Quote: Leevil @ June 17 2009, 10:30 PM BSTBest:
Being so goddamn lazy.
Guilty.
Best and Worst moments of your Writing career Page 3
Quote: SlagA @ June 17 2009, 10:37 PM BSTThe thing about pitching is that, as the writers, we tend to be unable to easily separate the essential detail from the huge sprawling mass that is the birthplace of the idea, within our heads. My pitches are always terrible. I'm useless at face-to-face.
One pitch of mine went roughly along the lines of "It's called The Awkward Squad... er, single camera... er, about a group of washed-up lefties and crusties... er, the lead is a probation officer with old socialist ideals... but it's not a comedy-drama or Ken Loach or anything... he's a dying idealist leading a bunch of misfits in the name of hopeless causes... always seeing the criminal's point-of-view... bit of coward when it actually comes down to it... er, it's a comedy, er... it's called The Awkward Squad did I mention that?... he's got an ex-wife who's now a on-message Labour MP... they have a daughter in private school... er... OK, now this idea I have for a studio sitcom is much funnier... er..."
I was once asked to come up, on-the-spot, with a sitcom vehicle for Bill Bailey (by producers who work with him, so not a random name from the hat). I actually came up with a good character, amazingly... Never got asked anymore about that.
HIGH:
Nicholas Lyndhurst saying he loved my comedy/drama script and personally taking it to the BBC with a view to starring in it.
LOW:
Jane Tranter saying no.
ARSE!
Quote: Robert D @ June 17 2009, 5:45 PM BSTWas it funny or gory or both?
I thought it was funny, anyway. There was implied gore. Also a part that could have been mistaken for depravity or possibly necrophilia. Or maybe my sketch was too long.
Anyway, it wasn't the only sketch I sent, and I think they hated them all.
Sad again
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 17 2009, 10:51 PM BSTI was once asked to come up, on-the-spot, with a sitcom vehicle for Bill Bailey (by producers who work with him, so not a random name from the hat). I actually came up with a good character, amazingly... Never got asked anymore about that.
Take this with a grain of salt, but I read he's working on a new show. Paul Rose (Biffovision) is contributing.
By the way, Tim, do you feel having an agent make things easier nowdays or not?
It makes one feel less alone. For example, the head-honcho I'm meeting for the first time at talkback next week, has got interested in me via a very nice chap who is a comedy script editor and has read and liked my work for a while. Although I got this meeting through my own contact reading a new script, as soon as I told my agent whom I was meeting she was on the phone to this person (hopefully) bigging me up. My agent is also invaluable when it comes to all the legal stuff I would otherwise get stung over.
Considering I'm still effectively a nobody, I am very impressed by how much time and effort my agent invests in me. (You feel in safe hands with one of the agents who negotiated the deals for Gervais/Merchant on The Office.) Having my agent also spurs me on to get the next script written and not fart around. If it's any good then she'll be out there batting for me. And there's no bull-shitting from an agent (not mine anyway).
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 17 2009, 10:10 PM BSTI know the feeling! To me (not usually a tongue-tied person under pressure) it doesn't help that I always feel faintly ridiculous pitching a comedy. Partly because practically any comedy idea seems faintly crap when you reduce it a brief outline (that may only be my comedy ideas, of course).
I've been told that most writers are shit at pitching. That's why we're writers, not performers.
Quote: Lee Henman @ June 18 2009, 12:18 AM BSTI've been told that most writers are shit at pitching. That's why we're writers, not performers.
It's just very hard to divorce yourself from your brain and dilute your imagination of your show into a few pithy sentences. Having been a performer, including stand-up, I generally wouldn't have a problem delivering an "act" of what one should be saying. But I really find it a faintly embarrassing experience to have to describe one's own work. Just want to say, "Look, it'll all be clear when you read the script. Or better still, when you get some actors to read it!". (At this point Security is usually called for.)
I don't have much of a writing career, but my best moments would be.
