Gabby Hutchinson Crouch: Don't kill your darlings, just rehome them
Published: Friday 12th July 2019
Hi, I'm Gabby. I write comedy for a living and I am constantly, constantly, rejected.
I started off on BBC Radio 4 Extra's open door sketch show Newsjack, where I was rejected for a whole series before getting anything in, and then rejected for another whole series about a year after.
I was lucky enough to get the BBC Comedy Bursary from 2014 to 2015, during which my work was regularly rejected, even though they were already paying me to turn up.
I am now a freelance and the vast majority of my pitches get turned down. This doesn't make me special. Are you a freelance writer too? Are you nodding along with this (possibly inwardly because you're reading this at the other job you have to do to pay the rent)? I'm going to imagine you are. It's the norm.
I'm currently at the stage in my career where I have a few impressive credits under my belt, so people looking to break in to comedy writing sometimes approach me for advice. I always recommend Newsjack as the best way in, and when those people reply that they tried that a couple of times but got rejected, let me...
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Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch is out now, published by Farrago Books
