What was your route into comedy writing? 

I started writing for the radio. There was a show called Week Ending that had open submission meetings and you’d go in at Wednesday lunchtime and pitch ideas along with 50 or so other people. They just gave you a pass and let you into the BBC for the day, which they probably wouldn’t do now. After a while of this, my writing partner Andy Riley and I got commissioned, which meant the BBC paid us £23 a week, split two ways, to write sketches for them. The train fare was more but it felt like a very big break. Then were fortunate enough to get on a BBC scheme, which paid us £6,000 each over one year in return for scripts. That allowed us to come off the dole. The other writer on the scheme our year was Clive Coleman who is now the BBC Legal Correspondent. 

How is writing for animation different from writing for live action – which is harder? 

They’re not as different as you might think. Both involve work on story, character, dialogue, jokes and set pieces. Animated movies tend to be mock epics, which are fun to write but they need to appeal to everyone in the world and that can be quite tough. 

Do you have a set writing schedule? 

We have an office and we work fairly standard hours. Different projects require different schedules. If we’re writing a sitcom or a film, we don’t dive straight in. We plan it all out first. We have pages and pages of notes and we have index cards on the walls. That’s where the real work is. 

Do you ever get writer’s block? 

You get writer’s block less as you get more experienced because you know more tricks to get you out of holes. Also, there are two of us, so that helps. If we get really stuck on a project, we move onto a different project. If we then get stuck on the next project, it might be time to go home for the day. Sometimes you have to leave something for a few days. Also, if a scene just won’t come, often it’s because it’s the wrong scene. Find a different way to tell that part of the story. 

Why should new writers apply for the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum? 

Firstly there some amazing prizes for the winners, including the chance to see your work performed in New York and Edinburgh. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you might be read by some of the most important producers, actors and commissioning editors working in comedy today. They regularly follow up on the scripts they read, and even if you don’t win one of the main prizes, it could lead to something great. Even if nothing happens, you’ll still have got a script submission together in order to enter. And that could help you become a better writer. 

What advice do you have for emerging comedy screenwriters? 

Keep writing. Try and write in lots of different genres to see what you are good at. Write an original spec script if you can. A funny blog or podcast can do wonders for getting you noticed, but in the end, if you want to be a sitcom or sketch writer you’ll need to show people that you can write in those formats. 

If you want to be a gag writer then you have to get on Twitter – probably the best medium for undiscovered joke writers there has ever been. If you want to spend your time slagging off current comedy shows on the internet, well that’s up to you, but if things go well, in a year’s time, you’ll be sitting in a basement office with the makers of those shows, trying to sell them ideas. 

Turn off the internet when you want to write.  Eat healthily and get some exercise. Enter the BAFTA Rocliffe competition.

Visit BAFTA’s website to enter the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum. Deadline for script submissions is 22 May 2013. 

Create an entertaining Twitter persona for our 10 x 10 x Mother brief for a chance to win £500 and a coveted paid internship at Mother London. 

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