Vol 1 | Issue 22 | ISSN 2979-8744 (online)

I like to call this period between September and February "silly season" for writers, specifically because that seems to be when all of the opportunities for us to be seen and break into schemes happen and we’re back to getting up at the crack of dawn and wiping our bleeding eyes past midnight trying to get the work in.

Let’s get into how I manage to survive this crazy beautiful time of year.

There are more than you think. Each year I’m able to submit to around 12-15 across the industry. And I make it a rule to only pay for entry if there is an outcome like a production fund or scholarship that benefits those who do get selected (e.g. Ed TV, WFTV, CenterFrame etc)

There are numerous websites and newsletters that have competition schedules or detail what is coming up and when. I won't be a bore and list all of them here. You can have a look on my Linktree for some of the newsletters that I specifically follow and of course there will be some regional differences because my focus is the Southwest.

Newsletters are vastly underrated. There's a bit of a consensus that no one has time to read a newsletter (here you are living proof reading mine) but most newsletters know this now and they are easy to digest, quick (unlike mine), to the point, and very, very useful (I live in hope). I sign up to over 200 newsletters, which, granted, is a lot.

To misquote Emerson, the ones I read, I read them well.

Some of those are industry news, some of those are opportunity circulars, and some of those are regionally specific. The rest are usually organisations or individuals who I engage with because I either like their content or because they provide specific and individual opportunities.

I cannot convey just how useful newsletters are. It does mean that you may have to sign up to more than you're prepared to read and then thin them out. Sometimes they repeat each other but every so often there's a gem in there that's really, really helpful.

It's also quite helpful that if you get to a stage where you're starting to do events (maybe you're speaking, maybe you're running a workshop, maybe you are having a script showcase or putting a play on), you know the places where you can advertise them, usually for free.

Often these newsletters just take a couple of minutes to skim so I set aside around 15 minutes a day just to skim through my inbox and to pick out anything that I need to pay attention to. I'll either flag it to read it when I've got more time or I will put it in the diary with a link to the website and a deadline date as well.

Looking at specific opportunities, you may find that you can submit the same script to most opportunities, though I would be really careful about this and not just assume. As with everything I've said over the last four months, research is your friend.

If you waste time or money on a competition or a scheme and you've just thrown in a script that isn't right, you're wasting everybody's time, least of all your own.

For example, Channel 4 has two opportunities a year:

For both of these, especially the one in the spring, I would look at the Channel 4 commissioning page. Philip Shelley offers a slightly different opportunity; he has a great newsletter where he details the ask. If you're not writing content that appeals to Channel 4 (and by that, I mean commercial, slightly out-there, state-of-the-nation, or whatever it is that's on the commissioning page), you probably need to rethink your submission.

Opportunities like the BBC: again you have to consider what they are looking for and it's not because they're going to make your work, because every single one of these schemes makes it very clear: they are not looking for ideas. They are looking for writers; they're not going to steal your idea. They're not going to take your idea and produce it. Submitting and getting selected does not mean that you are going to suddenly become the elite writer receiving a BAFTA next year

It is about distinctiveness of voice, understanding the market that you're proposing to, and how well you can execute an idea and a script. Other opportunities that come up a little bit later are things like the Edinburgh TV Festival, Women in Film and TV, etc. Those ones are probably a little bit more nuanced and they are a bit harder to guess. All you can really focus on is being bold and being good.

I'm sure most of you are quite tired of being told about AI and how we should or shouldn't use it, what it will and won't mean for our industry. I'm not going to wax lyrical about my opinions on either of those.

I will say that these schemes and their readers are so in tune with knowing when something is written by AI. I don't necessarily mean the script. I mean the pitch documents, the writer's bios; all of that supplementary information. AI has such a distinctive taint that it sours everything.

By all means use AI to support you with your spelling or maybe to help you structure an application but you must make sure that it has been written and edited by yourself. Otherwise, it will go straight in the bin and no one is winning.

There are some things you can double up on. For example, if you've written something for Channel 4 screenwriters in October and it happens to be bold and punchy, it represents your voice and who you are as a writer. Why not polish it and resubmit it to the Women in Film and TV Lab or the Edinburgh TV Festival New Writers because it's a bold piece of storytelling?

These opportunities aren't so much about the genre or where it fits in the market. It is about your distinct voice, so you can double up. That saves a lot of energy.

I think we've all fallen into the trap of feeling like we've written an awesome script. We submit it to the BBC and then we start to wonder whether or not we're a true feminist if we consider thanking our husband in our BAFTA speech.

It's very easy to get carried away with the dream of what if. It is very much the prerogative of these opportunities to sell you the dream of what if, because of course why else would you devote hours and hours and hours to putting a script in if we didn't believe in the power of what if?

We're all hoping that one day someone will see our work and go, "Oh my gosh, this person is exactly what we're looking for and this idea is a goldmine." That's what we hope.

