Congratulations to everyone who got through on Red Planet – you all know who you are and I’m VERY pleased so many Bang2writers got through again. There’s some talented scribes out there.

Commiserations though to everyone who DIDN’T make the cut. Remember, it’s easy to denigrate your efforts on the basis of this result, but please don’t. Just because you didn’t doesn’t mean you’re shit, your script is just not what RP is looking for. I’m not saying this from a lofty position of “I’ve got through, loo-hoo-ser-huh” either, ‘cos I didn’t. Again. I won’t lie either: it smarts, especially when I have a draft ready to go. But you know what? Happens. Get over it. We all have to.

It sounds cheesy, but at times like these you have to take stock and assess what you DO have. I have plenty of other opportunities and irons in the fire, but even if I didn’t, I DO have a good script. I know this, because I have shown it to loads of people – that’s the beauty of feedback: you get to know if you are kidding yourself or not. If I had hidden my script away on my desktop, showing it only to Red Planet, then I would probably be deleting it right now. Remember – what works at one place, doesn’t always at another. So always make sure you show your script to as many people as possible, you never know when you will need that feedback to verify your own sense of self esteem, if nothing else! Whatever it takes to keep going, I say.

Also, one very good thing about being a script reader and blogger is of course I have either read or heard about what others are doing. Many, many of the scripts that have got through are either period or supernatural, or both. My script is neither: it’s a present day medical drama. Perhaps it’s not high concept enough? In that case, that’s absolutely nothing to do with my writing. However good it is, if it’s high concept they want – I’m just not ticking the right box.

But you live and learn. What’s more, I’ve had an acre of a feedback, a learning curve, lots of ideas and know EXACTLY where I’m going next with my draft. Peace of mind. Aaaaaah.

So DON’T PANIC if you didn’t get through. You might be tuning into the blogs thinking everyone did and you didn’t, I know I felt like that last night and almost ordered a hit on Danny Stack (you got lucky, boy). But hey: you’re not alone. Most of us are out. All is not lost. So chill, have a coffee, go back to your draft – send it somewhere else. I know I will be.

So if any producers out there wants a modern day medical drama with llamas in it, you know where I am.