I sent three in as well. Miss Ready, Mr Hart and a Mr Jones one with a little bit of Mr Christopher chucked into the story.
Class Dismissed, CBBC Page 3
Thanks StephenM. Always wondered if all camera angles should be put in at the initial writing stage or if that would be treading on the toes of the director/DoP. Good to have some guidance.
Final Draft kept putting all actions in capitals, but I'd seen another script with just the character names in capitals, so I went through and changed all of that manually. I must be using FD wrongly.
I submitted a script to the Nick Script First initiative and included a lot of descriptions of the shots. It seemed necessary as it was for animation and so many of them nowadays are written as storyboards at an early stage.
Didn't put many camera instructions for Class Dismissed though. Hopefully the other descriptions will show my intentions.
Quote: StephenM @ 26th May 2015, 10:27 AM BSTOh and I wrote about Mr. Christopher (him again!), Mr. Jones and Mrs. Tucker. Submitted one with Jones and Tucker (and Barker cameo!) just to give them one that wasn't a solo performance by a teacher to a class. That may not be what they're after but hey!
One of our Mr Hart sketches also contained Miss Davis and one had Mrs Tucker.
Quote: IlDustino @ 26th May 2015, 11:01 AM BSTThanks StephenM. Always wondered if all camera angles should be put in at the initial writing stage or if that would be treading on the toes of the director/DoP. Good to have some guidance.
Final Draft kept putting all actions in capitals, but I'd seen another script with just the character names in capitals, so I went through and changed all of that manually. I must be using FD wrongly.
I submitted a script to the Nick Script First initiative and included a lot of descriptions of the shots. It seemed necessary as it was for animation and so many of them nowadays are written as storyboards at an early stage.
Didn't put many camera instructions for Class Dismissed though. Hopefully the other descriptions will show my intentions.
Sorry wasn't clear, by no means put all camera directions in the script that would be treading on someone else's toes! Just the ones that are crucial to the script/gag. For example, I had one where the camera was zoomed in on a poster then it pulled out to reveal a gag at the bottom. (I've also no idea what the correct term for all the camera movements are so don't take mine as gospel). To be honest most times you'd barely mention the camera at all.
Quote: StephenM @ 26th May 2015, 11:31 AM BSTSorry wasn't clear, by no means put all camera directions in the script that would be treading on someone else's toes! Just the ones that are crucial to the script/gag. For example, I had one where the camera was zoomed in on a poster then it pulled out to reveal a gag at the bottom. (I've also no idea what the correct term for all the camera movements are so don't take mine as gospel). To be honest most times you'd barely mention the camera at all.
Good point. I think the 'we see' mentioned above is just a scriptwriter dying to write 'cut to close up' or 'zoom out to reveal' or some other shot description. I didn't realise 'we see' was a no-no as well.
All this is fine until the moment when you have to watch some director fluck up a reveal (and the gag) because they can't decode the tangential language they make you use so their sensitive egos aren't bruised.
Thanks for clarifying.
Quote: IlDustino @ 26th May 2015, 11:01 AM BSTFinal Draft kept putting all actions in capitals, but I'd seen another script with just the character names in capitals, so I went through and changed all of that manually. I must be using FD wrongly.
Odd. My version of FD doesn't change all action to capitals. Yes you shouldn't use all-caps for action.
Sometimes character names are capitalised in scripts. Sometimes character names aren't capitalised in scripts. Sometimes character names are capitalised when they first appear but they're not capitalised after that.
Quote: IlDustino @ 26th May 2015, 11:01 AM BSTI submitted a script to the Nick Script First initiative and included a lot of descriptions of the shots. It seemed necessary as it was for animation and so many of them nowadays are written as storyboards at an early stage.
Didn't put many camera instructions for Class Dismissed though. Hopefully the other descriptions will show my intentions.
It depends on the animated show. Some shows tell you to go into lots of detail for the shots. Some shows tell you not to do that.
