A Way With Words: Writing Comedy

In screenwriting terms I’m nowhere near the top of my profession. League Division 3 or 4, say. I am now a ‘writer’, but I’ll always be a hack. And, like all old hacks, I have quite a good sense of how much space I have left in this piece and had better start stuffing it with advice:

• Keep going
My screenwriting career started late, and only then because I couldn’t bear not to keep showing off. I wasn’t washed up at 50, so there’s no need for anyone to be. Also, duh, you can’t be a writer if you don’t write. Even if it’s just for your own amusement, even if you’re just giggling with mates on Twitter, even if it’s a terrible diary that’ll never be read by anyone … write. Every day. You’re not going to get worse, are you?

• Welcome the criticism, love the notes
The hardest thing about exposing your work to others for the first time is people not unconditionally loving it. Get over it. Get over yourself. In time you will love criticism – the more destructive the better; all writing needs to be stress-tested. Notes are your friends. People will give notes and it will make your thing better, which is what you want (unless you’re deranged). You might not understand at first why other people say this or that isn’t working, but – come on – if it isn’t working for them, it isn’t working. Fix it.

• Get an agent
I know, it’s a conundrum. If you haven’t had anything published or broadcast, you’re less of a catch; you stand more chance of getting noticed if you have an agent. Find the ones who specialise in what you write; pitch yourself. How to find an agent? I dunno … maybe get some sort of Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook or whatever.

• Join a union
This isn’t just about you, it’s about us. The stronger the union, the stronger the union member.

Good luck. We all need it. However hard you work at it, you still need to catch a break. Serendipity is what we call it, for we are writers.

Read Ian's full article A Way with Words: Writing Comedy in the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2023, available to order from Bloomsbury.com

Ian Martin is an Emmy award-winning comedy writer and producer. His screen credits include The Thick of It, The Death of Stalin, Veep and Avenue 5. His comedy-drama The Hartlepool Spy won the Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Drama in 2020. He has written for the Architects’ Journal, New Statesman, the Observer and the Guardian. His books include Epic Space (Unbound 2017) and The Coalition Chronicles (Faber & Faber 2011). Follow him on Twitter @IanMartin.