I enjoy writing.
I find it cathartic. And I like writing stories that make people feel happy for reading them.
But there are other benefits of writing as well.
One thing that I learned from writing my blog ‘eclipsed’ and my book – ‘how tom holland eclipsed his dad‘ – is that endeavour is always worth it. That endeavour is always a good thing. Because with endeavour comes hope – and hope keeps us at the coalface. Without hope what is the point?
And to highlight this, I would like to recount a short tale that revolves around my second book, The Ripple Effect.
I had been sacked from my publisher before it was published, a decision I had long suspected was coming and one that I worked hard to try and reverse – by writing a book, so good that they would have to keep me on.
This strategy failed. They sacked me. The book failed. They were vindicated and I was devastated.
That I had enjoyed writing The Ripple Effect was not enough and nor was being proud of the book and its notices. I had spent £20k of my own money promoting it try and prove a publisher wrong. And I failed.
Scroll forward 5 years or so to 2006/7 –
A mate of mine calls me up, Tim Searle – a pal from my days of being the warm-up man on Have I Got News For You. Tim is an animator and he had been approached about a sitcom. The producer was looking for writers and would I like to meet them?
Er…
Don’t get me wrong. This phone call was not very exciting because all comics have written/are writing sitcoms. And I mean ALL comedians and of course in the main, none of these ever get made. And the ones that do are almost always dire.
BUT…
that meeting all of those years ago is about to bear fruit.
After 9 years, hundreds of meetings and thousands and thousands of cumulative hours of effort later – on 22nd April 2014 on ITV – WARREN UNITED will finally hit the small screen.
It certainly has not been economic. Not even minimum wage but so what? And I say this because of the hope. Because no one can put a value on hope. The hope that this project has given me and more importantly my hopes for it going forward? You know what I mean? It will start on ITV4. Get re-commissioned. Transfers to ITV1. Sells to the States…
You see? Nothing ventured…
Of the six episodes – the producers were looking for different writers. The other guys that they had in mind were already established writers. I wasn’t. My mate Tim chucked my name in to the hat and I had work to do.
WARREN UNITED is a sitcom about a family man who loves his football club.
Had I written anything along these lines that the producers could read?
Have I?
The Ripple Effect was about to come in for me – and have its moment in the floodlight.
I handed a copy to Bill Friedman – the Canadian producer. He read it and I got the gig.
My thanks to Tim and to Bill.
And I live on…
Warren United begins this April…