Basically don't worry too much about it. Readers, script editors and producers are looking for good stuff. If your script looks like a script and you've written a good script (for the thing they're after) they should be in touch.
Well, as long as don't flout a rule they've clearly established e.g. They've asked for something in pdf and you've sent something in Word.
BTW, I can't be the only person who's got notes from a script editor / producer that were barely in English.
Another BTW, just looked up Nickelodeon's Script First programme. Looks OK. If I knew about it beforehand and had time I would've entered.
Yet another BTW, maybe (not that I know) you have to super-careful with script format if you're flogging something to Hollywood. Otherwise, don't worry too much about it.
Quote: Bomsh @ 26th May 2015, 2:13 PM BSTAll this is fine until the moment when you have to watch some director fluck up a reveal (and the gag) because they can't decode the tangential language they make you use so their sensitive egos aren't bruised.
I presume (and hope) such a person wouldn't make it far as a director so I don't think this is much of a worry.
Quote: StephenM @ 26th May 2015, 10:27 AM BSTLooked for a thread on this all last week and there was nothing, now the deadline's gone it's up and running!
We were all hoarding this opportunity for ourselves! MUA HA HA!
I found it strange there wasn't a thread on this earlier. I wanted to talk about it and see what other people thought. Really want to see examples of people's work.
Haha! Yeah, if you guys wanted a thread, why didn't you start one?
I'm using Final Draft Writer on iPad. Either it's something weird with that version or I'm not using it correctly.
Stumbled upon the Nick thing when researching different kids channels for the kids sitcom we're writing. It was tough cramming lots of description for visual gags in alongside the story in only 3-5 pages. I had two ideas for different set-ups, but only had time to write one in the end with the amount of editing and rewriting I had to do just to cut it down to time while trying to keep it funny. Ah well, will send in the second one if they do it next year.
we couldn't find a template and don't have 'final draft' so just used the bbc 'sitcom' template which advises all directions to be in caps - hopefully they'll look past this if it's wrong!
As long as you converted your submission to pdf after using the BBC sitcom template I doubt they'll have a problem.
Quote: Yacob Wingnut @ 27th May 2015, 1:46 PM BSTAs long as you converted your submission to pdf after using the BBC sitcom template I doubt they'll have a problem.
Ahh, yes, did that - thank goodness!
also - is it just me, but when you submit on Writersroom and then go back into your profile - does it say "in progress" for the previous script rooms etc - all my old submissions (about half a dozen) say this, even though I already had the 'bad' email for them.
Missed the whole thing
but good luck to all who entered, would be great if someone on here got in.
Quote: IlDustino @ 27th May 2015, 1:03 PM BSTStumbled upon the Nick thing when researching different kids channels for the kids sitcom we're writing. It was tough cramming lots of description for visual gags in alongside the story in only 3-5 pages. I had two ideas for different set-ups, but only had time to write one in the end with the amount of editing and rewriting I had to do just to cut it down to time while trying to keep it funny. Ah well, will send in the second one if they do it next year.
Check out the Nickelodeon Writing Program if you haven't done so already - http://nickanimationstudio.com/writing-program . It'll be a long time before you can submit again but it looks pretty cool.
Quote: Bonzo @ 27th May 2015, 1:06 PM BSTwe couldn't find a template and don't have 'final draft' so just used the bbc 'sitcom' template which advises all directions to be in caps - hopefully they'll look past this if it's wrong!
That's odd. Looking at the example sitcom scripts on there they don't do that at all! It's lowercase apart from character names. Anyway as someone said if that's the only issue with your script you'll be fine.
Also did anyone copy the information down from the website about dates etc.? They seem to have vanished now the deadline has passed! I've got 5th June in my head as the longlist day but not sure if that's right.
•LAUNCH: 13th May 2015 (Salford)
•OPENING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Thursday 14th May 2015 from 10am
•CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Thursday 21st May 2015 at 5pm
•SHORTLIST MEETING: Salford - Friday 5th June 2015
•FINALISTS NOTIFIED: 19th June 2015