That's a nice way of putting it Nick.
BBC Comedy College Page 37
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Quote: Griff @ April 21 2008, 5:14 PM BSTI notice Micheal has responded to my question on the blog about "what were the sitcoms mostly about" with:
Sitcoms tended to be about flatsharing, getting drunk and trying to have sex (or having it), or about women talking dirty.
Amazingly, mine wasn't. (Although it was a very popular theme at last year's Sitcom Trials.) Anyone else ? Of course we don't know if being in this core topic area is a good thing or a bad thing...
Mine had women talking dirty AND a vaguely hackneyed premise (done incredibly originally, of course). I guess we'll know by monday if this is good or not.
One problem I had was taking out any set ups that are only mildly funny on their own but pay off later in the script - getting people to read through the ten pages really helped for skimming off details that weren't immediately important ("why do they keep saying that man's name?" "he comes into it later" "why is there a banana peel on the floor?" "someone slips on it and lands in the bucket of custard set up in act 2") .
Must have been tricky for anyone submitting a Seinfeld-y, labyrinthine script(one with a convoluted plot, not one with david bowie and muppets... although Jerry meets the Muppets would be awesome).
Now that there's a few more mentors does this mean there will be more winners/students?
ask micheal on his blog Dolly
Yeah, I would but I can't be bothered to register for yet another site! 
A friend of mine's mentioned that she got a 'thanks but no thanks' email. Anyone else?
when did she get that Antrax. Micheal said he was sending out emails next Monday?
They seem to have changed the rules as they've gone along. I remember reading on the Writersroom website that people would be informed in May. Yet they seem to have scrapped that idea, and now seem to be setting about contacting winners and losers within two weeks of getting all the entries. Anybody else think this seems a bit rushed?
I don't think so, they would read entries as they came in so wouldn't be left with many to read on the last date. Plus there seems to be quite a few on the 'reading' team.
You're probably right. I still think these competitions tend to pan out slightly differently to how they were originally planned.
Quote: bushbaby @ April 23 2008, 10:05 AM BSTwhen did she get that Antrax. Micheal said he was sending out emails next Monday?
I'm not sure - I've been away a couple of days, and didn't check my emails so either Monday or Tuesday. That's all the info I've had, I'm as confused as you are!
Quote: chipolata @ April 23 2008, 10:06 AM BSTThey seem to have changed the rules as they've gone along. I remember reading on the Writersroom website that people would be informed in May. Yet they seem to have scrapped that idea, and now seem to be setting about contacting winners and losers within two weeks of getting all the entries. Anybody else think this seems a bit rushed?
Well, to be fair, the initial statement was that writers would be interviewed in May, so I don't think anything's changed, they'd need to get down to a short long list (if you know what I mean) by about now. I seem to recall other BBC schemes have got to a long list fairly quickly (and inevitably ahead of announced dates), so I don't think this is unusual or unplanned.
Quote: bushbaby @ April 23 2008, 10:28 AM BSTI don't think so, they would read entries as they came in so wouldn't be left with many to read on the last date. Plus there seems to be quite a few on the 'reading' team.
Whilst I generally agree with you, I suspect that there would have been a flurry of submissions in the last couple of days, so there'd still have been a few to get through on the last date.
I think they underestimated the number of people who'd apply (1300 i think it was) so maybe they've rushed the process. Which isn't a good sign as they're more likely to skim over the first page and dump it on the 'no thanks' heap if nothing grabs them.
I'd agree that there does seem to be an element of rushing, which doesn't bode well for the quality of the eventual winners (unless of course I'm one of them, then they made the best decision possible and didn't need to waste time on pointless deliberations).
I think it's an unfair assumption that it is being rushed. If they only got the time to read the first page then the best first pages'll win.
I haven't really got anything of interest to add, I just want to beat bushbaby to the thousand post mark. She's slightly ahead of me at the moment.