Quote: Dave M @ August 18 2008, 11:37 AM BSTCock burn!!!!
bushbaby I've done the same thing. But thanks for bringing it to my attention. Now when I don't get through, rather than having the the sad realisation that I'm not actually funny, I can delude myself that it's just that I can't follow simple rules.
me too
Mine was a complete 15 minute episode.
I didn't see anything about extending it though. Oh well - if I get through I can just add any old crap.
I notice on the latest link given, in one of the blogs Simon says they can't accept entries with, such as.....Same Day or Next day for scene changes but yet when you watch clips of other sitcoms that won, invariably they have a film of a scene location...i.e in one a poster came on the screen which said something like...The mayors Conference. So with a 'same day' scene change why can't a poster be put up saying...'same day' etc? Failing that why not just dim the lights so that the audience know it is later in the story?
I can't get it. Having done professional acting theatres and fringe, one can do a lot of things with lighting and without scenery/props.
One good example is the musical of Sondheim, 'Merrily We Roll Along. It's the same bare set the whole way through and in some scenes one half of the cast 'freeze' whilst other cast are acting out the story. So the same set did for a college/lounges/parties/cafes etc etc.
I wonder sometimes if there are excuses just to exclude some scripts and why a really good script would be binned just because it says...next Day etc 
I checked with Simon SO many times about things we could and couldn't do, he must be taking out a restraining order on me as I waffle on.
I think ultimately they were very clear in subsequent blogs about what they wanted, but that just makes our job that much harder. My one prop? A table....just waiting to be told that I have too much set now.....
Oh well. Looks like I'm stuffed then!
Quote: Griff @ August 18 2008, 11:35 PM BSTI've certainly used 'Next Day' etc in my scene changes to make it clear to the actors/script readers. I don't think they said you couldn't use it, their point was that if you need the audience to understand that it's now Tuesday instead of Monday, you need to explicitly reference it in the dialogue, they won't get it just from the lighting change. Which is fair enough I think.
Bushbaby - yes, last year I actually had my characters walk on with placards reading "MONDAY", "TUESDAY", etc before starting each scene. That worked well as it gave the actors something to play with, ie in later scenes walking on with the placards upside down etc., running back to fetch the placards they "forgot" etc.
I guess the fact that I wrote these stage directions into the script I submitted probably helped in that it showed I'd thought about the problem.
I beg to differ, audiences aren't stupid. A light fading out, coming back on is obviously a scene change. They'll get that it's later and if the first line is 'good morning' for instance, surely they're not thick enough that they can't work out it's the next day etc I think it's rather pedantic of the 'powers that be' but guess it's their rules <sigh>
Ok Griff
Quote: David Chapman @ August 18 2008, 11:46 PM BSTOh well. Looks like I'm stuffed then!
That makes two of us
Quote: Griff @ August 19 2008, 12:06 AM BSTI don't think this is true anymore unless someone has been emailed different?
http://www.every1sacritic.com/Every1sacritic/Rules
They talked about doing this last year, but it didn't happen.
Oh yeah. Looks like it doesn't get extended this year at all, instead?
Dan
Griff is absolutely spot on. Of course lights down then up again indicates a passage of time, what we were getting (and was driving us nuts) was 'Lights down.'
'Lights up again. The same. Wednesday.' When there was absolutely nothing in the dialogue whatever to indicate how much time had passed. For logistical reasons the set will barely have changed (if it's changed significantly to indicate a substantial passage of time then you're taking liberties with the audience's patience)so how does the audience know, unless it's through explicit dialogue or a device like Griff's placards (which worked well) whether it's 5 minutes later or 5 weeks?
The advice about writing episode three (for example) was so that writers didn't waste their precious 15 minutes in clumsy (and usually unfunny) exposition. Don't spend 10 minutes explaining where we are when the compere can simply say; 'our next sitcom is set in a hotel in Torquay, and it's run by the kind of man who probably shouldn't be dealing with the public.'
The powers that be.
Quote: simon wright @ August 19 2008, 8:57 PM BSTGriff is absolutely spot on. Of course lights down then up again indicates a passage of time, what we were getting (and was driving us nuts) was 'Lights down.'
'Lights up again. The same. Wednesday.' When there was absolutely nothing in the dialogue whatever to indicate how much time had passed. For logistical reasons the set will barely have changed (if it's changed significantly to indicate a substantial passage of time then you're taking liberties with the audience's patience)so how does the audience know, unless it's through explicit dialogue or a device like Griff's placards (which worked well) whether it's 5 minutes later or 5 weeks?The advice about writing episode three (for example) was so that writers didn't waste their precious 15 minutes in clumsy (and usually unfunny) exposition. Don't spend 10 minutes explaining where we are when the compere can simply say; 'our next sitcom is set in a hotel in Torquay, and it's run by the kind of man who probably shouldn't be dealing with the public.'
The powers that be.
Simon, this is really driving me daft.
the example I gave...i.e Sondheim's Merrily We Go Along...has many scenes which go over about 40 years, we just know as an audience that time has passed, in addition to which, the story goes 'backwards' and forwards, with respect...we're not thick!!!
I can well understand your other reasons for rejection...i.e....an airoplane lands etc, but 'next day',....'same day'....purlease, your directors can't get their heads around that?
Well, you know the S bend in a toilet, I can't get my head round that either.
Quote: bushbaby @ August 19 2008, 9:12 PM BSTSimon, this is really driving me daft.
the example I gave...i.e Sondheim's Merrily We Go Along...has many scenes which go over about 40 years, we just know as an audience that time has passed, in addition to which, the story goes 'backwards' and forwards, with respect...we're not thick!!!
I can well understand your other reasons for rejection...i.e....an airoplane lands etc, but 'next day',....'same day'....purlease, your directors can't get their heads around that?
Well, you know the S bend in a toilet, I can't get my head round that either.
Yes, but the average Sondheim production isn't staged in a pub, is it?
It's all very well and good saying the audience will understand 'next day', 'same day' etc but how exactly will they unless you reveal it through dialogue or (as Griff has) placards? Would you have the director announce it from the wings?
The average Sondheim Merrily we Roll Along was first staged in europe at the Library theatre [rep] a small stage in Manchester to great acclaim.
Audiences don't need a simple guide to stories/scenes handed out at the box office, they use their imagination.
I've been going to theatre for 64 years and never needed a guide yet
Quote: bushbaby @ August 19 2008, 9:54 PM BSTThe average Sondheim Merrily we Roll Along was first staged in europe at the Library theatre rep a small stage in Manchester to great acclaim.
Audiences don't need a simple guide to stories/scenes handed out at the box office, they use their imagination.
I've been going to theatre for 64 years and never needed a guide yet
Yes, but you've not answered the question. How is an audience (a drunk one at that) meant to know your narrative has skipped fifteen years into the future unless you tell them somehow?
Quote: David Bussell @ August 19 2008, 10:01 PM BSTYes, but you've not answered the question. How is an audience (a drunk one at that) meant to know your narrative has skipped fifteen years into the future unless you tell them somehow?
David, it's not crucial they know, a light fading out fading in tells them time has moved on so it doesn't matter if the audience think that's a week or a month but the storyline/dialogue will soon tell them which it is. My arguement is, that when Simon sees....'Next day' he will bin the script regardless as to whether a couple of lines added will make it clear.
So, in effect one is going to have to be an experienced writer to come anywhere near the rules laid down. And do you know what? A pissed audience isn't going to get anything of the story