Sometimes writers can be so focused on getting their original TV drama / sitcom off the ground that they don’t consider exploring other avenues that can help on that journey to achieving the dream. It can take years to get to write for TV and can often feel unattainable. Even the most experienced writers can struggle to get their ideas through commissioning. But what’s important in the early stages of your career is focusing on building your experience and credits and finding opportunities to do just that. Here at BBC Writersroom we encourage writers to think broadly about genres they may not have entertained or imagined working in. Much of the work we do with our Comedy and Drama Room writers is to draw their attention to entry points that may be more achievable in the earlier stages of their career. A great place writers should consider, is writing for Children's. Not just because CBBC/CBeebies are very amenable to working with new writers (for the right project of course), but because writing for Children’s is a lot of fun, very collaborative, and let’s not forget they are the most open, engaged and challenging audience on our planet!
BBC Writersroom has a great relationship with the Children’s departments (CBBC and CBeebies) and we meet regularly to discuss collaborations and opportunities for writers. With Children’s HQ based at MediaCity in Salford, I work really closely with them to try and get writers commissioned on new and existing shows as well as setting up schemes to develop original series ideas. When you visit the Childrens teams something that quickly becomes clear is how passionate they are about their content, relationship with their audience and willingness to work with new talent.
With series commissions stretching to thirty, or even a hundred, episodes that opens up some great opportunities for writers. Our fruitful relationship has led to over 30 writers getting their first TV sketch commissions from 2016 to date, across shows such as CBBC's Class Dismissed to CBeebies Something Special, Swashbuckle and Gigglebiz (to name a few). If you can write sketch comedy the opportunities are rife!
Apart from sketch comedy we've had writers commissioned on shows such as Dumping Ground, through a shadow scheme initiative and have had writers taken into paid development via targeted residentials - aimed at generating new original series ideas to help accelerate the development process.
Rather than me listing all our successes with Children's we asked a few writers that have recently had commissions to talk about the process and their experiences:
Before being part of the Comedy Room, I’d never considered writing for children’s TV. I didn’t think I’d be able to write anything that would relate to kids and more importantly, that would make them laugh. Crucially, I also didn’t watch any of it. Being part of the Comedy Room and getting to spend a day at CBBC, listening to producers and writers talk about the process, allowed me to see something that should have been glaringly obvious. Funny is funny, no matter who you are writing for. I now watched everything. I entered an open call for Class Dismissed (my favourite CBBC show) and my sketch was filmed and broadcast. From not having a clue about the genre in January, I had my first writer’s credit in it in November. Thanks to this, I was invited to Salford as part of a writers group, generating ideas for new characters and sketches for the upcoming series four. And last year I spent three days on a writer’s retreat with BBC Writersroom Scotland, aimed at coming up with ideas for a new original drama series for the CBBC Own It website, where my pitch was commissioned to treatment and is now in development.
When I entered the Comedy Room 2015/16 I had zero intention of writing for kids, but somehow our day with CBBC/CBeebies managed to touch my cold, dead heart. What struck me most was that everyone who spoke to us seemed to genuinely love their jobs.
Right? I was wary and suspicious too, so naturally I applied for the first thing that came along.
I was ridiculously excited to get a sketch on the air with Class Dismissed. To write my submission, I told myself I’d watch one or two of the sketches to get an idea of the show, and ended up bingeing every episode available on iPlayer and laughing my ass off. I was invited to their writers room the next year and fangirled embarrassingly hard.
After that experience, I submitted to all the children’s opportunities BBC Writersroom sent my way. Obviously rejections aplenty, but the acceptances have made it all worth it!
I was recently part of a workshop for Gigglebiz, which was totally fun. I don’t write much slapstick normally so it got me thinking about comedy writing in a whole different way. It was a great stretch for my prudish stiff-backed brain. I’m also writing for Kit and Pup, an upcoming Cbeebies animated series that is ADORABLE. Yeah science, education, whatever – I just spend most of my time in the workshops trying not to “squee” out loud because Kit and Pup are that cute!
I still write grown-up scripts (first radio credit last month with Sketchtopia – Yay!!), but I’m a total children’s TV writing convert. Maybe it’s because I’m a jaded former stand-up, but I love that you’ve really got to find the funny because kids are smart, brutally honest, and don’t care if you’ve been in the Comedy Room or not. To me it’s almost like comedy writing in its purest form because you can’t rely on crude shock value or taboo subjects to make people laugh. I mean, Kit and Pup aren’t going to talk about a visit to the proctologist. They’re classy like that. Also, they can only say “meow” and “woof”… SQUEEEEEE!!
My journey with the BBC Writersroom began when Anne Edyvean read a draft of my spec script. She was looking for writers who needed one last push to get their script across the finish line. What happened next changed the course of my writing career. She paired me with a fantastic script editor, and suddenly I had a fresh set of eyes on my writing. We spent the next few months discussing the characters and story, and of course I did a lot of redrafting. Finally it was finished and doors began to open. I sent it out to agents and signed up with 42 soon after. The script got me into meetings with producers, broadcasters and onto BBC shadow schemes. I did a training script for CBBC’s ‘The Dumping Ground’ and won my first commission. This lead to a residential, where a group of writers were invited to develop story ideas and to meet CBBC commissioners. I’ve just finished a 10-week writersroom for an action thriller on Fox, and am about to begin another with the BBC. My journey so far has required lots of hard work but is ultimately very rewarding. It began with the BBC Writersoom, and getting my spec script finally finished!
I submitted two episodes of my children’s animation spec script to the 2016 Comedy Room with zero expectations. I got through to the second sift stage, but I didn’t make the final pick of writers. To my shock and surprise I was still taken for development. I got hoisted up to Media City to piggyback with the 2015 Drama Room writers during a fantastic day at CBBC/CBeebies. Since then I’ve been part of a writer’s room developing an original CBeebies animation, which would lead to my first commission. Invited to workshop pitching sketch ideas for Gigglebiz, and most recently received my second commission for a live action drama in the works for BBC Children’s Scotland. Looking back on it all I still can’t quite believe it’s happened. It’s absolutely amazing, oh and SO MUCH FUN! What’s been so great about it is how welcoming and supportive the BBC Writersroom have been throughout all of it. It’s great to know that the people in the Writersroom are… actual people who like to have a laugh and talk about their favourite shows. They decided to take a chance with me and I’m ever so grateful to them for that.
What’s been great about being part of the Comedy Room is, while you’re trying to achieve the impossible dream of writing a sitcom, you’re also given the opportunity to pitch your words and ideas to different departments – like children’s TV. And it’s just as fun. I’ve been lucky enough to write a sketch for Something Special, putting Mr Tumble’s ted in tiny red Doc Martens. I’ve been on an intense but fun Gigglebiz brainstorming day. I also remember sitting in one Comedy Room session where we were given great advice from the writers and producers of Danger Mouse. A year on, and I’ve just written an episode myself. Not a sitcom yet, but as a child growing up in the 80s, pretty much up there.
So hopefully we’ve convinced you to consider writing for Children’s. But how can I apply for the opportunities mentioned I hear you ask? Most of these opportunities as mentioned are targeted and only open to the writers that come through our schemes - particularly Script Room. Part of the 6 month development programme on Comedy and Drama Room offers writers tailored opportunities for commissions and chances to pitch. So as the saying goes you’ve got to be in it to win it!
