Cat Number Two

It's much harder to sell a script than a novel because compared to publishing there are many fewer people who can make a go decision by an order of magnitude. There are precisely 4 people in the UK who can, on their own authority, order a TV drama script made. Everybody else you talk to, everybody else you have meetings with, everybody except for those 4 (don't ask who they are) is merely a stepping stone to a final decision by the the people that can. All of these people have opinions, some of them can read a script and some cannot but that is irrelevent - good or bad your script is entirely dependent on their good will to advance. The fact is you could write a fabulous script that was loved by all who read it, championed by a giant in the industry and it could still not be made because one of those 4 didn't like cop shows/SF/men with beards/historical dramas or whatever or may merely have spent their drama budget that year.

If, despite knowing this, you still felt a need to repeatedly bang your head against a brick wall than the book to buy is 'Save the Cat' by Blake Snyder. This is the best common sense book on script writing I have ever read and if you study it closely and understand it properly then you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your rejected script was at least a good one. Then having got this strange urge to hurt yourself badly out of the way you can go do something useful with your life - like accountancy. As I said to the Evil Monster Boy everybody loves an accountant, especially in March.