I received a letter, well, more of a postcard from BBC Writersroom yesterday informing me that my script has arrived. They say it is with the 'readers' and I will hear from them within 4 months.
Does anyone know whether it is normal to wait the full 4 months, or do they sometimes get back faster than that?
No that's pretty standard. It literally means somewheres taken it out of an envelope, said it's a script, and added it to the pile. The next stage is when things get interesting.
Quote: sootyj @ March 15, 2008, 10:20 AMNo that's pretty standard. It literally means somewheres taken it out of an envelope, said it's a script, and added it to the pile. The next stage is when things get interesting.
Is that when they laught hystericaly that I had the audacity to submit such a rubbish script?
Nope, it's when they stick it striaght in the shredder. Goto lunch early, and send you a note saying they read it, honest guv.
You know Baby Cow has a reading turn around under a month?
At least you got an acknowledgement.
I waited nearly five months last time and got a stereo type letter back. A friend of mine got a detailed report back for hers that the reader had done. Hers didn't get accepted either.
I'm not expecting it to get commisioned, I know the competition out there, but it would be nice to have some feed back.
i sent a script to bbc radio in london a few years ago and took 8 months to receive a reply. i did get a lovely report though which said how funny it was and well written but that they didn't want to do anything with it. bum.
Quote: Andrew M Bedell @ March 15, 2008, 1:09 PMI'm not expecting it to get commisioned, I know the competition out there, but it would be nice to have some feed back.
You aren't going to get that from the bbc's writersroom. you'd be better off sending it to production companies.
Quote: Andrew M Bedell @ March 15, 2008, 1:09 PMI'm not expecting it to get commisioned, I know the competition out there, but it would be nice to have some feed back.
It's unlikely you'll get feed back. I sent mine last Oct (beginning) and got a reply mid Feb. That was a sitcom.
Send it to other companies whilst you are waiting
As I understand it there's three stages to feedback from the writers room.
1. No notes.
2. Detailed notes.
3. Request to come in and 'meet people'.
These are of course in ascending order.
Hope this helps,
Mouse 
Just to make you feel better, the readers only come in twice a week. They sift the scripts and the ones they like they take away to read, the rest get enveloped. Once a month the readers meet to discuss the scripts they like.
If they took your script but didn't like it, you still get feedback. Sifted but rejected scripts get the generic letter.
The problem with the writersroom method is that your script is tainted by all the other scripts around it. If you read a lot of shit you get lazy at recognising good stuff, although you think it would be the other way round. For example, I read a sketch on here that i thought was awful. Turns out the writer is pretty much a comedy genius. I realised they were very talented after reading a second piece, but at the time I'd trawled through a lot of mediocre sketches one after the other and my mind was mud.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ March 16, 2008, 12:44 AMFor example, I read a sketch on here that i thought was awful. Turns out the writer is pretty much a comedy genius. I realised they were very talented after reading a second piece, but at the time I'd trawled through a lot of mediocre sketches one after the other and my mind was mud.
Thanks Godot! 
Let's see how many other people actually read my post.
I think the Writers Room guys probably do the best they can, considering the enormous amount of shite they have to read. I imagine these poor, disillusioned souls opening envelope upon envelope filled with liquid cack and eventually even becoming clinically depressed. I wonder what the self harming / suicide rate is amongst Writers Room readers. I bet they at least listen to Morrisey when they're reading.
I have to agree with Godot - it must be extraordinarily hard to spot a gleaming diamond of a script when you've been sifting through shitty old cubic zirconia all day. Still - people do get meetings and contacts through te Writers Room so maybe it's not to be totally discouraged. Personally I'd definitely go down the "Organ grinder, not the monkey" route though.