Sunday 3 September 2006

Back... sort of.

Well, I don't seem to have said very much recently. I don't imagine I've been missed!

I had two weeks very enjoyable holiday in South Devon with the family. Sand, sea and sun much appreciated by all of us.

Then back to the real world with a horrid jolt with the news that a close friend from university has died. I don't want to write about it, so I won't.

Much better was the family wedding, followed the next weekend by a family 90th birthday.

But, if you add all that to a horribly busy time at the office, perhaps it's not surprising that, frankly, I've almost forgotten I'm a writer.

I must remind myself every morning when I awake, "I am a writer. I am a writer. I am a writer."

Mind you, I did get some confirmation of that status because the BBC have paid the second half of my fee for Doctors. They've accepted my script, and they'll be shooting in the not too distant future. I seem to remember promising that I'd give a run down on how the whole process went. I'll do so in the next day or so.

But, having made such a successful job of the episode and worked really well with my script editor, I discover he's leaving and heading off to Casualty (the show, not the hospital). Good luck to him, I say (and can I come too?). But it puts me back a step or two with Doctors and a new script editor. She seems very nice, but it means starting from scratch all over again. And, with a new man in charge overall, I suddenly find myself without any stories banked. So, right back to square one, and, until the new man decides what he wants to do and where he wants to take the series, there's no point even thinking about new story ideas right now.

But what I do have to do is sort out some more radio ideas, because it's that time of year again. A nice little commission for a radio drama would be great. I've got the idea in my head, it's just a matter of finding the time to sit down and get it onto one or two sides of a piece of paper.

Talking of which, there's at least four TV series knocking about in amongst the little grey cells too. And I've been promising them to my agent for far too long.

But I've got to go the office tomorrow. And it's going to be another long day.

This writing thing would be so much easier if I didn't have to earn a living at the same time.

3 comments:

Dominic Carver said...

Yeah, I know what you mean. It would be nice to earn enough money (or any money come to that) from writing so that I wouldn't have to slave for anyone else.

Paul Campbell said...

The problem is that I'm beginning to fully appreciate that being a screenwriter is almost as much about being a slave for someone else as any other job. The only difference is that you tend to be a slave in your own home and can wear pyjamas all day.

Anonymous said...

Great news on the money coming through, and the progress to shooting, Paul. That's exceptional.

Maybe there will be opportunities with Casualty?