MAKE YOUR FIRST 10 PAGES THE BEST! (bbc.co.uk/writersroom/)

Member Name: paulyvous

Product:	bbc.co.uk/writersroom/
Date:	25/08/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: GREAT FOR KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH WRITING NEWS

Disadvantages: MOST PEOPLE DON'T GET FEEDBACK

The BBC writersroom supports new writing talent in film, television, theatre and radio. Every unsolicited script that is sent to the BBC is passed on to the writersroom. They have strong working partnerships with theatres, writers' organisations and also screen agencies

There are literally thousands of scripts sent in each year, so they have a policy that they only read the first 10 pages. If this impresses the reader, it's passed on to the next stage. There's a writing opportunities section that's always looking for local and national talent, along with the links part of the homepage which leads on to lots of different and interesting websites.

I particularly like this website as it's constantly being updated to keep us up on the latest marketing news within the industry. The BBC are generally very good at keeping all their websites bang up to date!
They always have experienced professional writers' on hand to give advice through Q+A sessions. Some well known ones are: Paul Abbott - SHAMELESS, Paul Mayhew- Archer- VICAR OF DIBLEY and Jeremy Dyson-LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN.

Some people think it's a bit harsh judging a script by the first 10 pages, especially if it was a film script of about 120 pages! Well as mentioned above, due to sheer volume it's not possible, but it's also there to guide the writer, because in those 10 pages, everything has to be set up nicely but in a realistic fashion and usually if the beginning is good, the rest of the script tends to be spot on.

I had a sitcom shortlisted myself a few years ago. It was through The BBC Talent Scheme, and they gave me some very constructive feedback to use in the rewrite! The only negative thing is, when your script is rejected, they don't give any feedback at all - had a few of them! Again it's the volume thing, but surely there must be some way of giving just a little feedback? These are the scripts that need it most!

Summary: OVERALL THE BEST PLACE TO SEND YOUR SCRIPT.