This is the continuing story of a struggling writer trying to get a script to be picked up by the BBC. This week's section covers the waiting process.
July 2003
I had spent weeks creating what - I thought at least - was a suitable script for the late evening, just post watershed time slot (9pm). The plot was simple; create the ideal family, give them everything and then slowly destroy them, because they have all been cheating on each other.
It may not have been original, but at least it made some progress. I actually managed to get it printed. Not bad considering that it was 132 pages long.
I sent it in and waited. Waiting is the main issue for a budding writer. You spend the vast majority of your time waiting for an answer, waiting for inspiration, waiting for someone to remind you that you should have been somewhere else a half an hour earlier. The list is endless. Then you have to wait for a receipt for the manuscript.
It arrived. They had received the script. Now I had to wait for three months for them to read it. Three monthsdrat. It takes three months, because they need to read all the other manuscripts before they read yours. I had been there before. The year before I had tried to write a comedy, which was silly as I was the only one to find it funny.
I have had rejection letters from a number of production houses, and the worst one resulted in my script coming back with a sarcastic letter and a half-eaten jam sandwich in it.
This is the world of the budding writer. You wait. Then after two or three months, you are destroyed. I waited for three months, then I got some news.
More on that next time.
Tags:
television fame famous world comedy 
