Sitcom Mission 2020 Page 2

Coronavirus and this year's competition:

In the past winners have had a serious boost to their careers by having their work showcased at the Sitcom Mission final.

The problem is, that we can't (for obvious reasons) stage one at the moment.

Rather than hold the competition as planned and keep to the dates we agreed (which might well mean no public showcase), we've decided to put the deadline back from May 3rd 2020 to August 2nd 2020.

We still plan to fit a showcase in at the end of the year for the 2020 winners.

I'VE ALREADY ENTERED SITCOM MISSION WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

There's good news and...nope, just good news: you can resubmit your script any time up to midnight on Sunday August 2nd. This means that you have plenty of time to redraft and make it as good as it possibly can be before we read it.

I ENTERED A GOLD OR SILVER ENTRY.

Same deal. Redraft and redraft and we will judge you on the script that you finally enter before the new deadline.

If anybody has any queries about this (or anything Sitcom Mission related) please don't bombard British Comedy Guide with emails, but contact us directly at: info@sitcommission.com

Simon and Lawrence
Sitcom Mission

Simon just a quick question, i have recently entered the competition and despite the above am excited about it. 1 question, I did purchase the Gold dohickey, how far in advance does the feedback appear

60 entries on the last day alone!

A very high standard this year. Obviously a lot of people putting lockdown to good use.

Was just wondering you know if there will still be a showcase for the finalists/if you have had to reschedule (or move to zoom)? Hope it's all going well!

Good question. I wish we had a good answer.

We've always performed in a theatre and my instinct is that Zoom would be very much second best (although we may have to resort to it).

The first year that we performed in a theatre, one commissioner said that it was the first time she'd ever been in a room with all the other commissioners. We're obviously keen to keep that up.

Can't give you a date yet I'm afraid, because we need to know not only that theatres are open for business, but also that conditions have changed sufficiently that all the people we want to come (commissioners, producers, representatives from production companies that specialise in comedy etc) feel confident about assembling in a public space.

I know this isn't terribly helpful, but as soon as we have more information we'll post it here.

Simon and Lawrence
Sitcommission

That makes a lot sense, thanks!

Any idea when the long list will be announced?

Soonish.

Not very helpful I know, but we agree on some scripts and (as is healthy), disagree about others. After some back and forth we'll be able to announce a longlist.

Simon and Lawrence
Sitcommission

Thanks for the update - I was worried I might have missed it. Keeping everything crossed...

We have our longlist!

They are, in no particular order:

Lorna Woolfson - Runners
Stephen Roughsedge - Go Devonte
Luke Rollason - Kunst
Jon Price & Belal Ladkani (Core of Monkos) - The Bad Death
Tia Salisbury - Fiona The Oracle
Michael McHardy - Dead End

When/how will we see them?
With some long discussion we came to the decision that the best thing for a new script is to get it in front of a live audience, even if it is a small one. So we'll continue to bide our time and wait until this is possible, following our usual plan of a live public show, followed by a industry grand final!

There were so many great scripts that didn't quite make it this year, so if you've started with a script, please keep working on it as it's the sitcom writing that will make you a sitcom writer. Plus there were a number of scripts that were only a few tweaks away from getting into the top 6.

We're here to help all year round too, so if you have any questions don't hesitate to get in touch.

Well done all those who entered and congratulations to our finalists!

Congrats and good luck to everyone who made the longlist

Are you planning to put up an 'honourable mentions' list for those who came closest to making it? It would be nice to know if I was close...or a million miles away.
Congrats to those who made it.

I think an Honourable Mentions list is an excellent idea. Thanks for suggesting it.

Here (in alphabetical order) are some scripts that almost made it:

Hotel Mars Mike Arber and Dave Kidder
Jett black Tattoos Nathan Hardwick
One for the Roadie Katie O'Leary
Oysters Lily Lindon and Haydn Jenkins
Poultney's Spa Will Miles
The Barbican Joshua Fisher
Unsubscribe Isis Dunthorne
Urchins Lora Martyr

Incidentally, please don't email us asking why your script didn't make it. To give useful feedback, we'd have to re-read the script and then spend a couple of hours on it. We simply can't dedicate all that time working for nothing. If it was just one script we'd do it, but we've already had LOTS of requests. So, at the risk of sounding mercenary If you do want feedback, email us about paid feedback at info@sitcommission.com

Simon and Lawrence
Sitcom Mission

Business is business, don't apologise, if punters are demanding a service, that means there's money in it. Is this service just for the same scripts or for new ones as well, and do they have to be 15 mins only?

Puzzled a bit by the short longlist, especially after such a long sifting process, if I may, and in a strong year for quality as you said earlier. Why only six when you say that some were just a tweak or two away from it? Why not let the entrants tweak them in the next stage then, keep the comp a little more open? Having more punters involved in the vital stages is both more encouraging to writers and a better business model, imho.

Some free feedback from me - I'm guessing this was a record breaking year for the number of comp entries, as BR got over 900 but still had a puny list of finalists, much as SM did. The ratio of finalists to entries, you can see ain't great there. We each had less than a 100/1 chance of getting a pleasing (non rejection) email. This in my view is not great look for fee charging comps, who seem to be doing well at the mo while giving little back, in way of real opportunities. I believe three, 3 won the prize of being networked across various platforms involved in it. Three.

Remember, No One is offering a straight commission, just an invite to have your work 'looked at' by industry bods. That's 3 from over 900. Three. You can tell what I think of that. On the plus side for them their feedback (only issued after the comp closes, unlike SM's) was very good, they've clearly got someone new in doing it because it was far more technically detailed than I've had before from them (although still only two full pages). I didn't agree with bits but it was reasoned, promptly delivered and at £42 for the entrance fee, decent value. That's the feedback service. What I do not think is decent value is 3 winners from 900+ especially when they talk of high quality entries the same as you.

Finally, back to SM, are you picking scripts based on trend and content advice from your judges or purely on comedy script writing merit regardless of it? What I mean is, are you having to pick out more dramedy style scripts and single camera non studio set scripts to fit the current output by broadcasters? That is the sense I'm getting from sitcom comps generally now and from BBCWR, who at least admit to it on their website. Thanks in advance for any replies and Good Morning.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 15th November 2020, 9:23 AM

Finally, back to SM, are you picking scripts based on trend and content advice from your judges or purely on comedy script writing merit regardless of it? What I mean is, are you having to pick out more dramedy style scripts and single camera non studio set scripts to fit the current output by broadcasters?

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I'd like to think they are doing exactly that.
Ultimate success for the SitCom Mission brand would be a competition winner making it onto the box.
Not much point in picking scripts that they don't think could get made.