Yoo pesky kids and yer joking!
Recorded For Training Purposes submissions for S4 Page 9
Quote: Crusty427 @ October 7 2009, 11:26 AM BSTI was only joking, just a bit bored and wondered why the thread had ended so suddenly.
One thought or rather question if Producer does have his ears on was about whether or not he was asked having had his two sketches chosen if there's then opportunities to join the existing writing team.
Coconut cake really makes me sick.
I would've been on the writing team for series 3 if they hadn't changed producer.
No, they're cutting the team down each series as the budget gets cut more and more. It started out as talent finding and had a big budget but they can afford fewer and fewer on the writing team from the sounds of it. Which isn't unreasonable, really.
There's obvioulsy a lot of cost cutting at the moment, the budget for my family has also been cut quite dramatically.
We're not having the pop man on a Friday anymore and we only buy toilet rolls when we've got company.
My Family is quality. If what crusty says is true about them cutting the writing team I seriously fear for its future. Bob Lindsey needs a good script behind him - his long-suffering glances to camera don't write themselves y'know.
Quote: Crusty427 @ October 7 2009, 11:26 AM BSTOne thought or rather question if Producer does have his ears on was about whether or not he was asked having had his two sketches chosen if there's then opportunities to join the existing writing team.
Yes, some people who wrote for the last series have been commissioned for this one.
And the Producer definitely wasn't lying.
It started out as talent finding and had a big budget but they can afford fewer and fewer on the writing team from the sounds of it.
If they got rid of the writing team and only used non comm sketches (because let's face it, there will be no shortage) surely that would be cheaper for them.
Do commissioned writing teams get lazy as, whatever they write, no matter how awful it is will get on? Is that how it works? Listening to the last series, I can recall many of the commissioned sketches being on the bland side, and that I only seemed to laugh at sketches which I later found out to be from the non comms.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ October 8 2009, 1:07 PM BSTIf they got rid of the writing team and only used non comm sketches (because let's face it, there will be no shortage) surely that would be cheaper for them.
Mikey, are you trying to talk yourself out of a career 
While it's nice to get non commissioned opportunities, I haven't met a writer yet who would rather stay doing that than go a step further and becoming part of a writing team.
ha ha, I meant perhaps make "open house" shows non comm only.
I'm only saying that coz the non comm sketches (in my 'umble opinion) in the last RFTP (as well as NewsJack) vastly outshone the comms.
After all, the Beeb do say "here's an open door opportunity for the BBC to discover new talent" and then fill most of the slots with the Parsons And Naylor writing team.
I think you need some continuity in the writing. Maybe you could 'commission' non-comms (ie give them six themed sketches across the series) but that's still the 'old way'.
Not sure a free-for-all would work. Maybe I'm wrong though.
Dan
It's just not practical. The truth is 90% of what an open door show receives from the masses is crap. You can't rely on non-comms delivering the goods - particularly for topical shows where last minute rewrites and extra gags/sketches are needed at short notice. Even the best non-comms just won't have the skill or experience to turn things over that quickly.
A show like RFTP is slightly different because it's not specifically topical, but the principle is the same.
And as for the quality of sketches, well, let's just say a comedy show is really only as good as its producer and the sketches they decide to choose...
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ October 8 2009, 1:07 PM BSTCommissioned writing teams sometimes get lazy as, whatever they write, no matter how awful it is will get on. Listening to the last series, I can recall most of the commissioned sketches being rather bland, and that I only seemed to laugh at sketches which I later found out to be from the non comms.
With respect Mikey, that's a load of nonsense.
As someone who was on the commissioned writing team, I can assure you that there is no complacency. Not least because you always want to do well and get a gig on the next series.
Not everything you write gets on. Any show is over-commissioned precisely so they don't have to take everything.
This develops more when you have a show, like RFTP, with a large non-comm submission base. Again, you don't want these pesky newbies taking your job, and you're aware that to get on the show your sketches need to be absolutely top, because there's enough material there if required.
You submit all your sketches, and the producer then decides if he likes them. And given the mass of material available, as I say, to get to the stage of rewrites or recording, the producer had to really like them (I had loads that went nowhere, and a few of them I was really rather chuffed with and surprised to lose).
And even then, it only gets broadcast if it goes down well with the audience.
In deed, every non-comm and comm sketch had to go through the precise same process and only got through if they met the exact same standards.
Now you may very well have not enjoyed some of the sketches by commissioned writers. Fair enough. But it's a mistake to use your subjective opinion on the sketches to suggest that those of us on the team were complacent on any level, because to even be broadcast every sketch had to be liked by quite a lot of people - there were some non-comm sketches I thought were terrible, but I'm not going to use that to suggest anything other than they were simply not to my taste. As I said above, with the greatest of respect you've not been on a commissioned writing team so you don't really know what it's like and aren't really in a position to make any judgements.
Apologies if this is over-grumpy.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ October 8 2009, 1:07 PM BSTCommissioned writing teams sometimes get lazy as, whatever they write, no matter how awful it is will get on. Listening to the last series, I can recall most of the commissioned sketches being rather bland, and that I only seemed to laugh at sketches which I later found out to be from the non comms.
I agree with Anthrax. I've been on a few commissioned 'teams'. In the main, I never met any of my commissioned colleagues; I only knew who they were when the credits rolled, i.e. 'Written by...', as opposed to on-spec writers who were - 'Additional Material by...'. Anyway, when commissioned, there is absolutely no way that I'm complacent; in fact I'm über-critical of my work - you want to get commissioned for another series - no - you need get commissioned for another series!
If you think that most of the commissioned sketches are 'rather bland' - obviously they are buying 'rather bland', so sell 'em some 'rather bland', Mikey! 
OOPS. Much apologies there, Anthrax.
It was me and my big (opinionated) mouth again spouting off. I wasn't in a very good mood earlier, although that's not really an excuse.
Maybe I should have worded it thus: "Sometimes I feel that commissioned writers can get anything in when I listen to a show, but I'm sure I must be wrong there."
And yes, I agree that 90% of the non comm subs will be pants. As I guess 90% of Writersroom subs wil be pants. etc etc.
I did notice in the last series of NewsJack several times that if a commissioned writer wrote a sketch about a certain news story, some non comms would come on the NewsJack thread and scream "Bloody hell, my sketch about said news story was much better!"
Then they'd post theirs in Critique and 9 out of 10 times WOULD be cleverer, funnier, etc.
...which probably led me to my earlier opinion.
I think you've made some good points there, Antrax. I imagine there's a lot of pressure on commissioned writers to prove themselves by delivering the goods.
Quote: Ben @ October 8 2009, 7:49 PM BSTI think you've made some good points there, Antrax. I imagine there's a lot of pressure on commissioned writers to prove themselves by delivering the goods.
Exactly, Ben - i.e. The producer/script editor is putting his faith in you , "I think you're good enough - now prove it!! Pressure or what?!