Day 3

So three days in on this new project and my first day of hardcore writing. Yesterday it struck me that I have no idea where my next pay packet is coming from – it was a bit scary – I had to fight the temptation to buy the Evening Standard and go through the jobs section. I am used to being at work, doing my hours, coming home, repeating five times and then enjoying the weekend. Now the weekend is going to be the same as every other day – I am going to be spending it writing. I think I am going to miss weekends.

So why am I doing it?

I have always wanted to write television. As a kid I marvelled at the writing of Alan Bleasdale, Willy Russell, Alan Plater, John Sullivan, Jack Rosenthal and many more. I knew it was what I wanted to do. But I was a realist, knew I never had the talent, would never be able to create such great characters or line so good it would seem to come out of the screen and slap you round the face.

I left school and took a day job – insurance – hated it. After 4 very long years, and after seeing a few episodes of LA law, I decided to train to be a lawyer. After three years I came to the sad realisation that I would make the worst lawyer in history, I thought it would all be runing round a corner like Harry Hamlin (as it turns out it’s quite hard and not a little boring). All the time I was doing this, digging away at my soul, was a unwritten script –a sitcom. Then one day I sat down and wrote it. I didn’t really know what I was doing but the script got written.

Then I sent it to the BBC.

And they didn’t hate it.

OK at no point did they use the word genius which was a little dissapointing but they said I had potential and as a writer I was able to understand the subtext – I was Alan Fecking Bleasdale.

I was on my way.

That was nine years ago. You will see from what I have written below that it didn’t quite work out that way.

Anyway will talk some more later. Have to go and polish an old script to send to a producer.