As promised in about the results of our latest Drama Script Room, our team of readers have collated below some advice and feedback for writers who were unsuccessful this time, or may be thinking about entering a script in the next window (at the end of this year).
As you are probably aware there were nearly 4000 submissions to Drama Script Room and only 33 went through to the final round to be read by the 主播大秀 Writersroom producers. That’s less than 1%! And all the readers thought the standard across the board was much higher than previous years.
As the competition was so fierce we thought it might be useful to give some thoughts and feedback from our readers on the reasons why some scripts might not have made it. Some of the advice is obvious, others less so, but hopefully all of it is worth bearing in mind for next time.
- Don’t send your first draft. It’s a massive achievement to finish a script and the temptation to simply breathe a huge sigh of relief, hit send and go to the pub is totally understandable. But it might be better to put it aside for a week or two, let it gestate, and return to it with fresh eyes. You might find that a break away from it will inspire some new ideas and fresh angles. (You also get to spend more time in the pub).
- Although a script would never be rejected due to typos and spelling mistakes it is always worth checking through for errors. A professionally finished and correctly formatted script is always a pleasure to read, especially when dealing with the sheer volume of scripts we are reading.
- Ensure that the story starts with a strong opening and hooks the audience interest as early as possible. Ideally, the first few pages will ask an intriguing question that makes us want to find out what happens next.
- Don’t overload your opening pages with lots of unnecessary detail about setting and characters. Trust that your audience will figure things out for themselves and do not need to be spoon fed information.
- Just because the minimum length is 30 pages doesn’t mean you should down tools the moment you get to page 30. An abrupt ending can be as disappointing as an overly pedantic start. Similarly, don’t make your script too long – does your story really need to be longer than 100 pages or can you cover the same ground in a more concise way?
- Try to avoid familiar tropes. For example, it's probably best not to start your script at the beginning of the day with an alarm clock as it has been done so many times. And on arrival at a crime scene do Detectives always snarl “What have we got?”
- Don’t be afraid to wrong foot the audience, subvert expectations and spring surprises to keep us engaged. Challenge yourself to explore unusual choices.
- Memorable, strongly drawn characters are at the heart of all successful drama, and memorable characters are usually flawed, complex and faced with strong emotional/moral dilemmas. Create empathy in your characters through flaws and conflict.
- Trust the diversity of language. Places brought to life through specific language, slang and colloquialisms are exciting. Similarly, if you are writing a period drama you can launch into history and trust that your audience can take on expressions they don’t necessarily understand and still be engaged.
- It's great to have your finger on the zeitgeist and to want to delve into topical issues. Brexit, for example, featured regularly this year. But do be wary that the agenda doesn’t take precedence over characterisation. Be sure to develop your world starting with the characters rather than the agenda. And be careful that your characters are not simply mouthpieces for particular points of view.
- We are always looking for original voices, for something fresh and new. Although we welcome popular genres such as Historical Drama, Science Fiction and Police Procedural it is worth bearing in mind that these are arguably the hardest stories to make fresh and surprising. We get masses of Police Procedurals, for example, and they're all usually very polished, hitting the five act structure and genre conventions perfectly. Some might even have been optioned by a production company. But unless we get something from the script that feels personal to you – i.e. you are the only person who could write it - it's going to be hard for us to see your voice on the page.
Above all do please keep writing and sending your work to us. The next open submission Drama Script Room will be at the end of this year, so why not use these tips to get ahead of the crowd (we received nearly 4000 scripts in the last one). It may just make that vital difference.