Hi – I’m 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. I’ve been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a UK script writer for broadcast TV.
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 – and my video showreel is below.
This year – 2026 is the 12th consecutive year that I’ve been offering a UK script report service – Script writer for hire and UK script consultant mainly through the UK script consultant page on my website.
Why Am I Organising SCRAW?
New scriptwriters in the UK – have limited options and opportunities, and to be fair, this is the same the world over.
In the UK there is really only one place you can send a script (that will actually read it) and that’s the BBC Writers OPEN CALL – a competition (open once a year) which invites writers to send in scripts – so that the BBC can develop the writer (develop means put to work on existing shows in most cases – the only real recognised career path for scriptwriters in the UK) – lucky winners of the BBC OPEN CALL usually end up writing episodes of existing BBC shows – most commonly EastEnders or Casualty.
I worked on EastEnders as a scriptwriter – I was already very experienced when I landed at Elstree Studios where Enders is shot – I’d already worked on Emmerdale, and already sold 2 screenplays, and had original short films broadcast (On CH4) – by the time I started On Eastenders I’d been a working pro for a few years – and IT WAS STILL really hard to get onto the EastEnders writing and even harder to hit the ground running.
Nobody, not even the BBC Writers team can properly prepare you, for what it’s like working on a juggernaut of a show like EastEnders. Most new writers won’t be able to get their legs under the table at shows like that, there’s just so much to learn, and it has to be learned on the job. Producers and script editors won’t nurse maid new writers – even those that come in via BBC Writers schemes. It’s very much sink or swim and a lot of very talented writers will sink.
But the whole career ladder of scriptwriting in the UK is like that:
Did you know there are only ever around 300 full time employed working scriptwriters in the UK?
Did you know that the writing teams of soap operas like Coronation Street and Emmerdale are made up of less than 30 writers? With Each writing an episode every three weeks?
Did you know that the late Tom Stoppard (an Oscar Winning Brand Name Screenwriter) often wrote Peak Practice under a fake name – to earn money?
Did you know that Russell T Davies, one of the most famous and celebrated UK scriptwriters actually started his career writing ChuckleVison for the Chuckle Brothers?
So yeah – it’s a funny old game, this scriptwriting profession – and if you want to break into TV scriptwriting (and stay in it) you need all the help you can get. And most new writers never get access to a real genuine scriptwriter who has served in the trenches of UK TV. And I have, and I hope when I read and give feedback on a new writer’s script – that I bring with those comments – 25 years’ proven experience in the industry.
I know about agents and how they work (and how to get one, and one to expect when you do get an agent)
Contracts and money
I know about breaking in and burning out (I wrote 11 Emmerdale episodes in one twelve month period at age 27 – 330 minutes worth of broadcast TV – or the equal to three full finished feature films in one year, written, shot and broadcast in that same single year and bare in mind I was at 27, the youngest writer the show ever employed). That’s no mean feat – but it IS what is expected when you hit the ground the running.
So, yeah – my reports don’t just help the individual script you’ve sent me – they can also help you build a career. They can help teach you lessons that are vital to learn BEFORE you embark on a scriptwriting career – and as part of Script Coverage and Reports Awareness Week – I’m going to give away some free lessons from a pro.
So, access to someone with pro experience who has been there and done it, can be vital – So that’s why I decided to run with SCRAW – My script coverage service is one of the busiest script report and feedback services in the UK, and my script reports are the most comprehensive on the market – my average script report is over 30 pages long – and filled with specific notes, feedback, lessons and career advice (see my video below on the business aspects of scriptwriting for a real insight into how the business works for screenwriters).
It’s not expensive either
- £80 for a TV script (up to 65 pages)
- £120 for a feature film script (up to 125 pages)
SO – follow me this week (SCRAW WEEK) as each day there will be a brand new blogpost and I’ll be doing a live week long Q & A on LinkedIn, X and Blusky.
ABOUT MATTHEW COOPER – UK SCRIPT WRITER FOR HIRE
Hi – I’m 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
I’ve worked on feature films, TV series, web series and as a director I’ve made six micro budget features films, including ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ which hit the screens in 2021 and ‘H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ which was released in 2024 and is free to view on his YouTube here: https://youtu.be/AEfaYEsx7pM
And I also wrote and directed the hit comedy feature film SOBER, which was shot in nine days for a total budget of £7,000 and cleared 10,000 YouTube views in 2 days! Sober stars Dean Smith (Last Tango in Halifax / Still Open All Hours) and Tom Gibbons (Funny Cow / The Archers) which made a big splash when it released in 2025 – you can view the comedy film here for free – https://youtu.be/Dx3yq03z6Mc
Matthew is also a hugely busy early adopter of AI VIDEO and you can hire him as an AI VIDEO DIRECTOR FOR HIRE – and check out his AI VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY.
YOU CAN CONTACT MAT ON – matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk