Writing does not exist in a vacuum. It’s not enough to have a brilliant script on your computer, or in a folder with a bunch of other work. Scripts are documents that are the starting point of a collaborative process. And that process begins with sending your work to other people for their feedback.

First, there are the people you trust to offer something like objective feedback on your writing. Maybe friends, possibly family, in an ideal world other writers, but certainly people who can offer useful criticism. That’s the stage I’m at having circulated the first couple of chapters of the novel I’m writing to some female friends. I’ve been particular about choosing women, and women who are intelligent readers — and in one case a writer — because those chapters are narrated by two sisters, and I felt confident that female readers would pick up any failings in my ability to inhabit the skin of those characters.

Fortunately, the feedback is very positive. As one friend commented, “I hope to fuck it’s published because I NEED to read the lot!”. What it lacks in specificity it makes up for with attitude. And I’m hoping to get more detailed comments from my writer pal tomorrow.

So, there’s the feedback you can ask for that’s useful when engrossed in a project, especially at those points when you’re unsure whether it’s utterly brilliant or entirely fatuous. And that feedback can help guide your writing and revising process until you’ve got a draft you’re happy to send out into the world. Which is when the other kind of feedback comes in.

Sooner or later, as a scriptwriter, you need to engage with the industry. The exception is for street performers, but if so you’ll be exposed to the direct opinion of an audience, which either sticks round and puts money in your hat, or departs in favour of the half price fridges advertised in the window behind you. For most of us though, we’re faced with the business of sending scripts out to production companies, broadcasters, theatres, and so forth. And what counts at this point is anything other than a generic rebuff, which is why I was pleased to receive a letter in today’s post from a production company I rate highly:

“Thank you for sending us your script. I have now read and discussed it with the rest of the development department.

“We thought your idea had the potential to be an interesting and thought provoking series. Although I’m afraid that given our large development slate currently we don’t think it is the right project for us.”

Which, admittedly, isn’t as positive as “we enclose a six figure cheque and an invitation to our hotel at Cannes” but, you know, ain’t shabby either. Rather more encouraging was the response I got from an actor looking for a play suitable to stage this year, whose response to Breaking In — available as a sample script on this very site, folks — was “I love it, it’s on our short list and my personal fave…I was wondering, did you have any other one act plays?”.

You will note, as I did, that the enthusiasm of the response varies according to the financial rewards of the medium: I’ll be able to pay for a slap-up meal on the proceeds of the play, whereas I’d be looking to clear my mortgage with the tv project. So it goes.

Feedback, as the saying goes, is the breakfast of champions. The more perspectives on your work you can glean, the more you can learn from them, and the better that will shape your words so that a potential purchaser will squee when they see them. (‘Squee’ is a technical term, yes.) And one strategy I found useful in my earlier days — and still do — was to always be waiting to hear back about at least one project in addition to the one you’ve just heard about. Meaning, you’ve got an incentive to keep producing work and looking forward to good news rather than brooding on feedback that didn’t tell you what you wanted. Right now, I’m waiting to hear back from a radio producer, Big Finish (who put out a call for Dr Who ideas a while back), and a local audio drama project. Wish me luck — I know I do.

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