Last week, out of the blue we received a lovely email from Liz Parikh, thanking us and letting us know that many years of applying to opportunities on the ±«Óãtv Writersroom website had led to her recently being signed by an agent. We asked Liz to expand her email into a blog post, as it provided a great example of how writing success (and rejection) takes time and persistence, and is a process of slow, incremental steps forwards (and sometimes backwards too).
I grew up in Blackpool and , , and Absolutely Fabulous were my favourite sit-coms and I loved crime drama - I remember holding my breath so I didn’t miss a word when there were episodes that featured stories about class, grief, race and mixed-race identity. Lots of people would be tuning in so what Jimmy McGovern’s characters were about to say really mattered. A thought stuck with me that I could have a go at writing for TV and years later I found the ±«Óãtv Writersroom. This was in the days of sending in physical scripts at any time of the year, receiving an acknowledgement postcard, and then an outcome letter, of rejection in my case, because at that stage my scripts didn’t even make sense, there was no structure and no clear voice. An easy reject. So, for years I got smack bang nowhere.
Jumping forward a few years I was now working as police suspect interview typist and had decided to do a part-time Masters in Scriptwriting at . I continued working for the police, finished the Masters, became a police constable, later moved into teaching and my writing had fallen by the wayside. Realising one day that all I did was work, eat and sleep I joined a local writing group, and being surrounded by writers again felt so good it awoke a determination in me. Despite the fact I was working as a teacher and not living in London, I decided to really go for it.
27th March 2017 was a turning point when I got an email to say one of my monologues had been selected for performance at an immersive theatre night called Under The Influence: 90s Britpop run by who are based in Warrington. I had also entered a short play to a competition. I didn’t get the gig but was invited to do a short course which led to a rehearsed reading at , Islington. Both were opportunities I’d found on the ±«Óãtv Writersroom website and once those credits were on my CV I was suddenly being accepted for more opportunities on ±«Óãtv Writersroom such as writing for ±«Óãtv Alba TV sketch show FUNC (I sold one sketch for series 1 and lots more for series 2) as well as Radio 4 sketch comedy Sketchtopia. Almost all of my work was over email and phone so my location never stood in the way. Doing any small project where no-one was getting paid was worthwhile, if a professional producer had made my work then it all added to the CV. Hunting online for production companies that had open submission policies also proved fruitful. I wrote two audio dramas for just by emailing a pitch to them and fell in love with podcasts in the process.
When I had a good amount on my CV to demonstrate I’d already got my writing career a little off the ground and had made some (not a lot) of money from writing I sent it to Natasha Salter at The Salt Partnership with a cover letter, and in September this year she asked to represent me. Soon after I was accepted onto a Introductory Playwriting Group that I’d applied for a few times, and I can’t wait to get started and meet the other writers. It’s taken me 13 years after graduating from Salford to get to this point.
For someone in my position ±«Óãtv Writersroom was key because it offers lots of advice from diverse writers, a free script library and crucially an opportunities page of free-to-enter competitions, most of which were not looking for any sort of experience. It’s not easy to keep applying to opportunities when you have a busy job, plus you’re inviting regular rejection into your life. I dealt with this by reducing the amount of competitions I entered and just focussing on one or two at a time. I also did not write every single day like writers are supposed to and I didn’t beat myself up about it. Rejection played a big part in giving up in the early days but now I know a rejection is not an official notice from the universe that you should give up writing. Occasionally there’s a rejection that stings. I deal with it by contacting my small group of writing buddies who I’ve met on courses and grown with as a writer. We read for each other and we’re there to support and pick each other up when a painful rejection arrives because we know exactly how it feels. Plus, I am a complete telly addict so it’s in my own selfish interest to encourage others to keep writing.
Good advice I’ve heard over the years… described a few of her early scripts as being stink bombs (I bet they were pretty good) so it’s OK to just move on from early stinky scripts. described being in a theatre rehearsal for her play and not understanding a Shakespearean reference that was being discussed, so you don’t need to be an expert on anything other than your own work to exist in the industry. And I’ve heard countless times that honing your craft (structure!) and originality are what will get you through the door. If you’ve written a not so great script but the characters and the idea feels new, it will get you much more attention than a script that a reader picks up and is instantly reminded of Fleabag or Happy Valley. And enjoy imposter syndrome, it’s good to be different.
Let me end with this perspective. There are a huge (and growing) number of national and international platforms and production companies who are all trying to cater to a channel hopping diverse set of audiences by making original or continuing content. TV dramas, audio dramas, radio comedies, theatre, video gaming, comedy panel shows, drag shows, baking shows, to name a handful, will fill platforms like ±«Óãtv Three, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. On many shows there will be multiple writers, sometimes multiple writers per episode, and when the audience has consumed, say, the 6 or 12 hours of content you’ve just made, they instantly want the next series or the next new thing. Writers are not just wanted, they are most definitely needed.
Explore free to enter writing opportunities from the ±«Óãtv and across the industry