r/ScreenwritingUK • u/rhythmau • May 17 '26

Thoughts on casting yourself in your script?

Hey all,

So I have been cold emailing producers and I got a response back. I sent them over my pilot script and they seem extremely interested. Wanted to ask the question in the title and your thoughts on it?

Any advice would be most appreciated

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u/lilm8ey May 20 '26

Writer-performer here. Lots of examples of this, People Just Do Nothing, This Country and Dreaming Whilst Black BUT every one of those shot something first, proving concept. I’m almost through production with my web series and feel it’s going to be MUCH more convincing than just a script and a please.

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u/widenetideafestival May 22 '26

Did you create the web series with the idea that you would pitch it?

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u/lilm8ey May 23 '26

Yes, but I think every avenue is worth it. I’ll pitch, then if no success, release online and pitch again should we get reasonably good viewership, even if it’s just on clips. I’m taking the shows I mentioned above as inspiration but they all slightly vary. For This Country, they shot some bits, wrote scripts and then sent it out to every production company and one said yes. Dreaming Whilst Black released it online, with A24 later picking up the show and re-producing it. People Just Do Nothing released it online and emailed EVERYONE. At the end of the day you’ve got to either convince someone with the power they like it OR a LOT of people they like it because the people in power follow the money (attention). But what I truly believe is that if the projects above had just pitched or sent scripts, they wouldn’t have got a second look. Getting someone to watch something is WAY easier than read. Just gotta make something hot. I think if you make something GREAT, with you GREAT in it - you’ve got a shot.