Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 25 2009, 1:00 PM BSTSo... are you entering this year, Marc?
Well........ I was thinking about it but haven't got round to preparing something, and it's a fair bit of work to write something specifically for fifteen minutes - which you can't use anywhere else - and then pull out of it when one is placed over the barrel of the option clause and not sure what is about to happen next.
Just write a short episode of your favourite sitcom and change the names. Sorted.
Quote: Carol Cooper @ August 24 2009, 9:02 PM BSTThe sitcom trials rules do not actually specify that it completely, like totally, has to be a TV sitcom. So, I was wondering... I don't suppose I could submit my hilarious radio sitcom could I?
I've workshopped the first episode with comedy actors in front of an audience who were, quite literally, laughing out loud.
By all means submit. As long as the action implied isn't too outlandish, then it should be perfect given the limited staging available in the Sitcom Trials.
For fans of Sitcom Trials history it used to ONLY accept scripts suitable for radio - this is no longer the case of course.
Keep the entries coming guys, we've had loads now and they are in the hands of our readers.
J
Well........ I was thinking about it but haven't got round to preparing something, and it's a fair bit of work to write something specifically for fifteen minutes - which you can't use anywhere else - and then pull out of it when one is placed over the barrel of the option clause and not sure what is about to happen next.
I was thinking about it, but to be able to win, I'd need to submit a shorter version of my best work.
Unfortunately, all my best stuff is doing the rounds.
I have some sub-standard pre-watershed trite, (I figured I'd write a "My Family with a twist" piece of gristle, just so I had such a script in my portfolio) but what's the point as it wouldn't get to the finals.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 25 2009, 9:42 PM BSTI have some sub-standard pre-watershed trite, (I figured I'd write a "My Family with a twist" piece of gristle, just so I had such a script in my portfolio) but what's the point as it wouldn't get to the finals.
Sorry Mikey, but why on earth would you deliberately set out to write something sub-standard? How is it going to benefit your portfolio to demonstrate that you are rubbish at something? Why not just try to write a good pre-watershed sitcom?
Well, it's not exactly sub-standard. Maybe a wrong choice of word.
Maybe I mean, in my 'umble, funny, but not my best work and something I wouldn't want to enter into a contest.
Unless of course it was a "Beeb needs a sitcom to replace My Family" contest.
The script in question is actually on my website. (Two Story House)
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 26 2009, 2:48 AM BSTWell, it's not exactly sub-standard. Maybe a wrong choice of word.
Maybe I mean, in my 'umble, funny, but not my best work and something I wouldn't want to enter into a contest.
Unless of course it was a "Beeb needs a sitcom to replace My Family" contest.The script in question is actually on my website. (Two Story House)
Mikey J I read the first page and four words were underlined so my eyes started hurting. 
Stop doing it!
lol 
They're emphasis.
I've always been told to underline emphasis and NOT italic it as italics can be missed.
How else are you supposed to do emphasise a sentence?
(sometimes sentences can mean something entirely different if the emphasis is left out)
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 26 2009, 12:26 PM BSTlol
They're emphasis.
I've always been told to underline emphasis and NOT italic it as italics can be missed.
Talk to different people. And don't use italics either.
But Mikey, you use it sparingly; not every other line! I'll maybe use it once in an entire script, if at all. It should be obvious in most cases what you intend a line to mean without having to resort to underlining constantly. Trust the people reading!
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 26 2009, 12:28 PM BSTHow else are you supposed to do emphasise a sentence?
(sometimes sentences can mean something entirely different if the emphasis is left out)
Paste one of your examples here and I will show you.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ August 26 2009, 12:28 PM BSTlol
How else are you supposed to do emphasise a sentence?
(sometimes sentences can mean something entirely different if the emphasis is left out)
An actor will know. And if they don't the director will.
Quote: Marc P @ August 26 2009, 12:32 PM BSTPaste one of your examples here and I will show you.
Here's your first page fiddled about with to bring the emphasis out without underlining.
[GEMMA FURIOUSLY SLAMS THE FRIDGE DOOR AND RIPS A CAN OF COKE OPEN]
GEMMA:
So… Mum! When were you actually going to tell us?
ANNIE:
I was waiting for the right moment...
GEMMA:
When? When we'd both grown up and left home and had children of our own?
ANNIE:
Of course not…
GEMMA:
(INTERRUPTING) I can't believe you'd take Dad back after what he did to you?
ANNIE:
I haven't taken him back. I've simply let him move
into the spare room, I couldn't leave him out on the
street could I?
GEMMA:
Why not? Worried he wouldn't keep his cardboard box clean?
ANNIE:
He'd never survive in Cardboard City.
[GEMMA GLARES AT CHELSEA]
GEMMA:
It's Bristol City you should have worried about. And it wasn't your fault or Gordon Brown's that he got repossessed you know!
Hi guys.
Sorry to be away so long.
Thanks for these tips and big thanks to Marc P for that edit.
I will go about extinquishing all underliney bits aap. 
Hello again,
Just emailed my script off. Just wondering whether we get received confirmation replies? I'm always paranoid about the internet eating my mails.
A-thank-you.
M.