Should I submit a pilot Page 2

Quote: Vader @ April 6 2011, 4:16 AM BST

I've got an idea for a sitcom, I didn't think there'd be much point sending it out until I'd established myself though. I mean mine is pretty dark and stuff, which probably limits the breadth of its appeal a bit.

Once I finish typing it up (the pilot, and outline of the other episodes if need be), any suggestions about where to send it? I mean, I'd want the lead role as well! I suppose that could put peoople off slightly, but I'd like to think I'd do alright in a screen test for the part...

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If you really have a brilliant idea, the last thing to do in my opinion is to send it in before you have really learned the skills of script writing.

To do this you should write and submit many other things first, see Micheal Jacob's blog at Writers Room, director/producers are more interested in finding good writers with the flair rather than actual 'finished' sitcoms.

Keep your best plot/situation to yourself while you develop it until it is perfect & then only reveal it after you have become known to some small extent as a writer. You may waste the idea if you reveal it too early, because by the time you have the real skills to do it properly the idea will be stale.

Writing scripts is a skill that has to be developed, like piano playing, however hard you try, your very first attempts will be pathetic. You have to work at it and practice, practice, practice.

Quote: billwill @ April 6 2011, 12:21 PM BST

see Micheal Jacob's blog at Writers Room, director/producers are more interested in finding good writers with the flair rather than actual 'finished' sitcoms.

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This isn't strictly true. They would love a near finished sitcom script to land on their desk. The truth is it is very rare. So when they say they are looking for writers to work with, translate that to mean a huge number of the projects they are looking to develop are going to need work and therefore they are looking for people with the mindset to realise this and embrace it as part of the collaborative process. Also they are nowadays saying they are happy to look at filmed presentations as much as an admission that nobody knows anything as Brendan Behan and Micheal put it - so that if the funny isn't coming off the page because they can't see it - even if it is there - then the video can demonstrate it.

This isn't to mean send stuff in that you know need work and hopefully they will help. It means make it as perfect as you can, but be prepared to negotiate when the development process starts.