Quote: Griff @ December 1 2009, 4:22 PM GMTBBC Writersroom quote 10,000 scripts a year. So that would be about 10 scripts worth developing. I'm pretty sure that they could point to at least 10 writers per year that they progress further (the Drama Academy and Comedy of College alone would account for 10).
EDIT: Kevin beat me to the 10,000 figure.
Fair enough. I heard they brought in a few new commissioned writers for the forthcoming series of Recorded For Training Purposes too...
Dan
Quote: Griff @ December 1 2009, 4:25 PM GMTThere is no answer. Just try everything. Topical radio shows is one good way in. Things like the Sitcom Trials are another. Or try and get an agent. I guess the main thing is to write something completely brilliant.
Actually... what he said.
Quote: sglen @ December 1 2009, 4:25 PM GMTI'm really hoping for Northern Laughs.
BBC Wales shut its comedy department three years ago and didn't tell anyone. All the great initiatives seem to come out of the wonderful BBC North.
The Slaggs sent their stuff to another BBC region because it always gets a better reception outside of Wales.
Quote: SlagA @ December 1 2009, 4:37 PM GMTThe Slaggs sent their stuff to another BBC region because it always gets a better reception outside of Wales.
Have you tried moving the aerial about?
Yeah right! 
Quote: sglen @ December 1 2009, 4:25 PM GMTI'm really hoping for Northern Laughs. Sounds like a great opportunity. Are you going to try and go on to Comedy College? Seems like the Northen Laughs way is the best way there...
Not necessarily. I've met a chap who got into the Comedy College with the same script that Northern Laughs rejected.
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 1 2009, 4:24 PM GMTWhat do you mean about foot in the door though? I've done well on such things, but to be honest it doesn't seem to have made much difference.
Well, I get told about opportunities, invited to workshops, etc. Nobody's beating down my door to film anything I've written or anything.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ December 1 2009, 5:00 PM GMTNot necessarily. I've met a chap who got into the Comedy College with the same script that Northern Laughs rejected.
One Slagg Brothers' script came second in an international comp, got optioned, was read by one of our writer heroes who put us in the last 30 for an intiative that I'd better not mention, and yet it has also been savaged mercilessly in feedback from others. It's still the same script but the reaction it gets is very polarised.
I could've so easily given up when the first bad feedback arrived. It's a case of the writer persists, the non-writer succumbs. I persist because it's the moment I stop that I prove to myself I wasn't a writer.
Quote: SlagA @ December 1 2009, 5:14 PM GMTIt's a case of the writer persists, the non-writer succumbs.
Unforunately it's the case that the writer sucks crumbs.
Quote: Marc P @ December 1 2009, 5:17 PM GMTUnforunately it's the case that the writer sucks crumbs.
For a second there, I thought that sentence was going somewhere else.
Quote: don rushmore @ December 1 2009, 5:22 PM GMTFor a second there, I thought that sentence was going somewhere else.
I don't work for EE anymore.
Quote: Marc P @ December 1 2009, 5:25 PM GMTI don't work for EE anymore.
Quote: SlagA @ December 1 2009, 5:14 PM GMTOne Slagg Brothers' script came second in an international comp, got optioned, was read by one of our writer heroes who put us in the last 30 for an intiative that I'd better not mention, and yet it has also been savaged mercilessly in feedback from others. It's still the same script but the reaction it gets is very polarised.
It's a matter of opinion, I guess. Sometimes that kind of reaction is a good one, though. Often happens when people try something a bit different. Some people see the potential, others can't imagine how it would work.
Good luck, that sounds really exciting!
"SO! Ignoring the "depressing" news, what do you reckon IS the best plan of action? It's always seemed to me that the topical radio shows are the way forward. Anyone reckon they've got the answer?!"
Presuming one's stuff is good enough...
Getting read by the right people is the only answer.
To do that, an agent really helps.
Like, a lot.
To get an agent you've got to bring something to the table.
So, a competition win, a personal recomendation, a YouTube hit - these are all the kind of things that'll help.
So IMHO you're better off working your bollocks off on the small stuff than sending out unsolicited stuff to big name companies.
Then get an agent.
The slush pile is pretty much a one way ticket to obscurity.
Did I mention the agent thing?
Quote: Lazzard @ December 1 2009, 7:13 PM GMT"SO! Ignoring the "depressing" news, what do you reckon IS the best plan of action? It's always seemed to me that the topical radio shows are the way forward. Anyone reckon they've got the answer?!"
Presuming one's stuff is good enough...
Getting read by the right people is the only answer.
To do that, an agent really helps.
Like, a lot.
To get an agent you've got to bring something to the table.
So, a competition win, a personal recomendation, a YouTube hit - these are all the kind of things that'll help.
So IMHO you're better off working your bollocks off on the small stuff than sending out unsolicited stuff to big name companies.
Then get an agent.The slush pile is pretty much a one way ticket to obscurity.
Did I mention the agent thing?
This sounds like I'm along the right track with the kind of things I'm working on. Sorry if I've missed something on the forum but is there are a list of agents around here somewhere?
Thanks
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ December 1 2009, 5:00 PM GMTWell, I get told about opportunities, invited to workshops, etc. Nobody's beating down my door to film anything I've written or anything.
Hmmm...well I got left off that list, depsite my credits. I wonder what I'm too wrong at... too female? Too working class - or middle-class? Too old? Too tied down with a family? Too old perhaps? It's a huge mystery to me.