It seems that most people are more upset about not getting the autoreplies than they are by not getting on the show. 
You'd get a "mail undelivered" error if they didn't receive them.
Writing for Newsjack (aka 7 on 7) Page 58
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Quote: Mikey Jackson @ July 6 2009, 10:55 PM BSTIt seems that most people are more upset about not getting the autoreplies than they are by not getting on the show.
You'd get a "mail undelivered" error if they didn't receive them.
Not necessarily true. An email can be "delivered" to a spam folder easy enough. It would depend on how their email systems are configured.
ahhhhh, yeah.
But I'm sure they're getting all the stuff, unless they're sketches about viagra, mortgages, casinos or any other spam filter triggers.
Well, I've sent my sketches off and I thought this would be as good a place as any in which to seek moral support/words of condolence etc, when the ol' Newsjacobites invariably refuse to acknowledge my existence (why I oughta!). Mind, I should probably just be thankful for an auto-reply message every now and again in the circumstances!
Well done to anyone who has had any success regarding the show (goes without saying really), but I was wondering how everyone else is dealing with the rejection and, more importantly, whether or not it's having an effect on their writing; i.e. are people sticking to their guns and writing the sort of stuff they would want to hear or are people resorting to simply writing what they think the producer/s want to read in the hope that this will avail better results?
Also, I would like to thank people for not falling asleep midway through reading this post, or, if you have, 'hello again!' and my apologies.
Good username, Speckled Jim! And welcome.
Welcome Jim
I've sent sketches every week and 'failed'. I'm disappointed for about five minutes and then try again. I don't see it as a weakness to write specifically for the tone of a show. I'd have thought it's a good thing (if you want any kind of success) to be a bit flexible and try different styles.
But I suspect that only works if you still think it's funny yourself. There are certain types of humour I don't enjoy so will never write. If you keep listening to this show you can at least have an idea of what they're looking for topic and style wise. For example they don't mind a bit of sillyness which is probably my only hope! It's the BBC so they won't do anything too offensive which might easily be used somewhere like Newsrevue who are less likely to get in trouble for it!
Hope it's a good week for you.
JP
I was wondering how everyone else is dealing with the rejection and, more importantly, whether or not it's having an effect on their writing; i.e. are people sticking to their guns and writing the sort of stuff they would want to hear or are people resorting to simply writing what they think the producer/s want to read in the hope that this will avail better results?
Haven't bene on here for ages but I am now turning to the forum for a bit of guidance with this newsjack business. I have changed my writing style for newsjack only because I realsed that although I thought the sketches I was writng were funny there was no chance they were going to get on hence I have made the sketches more conventional. I wrote one about the queen but I reckon it will maybe take to the last week till I am totally adapted to this type of writing.
It's all good practice. As a sketch writer we stand more chance if we are able to write to order, without being too precious about our own tastes or wishes. A bit like the advice we were given about the Sitcom Trials – the uncompromising complaint from a writer, 'I would rather cut my right arm off than lose one of my nuns'. 
Three one liners sent off this morning, and the auto response arrived within about two minutes.
Remember you are writing for someone else's show so you have to adapt to their style. That's part of the skillset they are looking for and one you need. Later on in your career you might (hopefully) be asked to write an episode of an existing show and so you can't write an episode of Blackadder in the style of The Office.
The 'write what you want' motto only applies to your own work, not to contributions to others. 
Continued congratulations to all those who have made it onto the show so far.
I really wouldn't get so hung up about the auto-response though people. If you're not getting one it's quite likely the auto-response has just been filtered out somewhere in the ether. This is quite common as auto-responses are generated by a machine and thus can look quite a lot like spam. A bounced reply will indicate your email didn't make it so if you didn't get one of them, you're fine.
Cheers Griff. I very nearly went with 'Asthmatic Ant' but I thought Speckled Jim had more of a 'namely' (for want of a better word) quality. Echo on the compliments regarding the Jedi sketch by the way!
Yeah, I agree whole-heartedly on people's sentiments regarding writing for the show. I think most people would be unable to bring themselves to submit material that they didn't personally think was funny (or at least mildy amusing in any case!) simply because they thought the 'style' of the sketch coincided with that of a particular show; but I was just curious, you know.
There are so many factors to consider when submitting material for a show like this and you can drive yourself half way round the bend trying to mould your sketches into what you think they're notion of an 'ideal' sketch might be. I suppose in the end it's about compromise and getting a good balance between what you think is important and what you think they think is important (if that's not confusing the matter too much!). 
Quote: Speckled Jim @ July 7 2009, 1:10 PM BSTCheers Griff. I very nearly went with 'Asthmatic Ant' but I thought Speckled Jim had more of a 'namely' (for want of a better word) quality. Echo on the compliments regarding the Jedi sketch by the way!
Yeah, I agree whole-heartedly on people's sentiments regarding writing for the show. I think most people would be unable to bring themselves to submit material that they didn't personally think was funny (or at least mildy amusing in any case!) simply because they thought the 'style' of the sketch coincided with that of a particular show; but I was just curious, you know.
There are so many factors to consider when submitting material for a show like this and you can drive yourself half way round the bend trying to mould your sketches into what you think they're notion of an 'ideal' sketch might be. I suppose in the end it's about compromise and getting a good balance between what you think is important and what you think they think is important (if that's not confusing the matter too much!).
You can never work out exactly what they find funny. That's down to individual taste. But you can easily pick up the style by listening to the show.
Didn't some peeps get recording notices by Tues evening last week? Anybody got a heads up yet? 
Griff got a Monday or Tuesay email, but that was for a rewrite.
Then I do believe Wednesday teatime-ish, the "we're recording your material" emails were sent out.
Hey, guess what I got in my inbox?
The missing 4685 Newsjack autoreply messages.
If you'd like to form an orderly queue, I'll hand them all back to their rightful owners.