Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 14 2009, 5:43 PM GMTGeek, if you please.
Big Top critical and forum reaction Page 12
Quote: Micheal Jacob @ December 14 2009, 5:24 PM GMTI don't quite understand this, but if you're suggesting that there isn't a level playing field, then you're wrong, and I resent the damaging implication.
If you say there is a level playing field, then I have to take you at your word and hope that it is true. Of course, after seeing the Horne and Corden sketch comedy show, you can certainly understand my feelings of paranoia with regards to playing fields and their perceived levelish-ness.
Thank you taking the time to post on here, it's not often I get to talk directly to someone so high up in the industry. If I've caused offence, it's only because I care so much about comedy, so I hope you haven't taken my criticisms too personally.
Now that I've got your ear, any chance of re-commissioning Pulling and putting it on BBC1? 
Quote: Griff @ December 14 2009, 5:44 PM GMTThat was the show where Nostradamus used to turn up, right?
I think so, yeah. I get it and Fist Of Fun mixed up, for obvious reasons. Plus I haven't seen either since they were first broadcast.
In the spirit of trying to add some context, it's interesting to see just how successful and admired Outnumbered has become, isn't it? Good to see the BBC getting behind a brilliant show and publicising its recent awards success.
If the person I was speaking to a month or so was correct (and there's no reason to doubt, as the person concerned was "close to the action" as it were), the BBC refused to even pay for the pilot of this show to be filmed. Despite the fact it (obviously) was a great script and idea, and that it had two of Britain's most respected and talented writers behind it. Point is, this show might never have happened...
(If I'm mistaken about this, of course, then many apologies.)
The success of Outnumbered is due in very large part to the children - whose dialogue is improvised, not scripted.
If the actors in Big Top had been pushed onto a set with a plot outline and told to get on with it, it'd be a lot funnier than it is.
Improv = the future.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 14 2009, 5:44 PM GMTThank you taking the time to post on here, it's not often I get to talk directly to someone so high up in the industry. If I've caused offence, it's only because I care so much about comedy, so I hope you haven't taken my criticisms too personally.
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ December 14 2009, 6:04 PM GMTThe success of Outnumbered is due in very large part to the children - whose dialogue is improvised, not scripted.
It is improvised in the sense that it is not formally scripted. That is very different from saying that scenes are made up on the spot, with the kids not receiving guidance from the writers (who are on set directing them). The writers are also present to lead the improvised conversations with the kids, before the reverse shots are done with the adult actors. It is not improvisation in the strictest sense of the word. The children are indeed a big factor in the show's success, but it takes the writers' skills to use them effectively and create and write a plot which uses them to the show's advantage. You only get the funny stuff from the kids if you know the right questions to ask them.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 14 2009, 5:44 PM GMTIf you say there is a level playing field, then I have to take you at your word and hope that it is true. Of course, after seeing the Horne and Corden sketch comedy show, you can certainly understand my feelings of paranoia with regards to playing fields and their perceived levelish-ness.
Thank you taking the time to post on here, it's not often I get to talk directly to someone so high up in the industry. If I've caused offence, it's only because I care so much about comedy, so I hope you haven't taken my criticisms too personally.
Now that I've got your ear, any chance of re-commissioning Pulling and putting it on BBC1?
Cheers Renegade.
I think you attribute to me great powers which I'm afraid I don't possess. At the risk of boring people, this is how comedy works.
There is an in-house BBC comedy department, where I work as an executive producer and run the College of Comedy. The department has a number of executive producers, producers and assistant producers, and all of us work with writers to develop shows which we hope will be commissioned.
There are also a number of independent production companies, who similarly develop ideas.
Their and our ideas meet when they reach our commissioning colleagues, and the controller of commissioning decides which projects will be taken forward for discussion with channel controllers. They decide in turn which shows they want.
So I'm one of a whole bunch of people trying to get shows on air.
The writersroom exists to encourage new writing. It kindly hosts my blog, and we collaborate from time to time, but I don't work there.
So I have no commissioning power, and no say in whether indie shows like Horne and Corden and indeed Outnumbered are commissioned or piloted. Nor indeed in-house shows like Miranda and Psychoville.
Like everyone else, I try to find writers whose work I love, and to have their work produced, so it's a large playing field - more akin to the Emirates than Highbury,
Also, by writing quite briefly about the response to Big Top, I was seeking to make a general point rather than to concentrate solely on that show.
I hope this clarifies.
Quote: Griff @ December 14 2009, 5:44 PM GMTThat was the show where Nostradamus used to turn up, right?
Yes and Richard felt strangely attracted to Nostradamus. Of course, it turned out that it was just a woman dressed up all along.
Thanks for the explanation, Micheal.
Quote: Ben @ December 14 2009, 7:21 PM GMTYes and Richard felt strangely attracted to Nostradamus. Of course, it turned out that it was just a woman dressed up all along.
Thanks for the explanation, Micheal.
"It smarts!"
Quote: Martin H @ December 14 2009, 7:26 PM GMT"It smarts!"
Micheal's explanation?
Quote: Ben @ December 14 2009, 7:28 PM GMTMicheal's explanation?
Sorry. It was a reference to the Nostradamus character in TMWRNJ, it's what she used to say.
Quote: Micheal Jacob @ December 14 2009, 6:41 PM GMTAt the risk of boring people, this is how comedy works.
There is an in-house BBC comedy department, where I work as an executive producer and run the College of Comedy. The department has a number of executive producers, producers and assistant producers, and all of us work with writers to develop shows which we hope will be commissioned.
There are also a number of independent production companies, who similarly develop ideas.
Their and our ideas meet when they reach our commissioning colleagues, and the controller of commissioning decides which projects will be taken forward for discussion with channel controllers. They decide in turn which shows they want.
It does kind of make you nostalgic for the days when the Beeb asked Galton & Simpson what they wanted to do next. I can't help but wonder whether a process which put commissioning power into the hands of the departmental heads rather than the channel controllers might not yield more interesting results. But that might mean trusting the sort of geeks who 'get' comedy, rather than serious people who understand demographics and market share and star pulling power and how to milk an expense account.
Well I think Outnumbered should certainly be considered to be shown at a much earlier time; it might not be a studio sitcom but otherwise it fills the brief of a mainstream family show.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ December 14 2009, 4:39 PM GMTThe BBC is the channel for me, I help to pay for the bloody thing. I'm not sure about the rest of the violent sexual imagery you've used to make your point, but I will tell you this - Big Top is not a good show.
I'm not defending Big Top or the BBC. I'm saying, would you rather sell yourself to a company that puts out crap like Big Top or do what you wanna do and get on and make comedy. Think about choosing other options. Is all.