Writing and performing a 10 minute stand up set and getting a joke onto Watsons Wind ups.
They are in fact my only moments (apart from winning the skit comp on here)
My worst moments would be dying on my arse doing an ill advised set at the piccadilly theatre.
And never having Don Rushmore review any of my sketches.
Re: Pitching. I've got this book and have read it a couple of times.
See Amazon product listing
It seems very good, but I've never pitched anything at anyone as yet.
Once I read it, it made me think 'this is the ideal thing to read just before every pitch'.
Not sure if it's any use to those that want to know, but I'd rather say than not say.
Highs:
-- The first time I got an email saying we're going to use your sketch on a radio show.
-- The second time I got an email saying we're going to use your sketch on a radio show, because it was from a different radio sketch show, one hour after the first email!
-- Having a script chosen for 'Script Night'.
-- Having a script performed and recorded by proper actors and stuff and having some sort of respect as 'the writer' whilst swanning around in an audio recording suite.
-- Being asked 'how much do you charge to write 10 episodes?' of a sitcom for French TV. (I literally had no idea, so I guessed based loosely on something Tim may or may not have said in the past!)
-- Getting told by Sooty that one of my sketches was 'probably the best thing I've ever read' or words to that effect. That was really nice 
Lows:
-- Feedback from Screenplay. It was all fair, but I thought the line 'I didn't laugh, not even once' was a bit harsh.
-- Not even receiving a 'top 1,000,000' email from College of Comedy two years in a row.
-- The silences...
Dan
I have to practice pitching a lot as part of my course. I find my wee bit of stand-up expoerience helps a lot. If you can make people laugh while you're pitching a comedy it helps! Even if you're crap or feel like an idiot it's better to play up to that - it's a lot more charming than someone pretending to be utterly confident, or actually being arrogant.
Another mistake people make, apparently, is decribing the story rather than the whole idea, theme and tone and delivering it like a lecture, rather than having a chat.
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 18 2009, 12:26 AM BSTIt's just very hard to divorce yourself from your brain and dilute your imagination of your show into a few pithy sentences. Having been a performer, including stand-up, I generally wouldn't have a problem delivering an "act" of what one should be saying. But I really find it a faintly embarrassing experience to have to describe one's own work. Just want to say, "Look, it'll all be clear when you read the script. Or better still, when you get some actors to read it!". (At this point Security is usually called for.)
Asking a writer to pitch a sitcom when there is a script written is like asking a baker to pitch his recipe. Just eat the cake for f**ks sake!
Quote: Griff @ June 16 2009, 8:43 PM BSTAwesome. I know Yacob Wingnut's written for them as well... I got a rejection from that quarter only last week saying "liked your sketch but not enough to use it sorry."
Hello - please can you tell us where you sent your M and W sketches?
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 17 2009, 10:32 PM BSTDespite being liked around the networks, Vacancies got the same response everywhere - too much of a risk doing a sitcom set in a "dysfunctional hotel". It was a very different type of hotel, a different style, etc. Didn't matter/...
This seems to be a recurring problem, that of creating something which is *perceived* as having already been done. Yet paradoxically, it seems that everyone wants 'more of the same' of a successful idea.
Has there ever been a sitcom about a group of aspiring writers communicating on a messageboard?
Quote: Marc P @ June 18 2009, 9:44 AM BSTAsking a writer to pitch a sitcom when there is a script written is like asking a baker to pitch his recipe. Just eat the cake for f**ks sake!
Ah, but what if you were allergic to one of the ingrediants? 
Quote: NoggetFred @ June 18 2009, 10:03 AM BSTThis seems to be a recurring problem, that of creating something which is *perceived* as having already been done. Yet paradoxically, it seems that everyone wants 'more of the same' of a successful idea.
Yeah and what about the hilarious Pat Phoenix B&B sitcom, Constant Hot Water? And the Tim Healy hotel one.