Greetings, one and all.
I'm new around these parts, and indeed, new to writing in general. Don't get me wrong, I've been jazzy with a pen and paper since about the time the law requires a child to be literate, (although truth be told, I couldn't spell my own name until the age of eight. But then my mother did stitch me up with Kayleigh Llewellyn… What a humdinger! That’s a criminal amount of L's to lumber a kid with. The only person worse off than me is Vada Sultenfuss, and she is fictional), but it's only recently that I've forayed in to the world of writing professionally. It's all ever so exciting.
A little over three months ago, I awoke with a hangover, feeling like a lukewarm turd in a tupperware box, and logged on to Twitter. I saw a tweet from Chris Addison reading: "Budding comedy writer? Click here!" and seeing as I had nothing better to do, I clicked. It led me to a website for BAFTA Rocliffe, who were conducting a nationwide search for the "comedy writing stars of the future". It required you to submit a 10-page extract from your comedy pilot along with some other mumbo jumbo including a treatment and story arc for the series etc. With only a week until the deadline, time was not on my side. But upon discovering that my idol, JENNIFER RUDDY BLOODY SAUNDERS, would be on the judging panel, I’d be buggered if I wasn’t going to give it a good shot! So I took a crash course in script writing, basically half an hour of Google searching “me want be writer, you help me please”. Then my bezzer mate (now referred to as "Writing Partner") and I cobbled something together. Long story short – we won! Preposterous!
Lots of lovely things have happened since. Like meeting the comedy commissioners of all the big networks in the UK; being flown to New York for the television festival; having our script showcased in front of major television executives and networks; being personally mentored by Jenni Konner, the Showrunner on HBO's Girls; drinking wine sat next to Usher (Peace Up, A-Town down); having the managing director of Comedy Central offer to be our “industry Godmother”; going for lunch with the producer of The Sopranos; and finally culminating in having our script optioned by Company Pictures (makers of Shameless and Skins, to name but a few). I mean, it’s completely bloody mental!
Considering that a mere twelve weeks ago I was naught but a wretched gobshite who existed in either one of two states: Drunk, or Hungover, and survived entirely on a diet of Jagerbombs and Birdseye potato waffles – it's been quite the turn in events. And if you’ll allow me to get misty eyed and emotional for a moment, like your Nana when she’s been a bit frisky with her sherry measures, I would like to say that the moral of this story is: Don’t be afraid to take risks. And something about not letting opportunities pass you by. And that ridiculously, Twitter really does have the power to change your life. Well, I would like to say that was the moral of this story, but really it’s actually just: My obsession with making Jennifer Saunders my actual real life BFF is bordering on sinister.
So now I am joining the lovely team at Funny Women to talk to you about… Comedy? Vaginas? Politics? The struggles of being a wretched gobshite and trying to get my show aired on national television? Probably a bit of everything, really. But this serves to better acquaint us. So, hello! I'm Kayleigh Llewellyn with five L's. I'm 26. And I am a writer… Apparently.
By Kayleigh Llewellyn. You can read more from Kayleigh on her blog HERE, or follow her on Twitter @KayDLlew.
Pictured: Kayleigh in a life jacket, stood inside a shower cubicle, on a cruise ship. As you do.
