The BBC Writers Open Call – is a great scheme – probably the ONLY way into professional scriptwriting in the UK – but the competition is fierce and this year word is they had around 7,000 scripts entered into the scheme – and the scheme only has 10 or 11 winners.
If you’ve never met me before my name is Matthew Cooper and I’ve been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 25 years.
I’ve written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and I’ve been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
I’ve done high profile rewrites on released and studio backed feature films and TV (often uncredited) in my time, I’ve also sold original screenplays to Miramax and Universal Pictures. Here’s a link to some of my credits on the IMdB
One of the things – that’s so frustrating for new scriptwriters is the lack of places to send your work to in the UK (most places these days cannot accept unsolicited script submissions – for iron clad legal reasons – that rule covers pretty much the whole business).
Writers who have one foot on the ladder in the form on an agent – can get their work accepted (as the legal part is covered when it comes from an agent) but even having an agent send out your work – actually doesn’t guarantee the recipients will read it – never mind give feedback.
All new writers need to have two things:
- A place to send a script – that will read it (which the BBC Open call does) and then a chance to get qualified feedback.
- Qualified feedback means – feedback that comes from someone within the industry – a working pro in film or TV.
The BBC Open Call – gets so many scripts – that giving detailed feedback (or any feedback at all) is almost impossible.
BBC OPEN CALL SCRIPT FEEDBACK
The readers at the BBC Writers work on a sift process – so scripts submitted are judged on the first ten pages first.
What is the ten-page rule?
Most readers will want three or four things from the first ten pages of a script.
They’ll want to find out.
- WHO THE SCRIPT IS ABOUT
- WHAT THE PROBLEM THAT NEEDS SLOLVING IS
- And WHY THEY (as a reader should care).
If you achieve those three things in the first ten pages – you’re already ahead of the game. And if your script is well written, utilising show and not tell – with great characters and dialogue and is technically in the correct format – then there’s a good chance you script will survive the ten page cut – and then be put aside for a full read.
But the truth is the vast majority of new writers script don’t do that. Do you want to see a pro do this? Watch the first six minutes of the first ever episode of Cracker (by Jimmy McGovern from 30+ years ago) in the first seven pages Jimmy set ups the main character played by Robbie Coltrane (as an arrogant, alcoholic, gambling addict – all shown) – who is also a brilliant psychologist with a twisted psyche of his own – (again all shown) – Jimmy also sets up a vicious serial killer that the police have no idea how to catch – again, all shown happening as the investigation happens – will the Coltrane character be able to crack the case?) And it’s all set up in seven or eight minutes – Cracker S01E01 – The Mad Woman in the Attic (Part 1 of 2)
I read over 400 scripts from new writers every year (and I’ve been doing this since 2012) and most new writers scripts have the same problems.
Script feedback from a pro scriptwriter
So – you get notified from BBC Writers that your script hasn’t made the cut – which isn’t surprising as 7000 – down to 11 or 12 people is pretty long odds. You did well to complete a script and get it entered. So, pat yourself on the back.
But what was wrong with your script – why didn’t you make the cut?
It’s that sort of feedback that a lot of new scriptwriters crave – your partner or your dad read the script and he liked it – you maybe even fed the script into CHAT GPT and it said the script was very good – you even tried a peer review service and the random reader picked out a few pointers – but what do they know?
If you need professional feedback on your script – because you want to know why it didn’t make the BBC OPEN call shortlist – then, you probably need to hire someone like me.
How I help new writers is in the form of a script report or script coverage.
My reports are the most comprehensive reports / coverage on the market I’m told. With a page by page read with notes, advice and where possible suggestions to improve. The reports are often over 40 + pages of specific, detailed advice.
Also included in the reports as standard is loads of advice on the ‘business aspects’ of screenwriting (especially in the UK) – which you need to know if you want to get anywhere.
So – if you want detailed advice from a working scriptwriter and script consultant – on what works and what doesn’t with your script. I’m your man, you can trust me to give detailed advice on why you didn’t make the sift – and I try and make my notes as constructive as they can be – so you can take me report and rewrite your submission.
The reports also give info on scriptwriting agents – what they want and how to approach them .
- Cost for a report is
- £50 for a short film script
- £80 for a TV script (up to 65 pages)
£120 for a feature film script