Is it up to muster?
Read the rejection slip and think again 
Before you send your material off
Ha, brilliant.
That is a great checklist for every writer to go through!
Apart from No 17 maybe, you should check that your manuscript/whatever is unlikely to be 'ticked' for any of the others.
Even though this slip is obviously very old, I think a lot of the points still remain.
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ August 1 2013, 3:59 PM BSTApart from No 17 maybe, you should check that your manuscript/whatever is unlikely to be 'ticked' for any of the others.
Even though this slip is obviously very old, I think a lot of the points still remain.
I think number 17 applies to sitcom. (As a general rule, not an absolute, obviously) Particularly if it's a standard episode you are hoping will catch a producers attention. It isn't really a genre for too many "scenes of an unpleasant nature". Because ultimately, getting robbed / hurt/ someone you love dying isn't really that funny.
17 pretty much describes 'Blackadder'.
What if you've written a very dark comedy(re number 17)?
That's why I said general rule, not an absolute. I think you have to be careful to ensure the scene has the right emotional tone.
E.g. - the Blackadder III episode with the Scarlet Pimpernel. That has murder, torture, imprisonment, robbery, suicide...and yet it is hilarious throughout. I never feel even a smidge of sympathy for the characters. That is because it is in the very skilled hands of..erm...Ben Elton.
In different hands, that episode could have made me cry, not laugh.
I liked to see what work made it through this list 
I would guess that this rejection slip is from around the time of the "Hayes Code" in the 1930s, which was a moral code for the film industry, during which time, for example, you couldn't make any movies where the "baddies" didn't get their comeuppance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code
I think number 7 and 17 are full of shit! I don't think films like transformers, lord of the rings and pacific rim etc we're easy to produce, and as far as number 17 is concerned, BLAH! without that going on I might aswell put my pen down! Even ET had the scene in the bathroom when he was near death, and that's a kids film!
