter Bowker and a host of other writers at the top of their game. But most of all they've written, written and rewritten.

So they're about to go off and do one of the hardest and most rewarding writing jobs in television. Any advice you want to give them, you writers out there? The experienced and the less experienced... what should we tell them?

We will now refer writers wherever possible to this information regarding any questions about submitting a script and how the system works. Much of this is brought together from what already exists on the website. But there are some new changes, the main ones being:

• We will no longer accept unsolicited adaptations
• We will no longer accept short films - only scripts of at least 30 minutes
• We will no longer accept scripts from overseas

I've got a whole bunch more scripts from all sorts of shows lined up to roll out over the next few weeks. But while you're waiting, why not have a poke around in our archive and see if there's something you fancy in the meantime.

The best news is that a script we developed during the first year of the college has been commissioned for a pilot by BBC3, a tribute to the talent of its writer, John Warburton, and very pleasing indeed to us. It is currently called The Inn Mates, and is being made in the new year by my colleagues in Comedy North, which makes sense since John lives in Manchester. I will be joining Jon Mountague from Comedy North as executive producer.

As things develop in terms of director and cast I'll return to it here, but to have got from an early draft to a pilot commission has been an interesting process and illustrative of the way development works.

When I first encountered the script, then called Sunday Lunchers, it involved a cast of, I think, 22. So my first note to John, after saying how much I liked the script, was to suggest that a cast of that magnitude was completely impractical, both in terms of finance and logistics.

The show was designed to take place in real time over Sunday lunch in a pub carvery, with some major characters as the focus but a number of vignettes as we dipped in and out of conversations. While all the vignettes were funny, they proved a bit of a distraction from the main story and the main people, so we embarked on a process of pruning as we worked towards the college showcase in March.

In the end there was a cast of twelve, which felt like enough to do justice to the setting, but also not too many to get in the way of a main story and three sub-plots, and for the showcase 15-minute extract there were ten characters, which made for a busy quarter of an hour.

The showcase performance went down very well, so it seemed a good idea to put the show into the commissioning process as a potential pilot for BBC3, since that is currently the channel which offers most pilot opportunities.

However, aiming the show at a particular channel meant that channel requirements had to be taken into account, so while older characters stayed, the central characters needed to be reimagined as younger. If this had meant doing violence to the script, then we wouldn't have undertaken it - fiddling with something just to get it on risks destroying its soul, and this is certainly a show with soul.

John did that work, but in conversation with the channel there was a debate around whether the show should be a single-location piece - a la The Smoking Room, or whether it might benefit from seeing the characters in their lives outside the pub. There was a preference for the latter, which in turn meant revisiting the script to explore how it might work.

Not surprisingly, John was a bit boggled. It seemed as if the basis of the show he had created was being destroyed, and that massive rewrites would be needed. But once the dust settled, getting out and about made sense in terms of seeing characters in action rather than hearing them talk about action, and also because it was perfectly feasible to move a scene from the pub elsewhere without changing a word.

So we submitted the revised script, it was put into the commissioning mix, and last week we heard that we were being asked to make a pilot.

As I say, I'll report on the process as it continues, but there are a couple of things to learn from the story so far. One is that it's pointless to write more than one script of a potential series, since a producer and broadcaster can make radical suggestions. Another is that notes and requests can throw what a show is about into focus. This was devised as a large bunch of people in a pub every Sunday lunchtime, whose lives did not greatly intersect. It is now about a smaller bunch of people who use the same pub, and their connection in the pub and outside it.

Warburton news aside, we're in the middle of a two-day workshop this week, where we've been reading aloud and talking about the scripts which will be showcased next March. We're having a session with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, discussing their lives and times and how their careers managed to overcome an early script rejection from me. And we will be going to meet the head of radio entertainment, Jane Berthoud, to talk about radio needs and opportunities.

I'll write more about the workshop shortly, and also about exciting developments in Belfast when I return from a visit there at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, I have recently discovered (decades late) the Parker series of noir novels by Richard Stark. In an introduction to one of them, John Banville says that part of Stark's method is 'what can go wrong will go wrong'. This is good for crime fiction, but also for comedy, I think.

Back soon.

First up is Miranda Hart on Tuesday 10 November 2009, where she'll be chatting about her new series Miranda, which airs on BBC2 on Monday nights at 8:30pm

A week or so later, you can find Stephen Poliakoff and Jane Wright who'll be talking about Stephen's new film Glorious 39.

If you're desperate for some Q&A action in the meantime, you could do worse than check out the new interview with Jimmy McGovern.

The Tony Doyle Bursary is a fantastic stepping-stone for new writers which has launched several careers, so well worth a look.

Of course you can also send them in a bit early to make sure they're here in good time, just to be sure...

Writer/Star Miranda Hart will talk about her new TV series Miranda on the 10 November 2009, while Writer/Director Stephen Poliakoff and Executive Producer Jane Wright will be discussing Stephen's new film Glorious 39 on the 16 November 2009.

Both events will be held at the Soho Theatre in London, and tickets are free.

Find out more about the Miranda Hart Q&A and book your tickets.
Find out more about the Stephen Poliakoff and Jane Wright Q&A and book your tickets.

Just go to the Arts Council website, type in your postcode or area, and it'll let you know about the local theatres that are participating and how to contact them.

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

Open to Scots Only
Scotland Writes
Ignite 2009

Open to All
Watson's Wind Up
Stand Up Comedy Workshops
Big Village Fringe Show Competition

Much more interesting - and scary - than I've made it sound.

So the course is up and running, and the writers have been working away for three weeks now up at the classroom in Elstree. I won't embarrass them by talking about them, but perhaps I'll persuade one or two of them to contribute to the blog soon. Anyway, it's all going very well. They've had lectures from John Yorke on structure, character, and from others on production, casting, acting and formatting. They've had set visits to EastEnders, Holby and Doctors, and are already working away on their first Doctors script. This morning we've had Richard Curtis in talking to the group - a huge treat.

Last night we had a bit of a reunion of all five years worth of writers. They all still seem to be mostly friends. And the sense of being together as a group each year, still helps them through the toughest commissions. That, and the paranoia that they think everyone else is doing better than they are!

Also today sees the launch of the new Continuing Drama pages on the writersroom website. We've put up a lot of information about the various ways we get new writers on to the shows - through our Shadow Schemes and the Writers Academy. There is also an interview with John Yorke, who talks about what writers need to write for Continuing Drama. We hope the pages will be a source of information for writers and agents alike, and much of what is on there comes from questions asked by regular contributors here. So... thanks.

It's last week's episode of Holby City, Out of the Woods by Rob Williams.

In other news, it may not have escaped your notice that the UK is currently having a bit of a problem with the post. Specifically, there are some postal strikes happening.

This means that it may take a bit longer for us to get back to you than usual, so please be patient and allow a little more time for us to let you know how your script is faring.

Chain Gang, written by Rob Shearman is looking for help. They're going to make the first two minutes of a story and transmit it on Radio 7 - and then want you to tell them what happens next. Each week Rob will dramatise one of the storylines that people send in to create the next episode.

You can find out more at the Chain Gang website, where you'll also find instructions after the first episode transmits about how to send in your storylines.