Mr Matthew Stott

So it was about four years ago that I first wrote a sitcom script that I thought was good enough to interest producers. I had written four or five before that, and enjoyed them at the time, but as soon as I finished this script, I just knew I’d stepped it up. The first few scripts had been practice, this felt like the real deal. I don’t know if this is the same for all writers, but I remember being strangely certain.

The script was called ‘Shoot The Moon’ (for reasons too sexy and long-winded to go into here) and it did indeed end up being the first script of mine to get serious interest from producers. It got me my first actual meeting, was the first thing to be developed and pitched to channels (as a Baby Cow/Assembly co-production) and helped get me my first (and current) agent.

So if you’re a new writer, don’t expect the first thing you write to be ‘the one’; that you’ll send it out and have producers begging you to come in for a chat. Or the second script. Or even the third; chances are that with these scripts you’ll just be learning your craft, and when you get to the point of writing something worth other people’s time, it’ll be obvious.

Well.

Maybe.

Here we go then, I thought I’d share the first ten pages of ‘Shoot The Moon’. It’s a bit cartoonish, and I’d like to think I’ve developed since writing it, but what the hell, follow the link:

Shoot The Moon – Script Extract