Depressing News for Writers Page 4

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 1 2009, 10:46 AM GMT

He said they got sent hundreds every year, of course some of those are going to be good. If they got four hundred scripts in a two year space, the idea that not one of them was good and worthy of broadcast is obviously not true. Can't be. And I'm sure, even if they haven't put any of the scripts on screen, they will have picked up writers for other things through the process.

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You've sent them a script, eh Matthew?

So if Objective don't accept unsolicited scripts and they receive hundreds, but do read them, then aren't they just telling people to send them in anyway?

I think the main point is that Televsion is essentially all about collaboration. A first time novelist can send a novel in and see it published virtually unchanged because there is basically one artist working on it - th author - and that's it. In TV and film it is different. And the role of the writer as original artist is being devalued year on year in television.

Or is Andrew O'Connor saying that they don't read any of them, because they're unsolicted and therefore they might all be brilliant.

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 1 2009, 10:50 AM GMT

You've sent them a script, eh Matthew?

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I have and they were very nice about it. I'm not saying my script was one of the good ones that could have been broadcast by the way, it really, really wasn't, just that the idea that every script they get sent is shit, which is what Lazzard was saying, can't be true.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 1 2009, 10:53 AM GMT

I have and they were very nice about it. I'm not saying my script was one of the good ones that could have been broadcast by the way, it really, really wasn't, just that the idea that every script they get sent is shit, as Lazzard was saying. If they get sent hundreds that just can't be true, can it.

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No - and of course one person's rubbish is another person's excellent. I didn't think Objective read unsolicited material - but they obviously do!

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 1 2009, 10:56 AM GMT

One person's rubbish is another person's excellent

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One man's mate is another man's poisson and all that

The point is that because one person's 'rubbish' is another person's 'excellent', there really is no point in reading scripts at all prior to commissioning. Just pick a script at random and you know for certain that, no matter how awful some people will find it, others will think it's brilliant.

Therein lies the future of TV.

Abandon subjectivity.

Stick a pin in the eye of the beholder.

Rely on the maths.

That is all very well for matters of what you find funny ming. A sitcom script is a lot more than that.

Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ December 1 2009, 11:16 AM GMT

One man's mate is another man's poisson and all that

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The point is just because on production company say they don't get any suitable scripts doesn't mean that another production company would find the same scripts unsuitable. I would say lots of writers here have experienced very conflicting views on their work from different sources.

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 1 2009, 11:25 AM GMT

The point is just because on production company say they don't get any suitable scripts doesn't mean that another production company would find the same scripts unsuitable.

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That is indeed the point.

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 1 2009, 11:25 AM GMT

I would say lots of writers here have experienced very conflicting views on their work from different sources.

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I would say that too.

But I won't.

Cos you've just said it.

Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ December 1 2009, 11:30 AM GMT

Cos you've just said it.

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Well said.

Quote: swerytd @ December 1 2009, 9:45 AM GMT

As some of you well know, I often put (PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER) into my scripts but... nothing

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You're on the right lines but you don't go far enough.

In all my scripts, I put (PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER AND DON'T SAY OR DO ANOTHER BLOODY THING UNTIL SAME IS FORTHCOMING IN SPADES).

You have to help audiences along a little and producers understand that.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 1 2009, 10:53 AM GMT

I have and they were very nice about it. I'm not saying my script was one of the good ones that could have been broadcast by the way, it really, really wasn't, just that the idea that every script they get sent is shit, which is what Lazzard was saying, can't be true.

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Didn't say they were all shit.
Just no good as in not good enough.
And I can easily believe they get that many scripts that aren't up to the mark.
And, frankly, it's not their job to find something that's not that good and spend years buffing & polishing it untill it's TV ready.
That's our job!
And it's not going to get any better as, in these X-Factory days, half the population believes that talent is a god-given right.
"Everyones a comic" as the saying goes.
We're even slightly guilty of it here in the crit forum.
Yes, there's some good/great stuff - but how often do we allow some poor devil to bumble along when, in all honesty, the talent just isn't there.
Me, I can't do sitcom - I keep trying but I don't think it's what I do best.
So - I don't send 'em off.

Quote: swerytd @ December 1 2009, 9:45 AM GMT

As some of you well know, I often put (PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER) into my scripts but... nothing.

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Odd, I've started to put (PAUSE FOR LONG AND EMBARRASSING SILENCE) into my scripts and HTV called the very next day.

Quote: Lazzard @ December 1 2009, 1:58 PM GMT

Didn't say they were all shit.
Just no good as in not good enough.
And I can easily believe they get that many scripts that aren't up to the mark.
And, frankly, it's not their job to find something that's not that good and spend years buffing & polishing it untill it's TV ready.
That's our job!

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Yes but within those hundreds, you're going to get the odd one that WILL be good enough, or at least as good as things that are put on TV. With those kind of numbers you're bound to really. And it kind of is their job as well to develop ideas and scripts until they're perfect for TV. That's their job. Scripts don't go directly from a writers mind, onto the page and onto TV, a producer will develop a submitted script and it will change and, hopefully, improve. I don't mean it doesn't matter what state your scripts in as they will work on it, of course it should be as perfect to your mind as you can make it.

But yes, of course a great deal of stuff sent to any production company is going to be ropey in the extreme.

Quote: Griff @ December 1 2009, 2:16 PM GMT

If you're "bound to" find something good enough for TV, why haven't they?

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Because it's not what they want to make for TV, or they don't want to take a risk on a newcomer....? I dunno...? Would be interesting to know more.