Declan
Saturday 17th April 2010 9:03pm
753 posts
Hi guys
I'll try and answer the questions and points raised in order:
Walter: The point of the audience vote at this stage is that, when votes from the heat and the semi-final are added together, the sitcom that didn't get through to the Grand Final with the highest cumulative vote does go through. So it is worth attending and voting for your favourite.
At the 8pm show last week, only three people out of an audience of 80 didn't know someone who was in/wrote/directed one of the sitcoms. Those people, however many times we ask them to vote for the two that they liked the most, will always vote for the one that their mate is in/wrote/directed. Which is why we ask them to vote for two, so that they vote for the one their mate was in/wrote/directed, and the one they genuinely thought was funny.
I don't think there was anything strange and suspicious about the voting on Monday. However, you're right, we're not a democracy, althought we have found that voting systems are only preferred by the people who are set to gain by them.
I don't believe that Sitting Ducks got a raw deal. Where's the incentive for us to give a sitcom, that the writer, director and actors have put a bloody lot of hard work into and we've supported, a raw deal? What would be the point? Are we trying to fix anything? If so, why?
Penge: The audience cumulative vote, which I'd like to refer to it as from now on, is the addition of the heat vote and the semi-final vote. I can just imagine the hoo-ha on here if something that didn't make it through to the semi-finals got through to the Grand Final based purely on audience vote. So yes, one of the semi-finalists will get through to the Grand Final, based on the addition of the heat vote and the semi-final vote.
Bushbaby: All of the industry was not present. Nor were all of the viewers.
Mark: The judges were at the 5pm industry show, not the 8pm general public show, so wouldn't have been swayed by audience reaction.
Ennie: It's ok to be scared. How do you think Simon and I were last week?
Marc: TV critics aren't industry execs, but they do hold a tiny bit of sway with the readers of whichever publication they write for, otherwise they'd be out of a job.
BushBaby: Put the bottle down and walk away.
On a general note, we've set up The Sitcom Mission to further writers' opportunities to have their work performed in front of members of the industry, one of whom said after the show that it was nice to see things performed and not just read out. Would writers be interested in us putting on a non-competitive showcase, with no voting whatsoever? In which case we wouldn't have heats or semi-finals and would just choose four or five to showcase on one night. After June 7th, I can tell you which four or five we would have chosen.
And when it comes down to it, there's plenty of decisions made by TV execs which I disagree with, but we thought it best to be proactive and provide an alternative.
Cheers, Declan