British Comedy Guide

Newsjack - Series 9 Page 19

I only managed one sketch this week on the Help to Buy scheme. I was pretty happy with it but I'm sure there'll be lots of competition for that story.

I only ever send one page of one-liners, but I have been known to alter the font or line spacing in order to squeeze more in. It's amazing how much you can fit in with Arial 4 font and 0.5 line spacing!

Is the autoreply still broken?

Quote: chuk @ September 30 2013, 2:47 PM BST

Is the autoreply still broken?

Seems that way. I haven't had any confirmation mails this series

Quote: Badge @ September 30 2013, 1:56 PM BST

Send one page. I normally do 6-12.

Thanks Badge. Do you use the Ariel 12pt/1.5 spacing for those too? At the moment I can't fit too many on the page.

Whatever font it takes ;)

Dan

Quote: John84 @ September 30 2013, 4:06 PM BST

Thanks Badge. Do you use the Ariel 12pt/1.5 spacing for those too? At the moment I can't fit too many on the page.

I use Arial 12 but with no indent and not 1.5 spacing. Take Dan's advice!

I agree, take Dans advice! I'm not sure the producers would be thrilled if they received 20 crammed onto a page in a barely legible format.

If you're one-liners are about 2 lines on the page can usually get about 12 on a page. (And they shouldn't really be longer than that - occasionally one will get through that's longer but not many.)

Hi StephenM and other experienced NewsJackers (from a newbie who's not sure how to reply to a particular post). You seem to have garnered quite a bit of info about submissions - 2 line one liners etc. Reading your post I've realised my first ever submission today of 'one liner's was probably not suitable. Can't seem to find info on the newsjack pages so if it's not too cheeky can I just ask - is it worth submitting pieces half-way lengthwise between a sketch and a one liner? I do listen to the show but am obviously not great at judging length (you can have that one for free, btw). Cheers, Flo :)

Just submitted my one liners, all in Arial 12.... :D

Forum regular Mr Salisbury has written a very interesting what NOT to write for Newsjack blog. Certainly worth a read for the newbies especially.

Also worth a read is his blog on 'Sketches Need Characters' .

It's all been added to the big informational post at the start of this thread.

Dan

Quote: swerytd @ October 1 2013, 9:44 AM BST

Forum regular Mr Salisbury has written a very interesting what NOT to write for Newsjack blog. Certainly worth a read for the newbies especially.

Also worth a read is his blog on 'Sketches Need Characters' .

It's all been added to the big informational post at the start of this thread.

Dan

Thank for this, from a newbie... I'd read all the 'read me' and FAQ threads but not the 'big informational post at the start of this thread'. Looks like some useful stuff. I've been submitting non-comedy stuff with a v small degree of success to various places for a wee while so I did at least get the layout format right...

Quote: Florence @ September 30 2013, 9:36 PM BST

Hi StephenM and other experienced NewsJackers (from a newbie who's not sure how to reply to a particular post). You seem to have garnered quite a bit of info about submissions - 2 line one liners etc. Reading your post I've realised my first ever submission today of 'one liner's was probably not suitable. Can't seem to find info on the newsjack pages so if it's not too cheeky can I just ask - is it worth submitting pieces half-way lengthwise between a sketch and a one liner? I do listen to the show but am obviously not great at judging length (you can have that one for free, btw). Cheers, Flo :)

If you're going to do that I'd say best to submit it on Monday as a quickie sketch. In fact in the past they've turned my quickie sketch into an even quicker JackApp.

I'd advise against sending them on Tuesday as the receive literally thousands of one-liners to read through so you want to make them laugh ASAP. Having said that every rule is there to be broken and they occasionally have run with JackApps that are 3-4 lines. But I'd make that the exception and not the rule.

I think they like it if you can self-edit so trim those one-liners to be punchy and make sure you're only sending your best.

P.S. That advice comes from the 'Do as I say not as I do' school of thought.

Thanks, I'll do that next week if a half length idea occurs. Probably should brush up on my paring down skills. Flo

Just sent some oneliners.

Quote: StephenM @ October 1 2013, 10:54 AM BST

JackApps that are 3-4 lines. But I'd make that the exception and not the rule.

I know the shorter the better, is it just me, but when they read them out they do tend to sound longer than one or two lines, especially the intros and corrections.

Corrections maybe 2-3 lines but I'd say Intros are usually 2 lines. Set-up then punchline.

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