The reality is that the BBC receive nearly 6,000 submissions a year for their open call across their schemes. It's a huge amount, given that they only really give out 40 slots and some of those are very specific to an underrepresented demographic.

When you look at the numbers it's quite daunting. Similarly, with all of the other competitions, they receive thousands of entries.

Now as someone who has read and pre-selected/judged for competitions, both screenwriting and film entries, I can say with some confidence that they break down like this:

That makes the numbers a little bit more palatable though it still doesn't mean that you get to deliver that BAFTA speech.

I say inevitable because I always find it's better to go into these situations with an expectation that the goal for submitting isn't getting selected.

Now bear with me here because I know you're going to say, "Oh Helen, don't be so down on yourself. Of course you might get selected. You're so good, blah, blah, blah."

However, the goal I am talking about is about trying.

There are a few things that have really helped me reshape the way that I view rejection and how I've normalised the need for "not yet," "try again," or "yes, but."

Part of this skill is honed through my day job, where I deal with clients and often get a "no," "not quite," and we have to move on. We have to put the idea aside. For so many of those ideas I'll go, "Oh I'll save that for another one," and I never do because I come up with another idea, a better one.

Sometimes this constriction forces you to really dig deep and come up with something even more brilliant and I love that about rejection. I also like to see myself approach a deadline and meet it.

So, for example, I might go: do you know what? The BBC Open Call runs September to December. I'm going to throw a script in this year and I'm going to write a brand new one and it's going to be amazing. I've had an idea for a while. Let's go.

Say around June I start drafting. By September the Open Call is open. The pressure is on: I should have a script and I should just be in feedback and editing mode. By December I've submitted a script and within 6 months I have a new script that I didn't have before.

I have another script I can put in my portfolio. I have more experience and understanding of the craft and who I am as a writer. I have firmed up relationships with other writers and provided and received feedback. I have reflected on my own progress as well since the last time I entered the BBC Open Call and that is the most valuable takeaway I think.

As you can see even the dream of having the problem of, "Do I thank my husband before everyone or after in my BAFTA speech?" now becomes secondary to the dream of having a killer script in your portfolio that you can shop around.

Because actually what I've done is I've proven to myself that I am a writer. I am actively writing. I am demonstrating my willingness to grow, to explore, to experiment, to connect with other people, and most importantly to try.

I have not met one writer who likes writing writer's bios. They are incredibly tedious and frustrating because sometimes they feel like you're copying and pasting. I love writing bios! Okay, no I don't like doing them but I like the value that they bring.

Every single time you write a writer's bio, you're being asked to reflect on where you are as a writer at this exact moment in time. The writer's bio that I wrote for the BBC Open Call last year is going to be significantly different from the writer's bio that I will write for BBC Open Call this year because of the growth and the traction I have gained in the last 12 months.

Even if you are submitting to Channel 4 in October, BBC in December, maybe Channel 4 again in April, Women in Filming TV in May etc. every single one of those bios will be different. If you are progressing as a writer, they will be different because you will be different.

I urge you to save your writer's bios. Every time you do a submission that requires one, have a look at your last writer's bio that you submitted for this opportunity and see what's different.

If it's not different, what is the offer that you are presenting the BBC with? Are you showing them that you are a writer who is actively trying to further your own career, to get yourself to a point where you can win that BAFTA?

Philip Shelley is notorious for keeping track of submissions and progress of individual writers that show potential. The BBC are also known to follow the progress of writers.

If these schemes and competitions really matter to you, then you need to make sure that you are upping the offer every single time and not gratuitously, because they'll see through the bullshit as quickly as they can see through AI.

It is absolutely part of the course. There is no doubt about it. I have met producers, development execs, directors, and writers on professional levels where, when we've talked about rejection, they find it such a relief to meet a writer who understands and is okay with rejection.

I’ve talked a lot about this subject on LinkedIn and of course, before in this newsletter. So I’ll spare you.

If you have spent the time crafting your script, reflecting on your state of stage, considering carefully what that opportunity will give you and how you will give that opportunity your best self, you have done absolutely everything you can to prove that you are worthy of this submission for this opportunity.

Why on earth would we dwell on what we could have done better and why we weren't selected?

The most important thing to remember at this very crazy time of submitting is to be realistic, lean on your writing community, and set up a feedback group specifically for one opportunity or another to discuss the requirements of each of those opportunities. Ask each other, "Are we meeting those criteria?" More importantly use it as an opportunity to create a new piece of work that didn't exist before.

And remember there's always next year.

Stevie, I know you're reading this. We'll talk about my fictional BAFTA speech over dinner x

Helen

Next up… do writers schemes really give your career a boost and how to make the most of them

© Helen Tompson 2026 | Feel free to share this newsletter with other writers. If you'd like to reproduce or quote larger sections, just drop me a message first.