Well, Sam and I have read though the whole script adding scene numbers as and when they are required but it still seems a little light on stage directions. Nevertheless we’ve decided it’s time to let someone else see it. We toyed with the idea of getting together with friends, allocating them a part each and reading it over a bottle of wine – or two – but have decided instead to concentrate specifically on Sam’s two friends, the ones who still work in the TV industry that is.
It was at this stage I suggested printing off another sample script from BBC Writers Room. There are a number of scripts you can download including episodes of Spooks, Casualty and Life On Mars. There is no charge for the service but it does highlight just how far our offering is from looking professional. We have written the characters names in capitals all the way through the script but we have not highlighted each name or underlined it; we have indented each line of the script so that we have used only two thirds of each page, but we have not indented further when the characters are speaking. Yes, yes I know we should have thought of this before writing 50 pages of dialogue but with the ideas flowing thick and fast we neglected the detail. (So, just a little something else to keep us busy during the next few days - as if we needed anything else to do.)
Sam and I are starting to feel a little tense. We have spent so much time and effort on this project we’re not too sure how we’ll cope if all comments received are negative ones. But we didn’t write a comedy drama to leave it in the bottom drawer so, like waving to your child on the first day at school: ‘Off you go…we love you…and be good’ we are going to have to be brave. (Although I suspect I actually sobbed something about ‘waiting outside for a few hours’ when my two started school.)
Who knows what will happen? After my daughter’s first day she bounced out afterwards, full of tales of who she had played with, what her teacher was called and the lovely time she’d spent with paints and colouring pencils. My son on the other hand was silent. He could have been asleep for the four hours he’d been in school for all I knew and he certainly didn’t smile.
I’m guessing that any response to our script will be somewhere in between the two? God – I hope so.
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