2012 Countdown: Five Days to Go: Uncharted Territory
Friday 27th January 2012
Well, the Early Bird deadline has been and gone, and we had a flurry, if not an avalanche, of scripts on the first deadline day. As this is the first time we've charged an entry fee, we're in unknown waters here. The number we got on that day could be the bulk of our entries, or most writers could be waiting until the final deadline. We shall see.
Being in this situation is scary and exciting, but we know things will work out ok in the end. This is just as your script should be. Why write something safe that's been written before? Why go to Benidorm with the crowd of boys-who-do-girls when you can go to a still-unexplored corner of the Amazon, or into space, or the future, or medieval England? Or what about exploring human relationships in a way that hasn't been done before?
This may sound pretentious, but you're engaged in the creative act, so anything is possible. We're in the same situation. Last year, thanks to Hat Trick Productions' involvement, we shot from 500 entries to 1200. As we're now charging an entry fee we lost the ability to be promoted on the BBC Writers Room Opportunities page, which counted for the vast majority of our entrants. We put our faith in social media and give thanks for British Comedy Guide, MovieBytes and Writers News (thank you, Jenny Roche).
The next five days will tell if we've been successful. And the month after that will tell if you've been successful. But the lessons are the same:
1) Look to the past to see what has worked and what you can learn from and build on. Celebrate the past, but don't live there.
2) Work with a love of what you do - writing, acting, producing, gardening, working in a job centre, dealing with unemployment benefit claims, selling home insurance.
So, as you wait with bad breath to find out whether you're on the long list, we'll be thinking of you. We've just gone through the same thing.