British Comedy Guide

BBC Comedy College Page 29

Well, whilst I do agree that it's probably unlikely there'll be major representation from people above 40 on the scheme, I don't think it's impossible. Equally, I think this:

Quote: chipolata @ April 10 2008, 4:26 PM BST

The point is this, the BBC establishment will be looking for scripts that appeal to the holy grail 18-35 demographic. So the six that do well, might not neccessarily be the funniest, just the ones that Michael Jacob et all feel will appeal more to the BBC3 audience. For example, if today's BBC was sent Steptoe and Son and Two Pints Of Lager, which do you think they'd pump money into developing?

... is rather harsh. Certainly there's no reason to assume they'd focus on one channel specifically, or that specific demographic (if anything, I'd argue it's the demographic they've got covered best at the moment!). The mentors listed are much broader in range than that (Clement/Le Frenais, Ianucci, hardly prime BBC3 material). You talk as if the only BBC channel that makes comedy is BBC3. As it is, the BBC are sent programmes for a different demographic - The Office and The Thick of It are closer in spirit to Steptoe than 2 Pints, surely?

Actually, the priority lies in mainstream audience sitcom/mainstream sketch shows. Which isn't to say that more niche writing will be ruled out. It's completely open.

Hello, longtime reader first time caller.

Out of interest, what format is everyone sending their stuff in? I use word on a mac, and usually send scripts as a .doc format, and cvs as a pdf, but I'd hate to lose out because they can't open the document. Any tips?

Quote: willie garvin @ April 11 2008, 1:11 PM BST

Hello, longtime reader first time caller.

Out of interest, what format is everyone sending their stuff in? I use word on a mac, and usually send scripts as a .doc format, and cvs as a pdf, but I'd hate to lose out because they can't open the document. Any tips?

I eMailed them this question and they replied stating that they would accept either format (.doc or .pdf)

Quote: willie garvin @ April 11 2008, 1:11 PM BST

Hello, longtime reader first time caller.

Out of interest, what format is everyone sending their stuff in? I use word on a mac, and usually send scripts as a .doc format, and cvs as a pdf, but I'd hate to lose out because they can't open the document. Any tips?

Hi Willie, (great comedy name by the way) I use a Mac too and have never had any problems sending stuff in the .doc format, even though it was created on the Mac version of Word.

Quote: willie garvin @ April 11 2008, 1:11 PM BST

Hello, longtime reader first time caller.

Out of interest, what format is everyone sending their stuff in? I use word on a mac, and usually send scripts as a .doc format, and cvs as a pdf, but I'd hate to lose out because they can't open the document. Any tips?

Hi Willie, how's Modesty?

As a Mac person myself, I abhor having to use Microsoft at work, but Word documents are fine, PDFs are fine, Final Draft is fine. The only difficulty we've had is when someone sent a Final Draft script in a zip file, and that's probably illiteracy on our part.

Quote: Perry Nium @ April 11 2008, 1:29 PM BST

Hi Willie, (great comedy name by the way) I use a Mac too and have never had any problems sending stuff in the .doc format, even though it was created on the Mac version of Word.

Willie Garvin? He's Modesty Blaise's sidekick. In the comics.

That's good- I've never had any problems sending word docs before but it was just a vague nagging feeling that if they couldn't open it, it would be a very easy way to whittle it down, especially as I'm sending it off tomorrow. Now if only I could find a way to add glitter and mini soaps, in a Tobius Funke move.

Quote: willie garvin @ April 11 2008, 1:51 PM BST

Willie Garvin? He's Modesty Blaise's sidekick. In the comics.

That's good- I've never had any problems sending word docs before but it was just a vague nagging feeling that if they couldn't open it, it would be a very easy way to whittle it down, especially as I'm sending it off tomorrow. Now if only I could find a way to add glitter and mini soaps, in a Tobius Funke move.

I could of course lie and pretend I knew all along about Modesty Blaise, but I'm not that clever or groovy, damn it. I just liked the "Willie" part of your name.

I see Michael knew though. Clever clogs.

post diluted

Quote: Micheal Jacob @ April 10 2008, 3:13 PM BST

If you don't get the automated acknowledgement then we haven't received the entry.

Just tried sending again using the capital c's in the email address but hotmail likes to make into small c's - don't know if that makes a difference to getting through or not.

I sent mine yesterday using capitals, clicked through on a link on a BBC page.

No automated reply though. Should I be worried?

maybe replies are coming back in your 'bulk' mail and not the usual one. If there's an automatic reply then you should have one

I did think that, but I've checked the spam folder (sent from a Gmail account) and there was nothing there. Oo-er.

Sent to CollegeofComedy@bbc.co.uk (with the caps).

The way email works means it shouldn't matter whether or not you use have used capitals.

More than likely your email has arrived safely but the automated reply has been filtered out (because it is auto-generated by a machine it could look a lot like spam to your inbox).

We have a lot of problems on this website with sending out automated account verification emails - Hotmail, Gmail and AOL sometimes seem to filter out these emails at quite a high-level, before they even get to the user's own spam inbox.

Quote: Pripyat @ April 12 2008, 3:36 PM BST

I did think that, but I've checked the spam folder (sent from a Gmail account) and there was nothing there. Oo-er.

Sent to CollegeofComedy@bbc.co.uk (with the caps).

send another using small letters with just a message ...did they get the script, you should get a reply to that

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