MCharsley
Monday 20th May 2013 11:25am
116 posts
Quote: evan rubivellian @ May 20 2013, 11:56 AM BST
MCharsley: Do you think everyone who writes their first script will have similar success?
The article gives the impression that it's simply a matter of dashing off a sitcom and the world falls at your feet. Fair enough, it seems to have done so in the case of the writing team who won the Rocliffe competition but you'd have to agree that it's not going to happen in most cases.
Obviously, new comedy writers (as well as the old ones) are going to have ambitions and hopes, but they should also have realistic expectations. Or do you think otherwise?
I don't think it does give that impression, to be honest. She gives 15 tips, most of them are good. Maybe quite straightforward and not revelatory, but they're worth being reminded about, and some which people who have been trying to write for years still haven't learned.
To be clear, you're objecting to Rocliffe building up false hopes for first-time writers in order to earn more money from new entries? I don't know enough about how and why Chortle publish their articles to speculate, really. Maybe you have a point though. I was really just jumping in because the writer was getting some very unfair criticism.
As for realistic expectations, I have no strong feelings either way. I don't think it does any harm to encourage new writers to enter competitions on the off-chance. The lessons about perseverance and dealing with rejection come whichever way you go!
