The Forbidden Planet International Blog

Landing a job to pen a script for a TV show is usually a major feather in any writer’s cap, especially if the said show is related to one they grew up loving. But it doesn’t always go smoothly and behind the scenes of the TV production world there are all sorts of pitfalls most of us will never be aware of; all is laid bare, however, in Torch, Wood & Peasants by ‘Webley Wildfoot’. From the description:

“When a major network successfully re-launched a hit family SF show, they were anxious to find a post-watershed spin-off as soon as possible to cater for the fans who had grown up with their original series, but now wanted a more adult version of the same thrills. The bulk of this book contains an original commissioned script intended for broadcast that never saw the light of day. The rest of the book tells the story of how that script was commissioned, edited, re-edited and re-commissioned only to eventually disappear without trace; an insider viewpoint on how the television industry works as seen from a writer’s perspective. ‘Torch, Wood and Peasants’ contains the script and behind-the-scenes story of an entirely fictitious television program and bears no relation to any real show of a vaguely similar name… honest guvnor.

But imagine, if you will, a well known writer in both TV Drama and Comic Books was in the above position, his name bandied all over the online community as a key writer on a prospective new hit show. The commissioning process turns out to be a nightmare of confusion that results in a finished script that never gets used. Over the years, people constantly ask the writer about the experience and what the script was about, until eventually the writer decides to self-publish the script along with a potted behind-the-scenes history of the formation of a TV show, the commissioning process and ultimately what went wrong. It’s not a bitter book by any means; the writer approaches the experience with good humour, but just in case, names and locations are disguised throughout both script and back story to protect the innocent and avoid any tricky copyright issues.

This ‘could’ be the story of ‘Torch, Wood & Peasants’, Webley Wildfoot ‘could’ be a pseudonym for Si Spencer. Who knows?”

Torch, Wood & Peasants is available from print on demand service Lulu right now and we have two signed copies to give away to lucky readers – just tell us what service’s uniform coat Captain Jack Harkness normally wears to be in with a shout.