Quote: Adam Blaize @ September 13 2009, 11:17 PM BSTYou're sort of successful and get through. Or in case companies want to look at other episodess examples
Come on Adam, play the game and put ideas, and concepts etc, into sentences.
Sitcom Trials Autumn '09 Page 33
I know I shouldn't put all my eggs in one basket but I lack alternative luggage options.
Above still a little unclear. Didn't read anything about a second episode. Do you mean that should you be chosen for the trials a second episode is required for the finals?
Just in case I get anywhere. I won't. We were very last-minute in our entry.
(Good luck everyone)
Thank you, good luck to you sglen. Well you got in there, so hope for the best. I do have other alternative bits and pieces waiting should the director want to change things, if this is what Adam means, I think it must be, I didn't find anything written about distinct new episodes on their website. But yes he's right, it cannot be a bad idea, especially if you're going to develop the same sitcom anyway and send it out to others.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ September 13 2009, 10:05 PM BSTEh, have I missed something here, it looks like I have - 2nd episode? So for those lucky and good enough to get selected, if their entry gets through the first heat, does the writer then have to enter a brand new episode? And I take it that has to be of the same sitcom?
I'm a Sitcom Trials novice but I assumed it's just the one episode. If you get through you might get a chance to tweak it for next time but there isn't a requirement for a second episode is there? There wouldn't be much rehearsal time. Jane P or Mr Carpark or other previous entrants will know for sure.
Of course, we've all submitted stuff with "legs" and loads of other episode ideas anyway, haven't we? I mean, we haven't shoved something in at the last minute. 
At the last Sitcom Trials, the original concept was to have several rounds, with the first episode of your sitcom in the first round (makes sense) and then the second episode if you got through to the quarter finals.
The idea was scrapped for whatever reason, probably as Badge suggests, with the lack of rehearsal time, availability of actors, etc. Though one of the interesting aspects that we did have to adhere to was having to put together a synopsis for the first six episodes of the series.
So if your hilarious sitcom about a May Fly gets through, you might need to tweek the concept somewhat.
That sounds fair enough, might test the writers who came up with something new at the last minute, though. I think this shows STs intentions of wanting to find real sitcoms they can develop, not just show pieces for the audience trials. This is a good sign. It also favours the adaptors of ongoing projects, if they keep in this requirement, so I for one'll be happy with it...hopefully.
Renegade Carpark is right, of course. We had to scrap the second episode idea for purely logistical reasons. Getting actors and directors together at the same time was difficult enough for episode one. Remember that they weren't being paid, so every time they came to a rehearsal it cost them £6.30 for a travelcard, add to that the cost of (in some cases) of taking time off work and you can understand why they didn't want to do it again.
We started with 32 scripts, so finding rehearsal space was a logistical nightmare. If we'd paid for rehearsal space every time (something we often had to do) we'd have ended up paying to stage the Trials, so we leant heavily on certain actor-friendly pubs. It wasn't easy.
So basically the reasons we didn't go with the second ep were cost and the problems of finding somewhere to rehearse.
But that's not a factor for you, the writer, so why wouldn't you want to write episode two anyway? The things you learn about your characters will feed back into episode one and make the conflicts and relationships richer. Not only that, if a production company calls you in for a chat (as they did with several writers) you'll want to have something else up your sleeve to show them that you're committed to your own idea. Why would they commit to it if you haven't? Much easier to convince them that your idea has legs if you have something on paper to demonstrate it. If all you have is 13 mins you're leaving it up to them to trust that you have more episodes in you. Why take the risk?
Simon
Co-Producer with Declan Hill of last year's Trials
Very useful info so cheers from me for that.
As one of those "last minute" writers I'd actually say this competition was brilliant just as a kick up the arse. I'm terrible without deadlines, they really give me focus. We definietly won't get into the trials. We wrote our piece in all of 6 days and we both work full time! I haven't looked back on it since we submitted it because I know it's going to be absolutely awful. But now we have an idea we're both really keen on for a sitcom, a good grasp of the characters and a firm foundation to work on. It's a good concept for a competition because, even for just 13 minutes, you need to have really thought everything through so you end up with a whole premise in your head and an idea of where you'll go with the idea. More of this kind of thing!
Me and my writing partner entered this year, for the first time, we had no Idea about it until stumbling upon this highly informative amazing post.
We wish everyone the best of luck (but obviously hope you wrote a load of crap so we might have at least the slightest chance of getting through. 
)
Anyone know around when we find out? Also do we get notified if we don't get through? I read somewhere, probably on here, that sometimes they give feedback anyone had that? Is it informative and constructive?
Just like to say aswell the people who thought up the trials should be far more recognised!
Re: Second episodes. Unless James (Parker, producer) has introduced a devious new clause to separate the men/women/wheat from the boys/girls/chaff, you only need to write one episode for the Sitcom Trials. If it wins its heat, we would then re-stage that same episode in the semi final and the final.
If, of course, you really wanted to flex your writing muscles and/or show off, you could write totally different episodes for our characters for the semi and the final. It would be harder work for the director and actors, and it might suffer if it wasn't as good as the first episode staged, but you could do it if you wanted (subject to James not immediately coming on this forum and screaming No they bloody can't!)
Back in the pre-tournament days of the Trials, when we used to run each show as a stand alone night, so sitcoms competed and won their night and that was that, we staged many subsequent episodes of sitcoms. The idea was more to develop sitcoms and test them out as saleable projects, rather than just give them one minute in the spotlight then cast them aside, so rewrites would be staged, team-written episodes of ongoing formats would be tested out, and so on. The Trials format, voting for a fave and only seeing the ending of the winner, simply served to keep the audience's involvement and attention.
Right now we'll just be running the exciting fight-to-the-death tournament this Autumn and see how that goes. But if there's sufficient interest in the old style Trials-as-testing-ground show, well you never know what might happen.
Kev F
Oh one episode. That could work in our favour if we're picked, because obviously, you can tweak certain things and see what does or doesn't work. Only problem with that is that if people know what the joke is, they might get tired of the same stuff.
Quote: Adam Blaize @ September 14 2009, 8:13 PM BSTOh one episode. That could work in our favour if we're picked, because obviously, you can tweak certain things and see what does or doesn't work. Only problem with that is that if people know what the joke is, they might get tired of the same stuff.
Why?
Because if you've seen one episode of something, you don't want to go and see the same episode three times in a row. You want freshness don't you; and the majority of the audience will have seen it, so they'll know the punchline; if that makes sense.
Quote: Adam Blaize @ September 14 2009, 10:50 PM BSTBecause if you've seen one episode of something, you don't want to go and see the same episode three times in a row. You want freshness don't you; and the majority of the audience will have seen it, so they'll know the punchline; if that makes sense.
For women maybe, not for men. We can watch stuff over and over again. Take F1 for example.