British Comedy Guide

Interactive submission process Page 4

Had a look through this scheme over the week. It's attracted some good and bad comments.

Yes, it is a peer critique system (like Critique) but with bonuses... If your script is rated highly, you get a guaranteed read by a production company. The production company keeps the scripts on record and will provide proof of copyright, if the writer suspects plaigiarism. It's private review, rather than public; that is, the identity of the writer and the reviewers are known only to the company. You get three detailed crits rather than single word replies.

Now, in balance some drawbacks. Yes, you have to read three other scripts and provide feedback; although that will hone your ability to analyse structure, character, voice, etc and it will give you a sense of how you compare with peers. And yes, it's another hoop to jump through before getting in front of a production company but at least there's a hoop and not just another closed door.

Overall, if you post in Crit (or don't because you fear being plaigiarised) then this scheme is another potential avenue for (at worst) quality feedback and (at best) production company interest.

In the interest of fairness, some of you may know already but some may not, I am involved with Screenplay Productions.
:)

As someone who has also been involved with Screenplay, I'd like to make it clear at this point that I will not be reviewing anyone's work anonymously (nor submitting any of my work for anonymous assessment). Like anyone gives a toss. :)

I tried to sign up for this last week and got a message saying the email domain was not recognised. I haven't tried again yet but I don't think I will bother now since I finally received "feedback" from screenplay after 5 months and it was utterly useless.

Quote: Chris Forshaw @ August 21 2009, 1:29 PM BST

I haven't tried again yet but I don't think I will bother now since I finally received "feedback" from screenplay after 5 months and it was utterly useless.

In what way Chris?

Was it was written in Danish?

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ August 21 2009, 1:43 PM BST

In what way Chris?

I basically received an email telling me why the IT crowd was good with "Back to the keyboard" at the end.

I think he wants me to write the IT crowd.

Oh. What sort of thing did you send in?

A sitcom script. There was one sentence with regards to my script which said that all of the characters were the same (which confused me because when I posted a bit of it on here almost everyone said that there was good characterisation.) and then about 3 paragraphs on the IT crowd.

I got the feeling that someone had given my script a very brief flick through and didn't feel like giving it a proper critique. From someone who is supposed to be one of the best at giving feedback I was quite annoyed at having to wait so long for pretty much nothing.

Quote: Chris Forshaw @ August 21 2009, 1:29 PM BST

I haven't tried again yet but I don't think I will bother now since I finally received "feedback" from screenplay after 5 months and it was utterly useless.

I actually found his feedback very insightful. He has a good grasp of what makes a sitcom.

I suspect I caught him on a bad day because there is no way he would get the praise he does if everyone was getting what I received. I wouldn't mind if he told me my script was so bad it made his eyes bleed as long as it was actually about my script.

Quote: Chris Forshaw @ August 21 2009, 1:29 PM BST

I finally received "feedback" from screenplay after 5 months and it was utterly useless.

I'm also surprised to hear that. Like Ben, SProductions always seems to be on the nail.

He's not actually nailed anything from his side though has he? It strikes me he is acting more like an agency. He's not really a production company as far as I can tell? So it's probably more of a confusion of expectation/actuality on both sides.

Quote: Marc P @ August 27 2009, 9:56 PM BST

a confusion of expectation/actuality

Good name for a sitcom.

Quote: chipolata @ August 28 2009, 10:09 AM BST

Good name for a sitcom.

No charge. :)

Muchas gracias! :)

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