Newsjack Series 24 - Feb/Mar 2021 Page 2

Quote: Will Cam @ 17th February 2021, 11:29 AM

Great gag

I haven't submitted anything for years. The way 24 hour news is geared to having to fill advertising space, I find the news stories covered (generally) are either sensationalist or just plain depressing. I also didn't like it when the host started writing their own 7 minute monologue which was usually political. Nish Kumar in particular put me right off.

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Thanks!

Yes, the most annoying part of them giving the hosts a monologue (must have been series 10 that started) was that it suddenly became that much harder for us submitters to get our stuff on because we'd just lost five minutes of the show. I understand why they wanted to make this change and use Newsjack as a place for developing performing talent, I just wish they could have done it without reducing the opportunity for new writers to have their work broadcast. The other change at that time was to have a changing cast rather than the regulars (Justin Edwards, Lewis MacLeod, and two of Pippa Evans, Nadia Kamil and Margaret Cabourn Smith when I started); again, fine and I understand why, but I think the show quality suffered for it. I'd have liked there to be one show with experienced performers doing open door material from new writers and another show with new and emerging performers doing material by experienced writers, rather than trying to do all the new talent support within a single show.

Only four episodes this series.

Will that make it harder to get on as the 5th show of the series always had the lowest submissions?

Quote: TheKingLobotomy @ 19th February 2021, 10:21 AM

Only four episodes this series.

Will that make it harder to get on as the 5th show of the series always had the lowest submissions?

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Yeah, I think so. Intuitively, I would think it shouldn't make a difference if the people dropping out by episode 5 were mainly those writing not very good stuff, but maybe enough of us nearly-but-not-quite-rs are also falling by the wayside to make a difference. My own credits suggest it is easier to get on at the end of the series (or maybe my own writing improves as the series progresses?):
Ep 1 - 3 credits
Ep 2 - none
Ep 3 - none
Ep 4 - 3 credits
Ep 5 - 5 credits
Ep 6 - 4 credits

Yep, I hate the monologues (too political and just too crap, Nish and Kiri are both really poor at these IMO) and rarely find any sketches funny, the last series I thought was particularly woeful as the hosts are so bad at impressions. Jokes and one-liners are also hit-and-miss but there are usually some good ones in there - but I'll still send stuff in of course, not least in the hope someone on here picks out a line for being funny I hope people will post their own failed submissions on here still, this forum is the best part of NJ!

I started thinking I might have a go (used to get stuff on frequently at Canal Theatre Cafe) but if that arsehole Nish Kumar is involved I'll give it a wide berth.

Belated happy new year and good luck for this truncated run
I propose the hour from the two lost episodes of this series are reallocated to the four remaining ones, so each becomes a 45 min show

I propose the monologue at the start is cut to 2 minutes. Less work doing the writing for Kiri.

Squeeze in more oneliners.

Everyone is a winner.

Happy New Year!

Good luck all! Been a few series/couple of years since I've submitted and decided to get back into it this series. I was going to this week too but I'm sleep deprived and as a result my brain's not cooperating creatively, might be able to get some one-liners in time though, given the deadline is Tuesdays for them.

No sketch as per usual ( one day, just maybe....)
Have found comic inspiration hard to come by and now tied up with work and general household trivia for the rest of the day, so have only managed three measly oneliners this week. It's been a bad week for thinking up a gwbw

GLA

Good luck anybody who managed to get stuff submitted this week. I didn't manage any sketches, but did cobble together some middling quality oneliners (3 BNs, 2 GWBWs).

I wrote a few bits (GW/BW and breaking news) but was kinda just low hanging fruit that other people will have done much better than me anyway. I did used to submit stuff I had no confidence in but holding back now I think.

And some stuff does land with the team as I've made it to "recorded but not broadcast" stage before but that kinda used to depend on audience reactions (been told by someone on here the audience have groaned at my puns haha, think that was back in 2012 when I first made it to recording stage), but with no audience now they will just be completely on their own judgement.

Still, I'll only submit stuff that amuses myself

If anyone following this thread is in the audience for the recording tonight, I'd be really interested to hear about how it went. Not about the material you remember per se (though that too) but more about what it's like being in the virtual audience and if you get a sense of what material's landing and what isn't.

First time submitting but when do we find out if we made the cut? Or has that come and gone...

We'll find out tomorrow evening, before the episode is broadcast. The show is recorded on Wednesdays, but after this they edit it and cut out certain sketches/one-liners before airing it on Thursday evening.

Yeah, if you have something in there, or your stuff is 'recorded but not broadcast', they'll email in the afternoon. It was 4ish before but that was a few years back, may be later nowadays.