Good points being made yesterday about the lack of women-led TV stuff in Scotland and further afield. I’ve been writing and pitching stuff for over 20 years and, speaking from experience, it seems much harder to get projects with women in the lead away.

The last sitcom pitch I did independently was for a thing called “Fort William”, about a 17 year old MMA fighter and her pals. Young women in the lead, set in Helensburgh. I thought it was a strong pitch, but it didn’t even make it to script.

Of course, it might just have been shite. There’s always the possibility, I think it’s important to remember, that the pitches might just be shite. But of the last five pitches I’ve made, four of the projects have had a woman in the lead, and none have flown. I’m not THAT shite.

I remember years ago me and Connell wrote a sitcom script set on the International Space Station. It was a good yin! Two characters, stranded in space. A guy and a woman. But we insisted that the woman was in her forties. “She’s too old”, we were told. “Can’t she be in her 20s?”

SHE WAS A FUCKING ASTRONAUT. A character who was a scientist and an astronaut. “Can she be 26?”
I’ve got a million stories, and I’m sure women creators have a billion more. The reality, I think is this:

It’s really hard to get a sitcom series. Really, really hard. Even for me and Connell, who are pretty established on the scene, and a couple of straight white guys, and West Coast, all the advantages - we still had to pitch and hope and get a pilot and then wait and wait and wait

and then hope people WATCH the pilot and then hope and cross our fingers and wait and so on. It’s hard to get one. They’re expensive to make. So it’s a very risk averse scene. I get it. But let me say this - the answer is sketch shows. Jesus, the answer is ALWAYS sketch shows.

I genuinely think that there should be a sketch show on TV every week of the year, always. On any TV channel, a new half hour of sketches every week should be happening. Sketch shows are where comedy writers hone their craft, where performers sharpen their skills and where —

— audiences are built. Would me and Connell have a sitcom right now without Burnistoun? No. Would we have had Burnistoun without Chewin The Fat? No. Sketch shows are how you can find new talent, support their work, and build them towards a good future in the business.

The current trend for “short, viral, online sketches” is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Thats not how you support new talent, and it’s not how you make them improve. Creators need a show, a decent platform, a writers room where they need to fight for their work.

I think many broadcasters these days think they are doing enough to support new talent if they commission a 3 minute Facebook video from them. But newsflash - nobody is in this game to do videos for Facebook or YouTube.

By their very nature, these online shorts are reductive things. They don’t allow writers and performers to be unconventional, or explore new ground. They aren’t even exposed to the same level of critique as TV/radio/film work. I question their worth.

Sure - they can alert you to the presence of great new talent - (people like Flora Bird, Amy Leith who is in The Scotts now, and so on) but they aren’t a career in themselves. They aren’t a good substitute for actual TV or radio work.

So where’s the all-women sketch show? That should be the first thing on the list of demands. Because it’s good for EVERYBODY. Women writers, women performers, women behind the camera. It would be an immediate, meaningful boost.

As for guys in the industry - we need to do our bit by continuing to pitch projects that have strong roles for women. It’s that simple. And if we have projects up and running?

We’ve written 5 episodes of our series of The Scotts now. In that show there are 5 guys, 6 women. And honestly, I’m not just saying this, the women have all the best patter. I’m really happy with how it’s shaping up on that front. We’ve got amazing women in the cast, and we’re—

— excited to see what they do with all the stuff we’ve written. It’s a question male writers need to ask themselves - “Do you really want the women in your show looking at the script and saying “Fucksake, is this it?”” We’ve made positive leaps from the pilot on that front.

Anyway, a long ramble. I dunno. But it’s all true, everything women are saying about the industry. More support is needed. And it’s been that way for a long time. Sometimes, a broadcaster just HAS TO TAKE A RISK, I think. Because it’s the right thing to do, and because many of -

— the best things come from risk taking.
And here, by the way, one more thing - the lowest risk thing that could be done in Scotland right now is putting @Louise5131’s The Dolls on telly. It’s popular, established, excellent. Where’s the risk there?

(By the way, current things I’m developing - Nogaku, film, woman in the lead. Witch Story, novel, two women leads. Devilish, procedural Scottish detective drama thing I’m working up towards a pitch, woman in the lead. So we’ll see!)