British Comedy Guide

The Sitcom Mission 2011 Page 46

Quote: Ash Man @ March 10 2011, 9:46 PM GMT

Jeremy Clarkson - 6'4" Arrogant Top Gear presenter who could do with being pied again

Yeah! That's the one

Writers who really want to write for telly might enjoy these tips, from James Moran:

http://jamesmoran.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-writing-faq.html

Unlike those of us involved with the Trials, Mission, Sitcom Thursday et al, James actually writes a lot for the telly. Questions he answers include:

I really want to be a writer, what should I do?
How did you break in?
What about writing courses, or books, or contests? Are they any good?
How do I get better at writing?
If I send you my stuff, will you read it and give me feedback?
So who can I get feedback from?
Can we collaborate on a script? Or if I have an idea, do you want to write it?
Okay, I've rewritten my script, what now?
How do I get an agent?
Will you recommend me to an agent?
Do you have a list of agencies or companies that accept submissions?
Is it really that hard to break in?
Is it who you know, rather than what you know?
What if I'm no good? Should I just give up?

Enjoy.

Kev F

Quote: Kev F @ March 10 2011, 10:45 PM GMT

Writers who really want to write for telly might enjoy these tips, from James Moran:

http://jamesmoran.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-writing-faq.html

Unlike those of us involved with the Trials, Mission, Sitcom Thursday et al, James actually writes a lot for the telly. Questions he answers include:

I really want to be a writer, what should I do?
How did you break in?
What about writing courses, or books, or contests? Are they any good?
How do I get better at writing?
If I send you my stuff, will you read it and give me feedback?
So who can I get feedback from?
Can we collaborate on a script? Or if I have an idea, do you want to write it?
Okay, I've rewritten my script, what now?
How do I get an agent?
Will you recommend me to an agent?
Do you have a list of agencies or companies that accept submissions?
Is it really that hard to break in?
Is it who you know, rather than what you know?
What if I'm no good? Should I just give up?

Enjoy.

Kev F

That's all really good Kev and thank you for that but the problem is the powers that be, [TV] as I said, have a set mind as to what they think the viewers want. I am 70 and just crave for a barking mad sitcom, different to anything else, riddled with transvestites [possibly] and other fab/different characters but we are always served up with the same middle class, safe crap. Well, I got that off my chest :D

That's all really good kev and thank you for that but the problem is the powers that be, as I said, they have a set mind as to what they think the viewers want. I am 70 and just crave for a barking mad sitcom, different to anything else, riddled with transvestites (possibly) and other fab/different characters but we are always served up with the same f**king middle class, safe shite/crap. Well, I got that off my chest

The thing is... I know of at least one tranvestite/transexual sitcom in active development, and I'm sure it's not the only one.

Don't assume that just none have made it to the screen that there's no desire to fill that gap.

No idea why that quote didn't work there...

Quote: Antrax @ March 10 2011, 11:25 PM GMT

The thing is... I know of at least one tranvestite/transexual sitcom in active development, and I'm sure it's not the only one.

Don't assume that just none have made it to the screen that there's no desire to fill that gap.

No idea why that quote didn't work there...

well, I hope they have Antrax

Quote: bushbaby @ March 10 2011, 11:44 PM GMT

well, I hope they have Antrax

Personally though... I'm more interested in whether they're funny than what particular group of people they feature.

me too but it's the same, same, same booooooooooooorin' haha

Quote: scubanut @ March 10 2011, 9:47 PM GMT

On the plus side, though
- no post apocalyptic zombies (possibly a pre-apocalyptic sleepwalker in episode 2)

In my defence, Declan didn't say there was anything WRONG with post-apocalyptic zombie sitcoms, just that two of them had been received. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I'd happily watch a post-appocalyptic zombie-sitcom. And considering the enduring popularity of zombie movies (which are all pretty much exactly the same), I'm sure one would get decent viewing figures.

Zombie movies (successful ones anyway) are rarely about the zombies but the people, I suppose.
Much like Day of the Triffids is dismissed as a book about killer plants when in fact it set the tone for post apocolyptic drama for the last fifty years.

Quote: sean knight @ March 11 2011, 9:50 AM GMT

Zombie movies (successful ones anyway) are rarely about the zombies but the people, I suppose.

I agree. My zombiecom (as people who have read my wafflings have come to call it) only has one zombie in it, it's how all our non-brain-hungering normal folk cope in the zombie infested world that raises the chuckles. All two of them.

We'll wait to see if Declan and Simon agree.

What else did people enter then? Any exciting nibbles from people about genres or characters? I know that someone entered a 19th Century detective type sitcom, what else have Declan and Simon been subjected to?

Quote: sean knight @ March 11 2011, 9:50 AM GMT

Zombie movies (successful ones anyway) are rarely about the zombies but the people, I suppose.

True, but how they react and they scrapes they get into is always the bloody same. Which is not a complaint, I love anything with a zombie in. Hell, I even watched Flight of the Living Dead and enjoyed it.

Quote: chipolata @ March 11 2011, 10:18 AM GMT

True, but how they react and they scrapes they get into is always the bloody same.

Well hopefully I can buck the trend in my scribblings by forcing the hordes of the living dead upon an abject coward and an idiot.

If anyone's interested, I don't mind posting my script for 'Pints', one of The Sitcom Mission 2010's staged shows (Heat 3), onto my website for people to have a nosey at. Granted, it didn't go any further than Heat 3 but I'll pop it online later tonight if anyone would find it useful.

Quote: Penge @ March 11 2011, 10:50 AM GMT

Well hopefully I can buck the trend in my scribblings by forcing the hordes of the living dead upon an abject coward and an idiot.

Penge, you're not going to improve your chances by referring to me and Simon as an abject coward and an idiot.

But which one's which?

Oh, no, wait, that's not going to help either is it?

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