Me, me, me: How much of yourself should you pour into your scripts?

What's the famous saying? "There's no 'i' in team, but there is a 'me' in comedy." Something like that, anyway.

No matter the genre you're working in, it's usually a good idea for writers to draw inspiration for their material from their own lives.

Not so long ago, it was possible to forge a career as a comedy writer working either entirely on other people's shows or by developing sitcoms that were carefully crafted exercises in the form rather than convincing reflections of the writer's real life experiences.

This approach is no longer viable. The BBC has stopped commissioning bulk...