Wow, well that was a surprise!
Thanks to all who voted for "Checkpoint Dave", and congrats to the other finalists.
Weirdly, I've mostly been agreeing with the critical feedback I received, and wishing I'd done things a bit differently in a new draft. I think this competition has been brilliant in the sense that so many writers have read and reviewed all the scripts. Be lovely to see more of this kind of thing, perhaps for first drafts of sitcoms in development.
Well, the votes are in and Shit didn't Happen..:0(
Congratulations and good luck to those going through to the next bit...
Thanks to Kev for organizing the whole thing, it's easy to criticise a competition like this but having taken part in many 'peer review' competitions I can assure everyone it's not as easy or as straightforward as it may seem, especially the voting process...
I too would be more than willing to pass on advice/experience for future competitions...
Quote: Frantically @ June 27 2011, 11:07 PM BSTNot taking un-critiqued votes seems a bit unfair. Some people may gain and others lose purely because people who voted for them didn't add their reasons. This is not the fault of the writer.
Ok, I think I may have pipped fifth place because of this from Jim Coulson (who must genuinely be sick as a parrot).
As a fair method of resolving this I suggest we re-run the competition with a brand new vote and writers submitting completely new scripts that have nothing to do with the originals.
Or else we can ask the people who didn't critique to submit their critiques? I know the rules have been stated etc. etc, but I'll be honest, I didn't read them fully myself and it seems wrong.
No, no, I'm just glad that democracy won out
*dies inside*
*weeps*
*secretly plans some kind of Phantom of the Opera revenge stunt for Saturday*
Quote: Frantically @ June 27 2011, 11:07 PM BSTNot taking un-critiqued votes seems a bit unfair. Some people may gain and others lose ...I know the rules have been stated etc. etc, but I'll be honest, I didn't read them fully myself and it seems wrong.
The online voting system is not perfect, and the checks and balances I've tried to keep in place this time round may not have been as stringent as some would have liked, but the underlying method remains the best for this kind of thing. The vast bulk of the voters voted for almost all of the scripts, giving us as representative a cross section of views as possible. If you look at the voting table(s) in the files (mine's and Dan Sweryt's) you'll see trends very clearly emerge, with scripts in the Top Ten getting a lot of Yesses, scripts in the bottom ten getting a lot of Nos, and scripts in the middle getting a wide range of votes (tellingly it's Treading Water which lives up to its name, floaing slap bang in the middle).
A Maybe vote cancelled out a No vote, and some got a pretty even mix of both, hence the scores in the single figures, either plus or minus. They were fun to add up, with me pointing at a screen going "one, zero, one, zero, one, two, one, zero, minus one, zero.." and so on. While a clear Yes took two whole Nos to wipe out, which should make the system err towards the positive, especially if anyone were trying to ballot-stuff.
Having reviews with the votes is, I hope, the most helpful part of the process. The writers of 43 scripts now have, at the very least, a bit of audience research from 25 or more people who've read their scripts. These aren't script reports by paid script editors, but they are the views of a self-selecting jury of your peers and as such must tell us all something about the quality of the work we submitted.
Of course on Saturday 4 or 5 scripts will be subjected to the ultimate test, an audience's laughter. Of course there'll be voting, and the audience will declare a winner, but it's finding out whether your script entertains a paying crowd that is the real test of comedy. If they don't laugh, of course, you can always blame the actors.
When and if we try this again, most entrants will have a better idea what to expect, and those who found the online criticism too bruising and humiliating may, understandably, not want to subject themselves to it again. But hopefully it will help others and might prepare some for the harsh world of professional writing.
Kev F Sutherland
Executive Producer
The Sitcom Trials
Quote: Marc P @ June 27 2011, 10:16 PM BSTKev F... Love that Executive Producer credit by the way. That one is a yes from me!
According to Wikipedia: An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the ... process, but who is still responsible for the overall production. Typically an executive producer handles business and legal issues.
So, pompous as it sounds, when Declan & Simon started producing their series of The Sitcom Trials in 2007, it clarified things to call me EP rather than Producer. I've kept the same nominal title for the James Parker produced 2009 season and the Manchester Sitcom Trials. I'm not producing them, but they're being done under license from me.
Kev F
Ok, I won't labour the point. Sorry Jim!
Thanks Kev for organising this years competition, thanks a lot to everyone who wrote scripts and allowed them to be read, and thanks to everyone who voted one way or another.
In terms of learning the skills of sitcom-writing I've found this one of the most useful competitions I've ever entered.
Jim.
I think the most basic flaw was in the voting system, I'm not arguing the best scripts haven't gone through because demonstratively, they have...
I have never come across a competition where negative scores are given, apart from a self morale issue, it can unintentionally give a misrepresentative score...
I wrote a piece, it received 14 reviews and scored 2-3-9 for -2
Others, with 23/24 reviews, outscored this but ended up with less points because they received more no votes...
It was actually beneficial for me to not to receive reviews...
Had a minor place been up for grabs I think one or two people would have felt justifiably aggrieved...
O
Gott en Himmell! I didn't think I'd made it anywhere near the top! Truly bamboozled when I saw I was in second place! Thanks to all those who voted for "Shock Treatment", and thanks to everyone who gave feedback.
Well done, Kev, for going to the trouble of putting this all together. And finally, break a leg to whoever gets through to performance night!
Well done, everyone, for having the guts to put your stuff up for critique and not losing your cool every time someone didn't like it. I'm very pleased people took it with good grace and didn't immediately jump to their script's defence, informing you where you should be laughing. Take all criticism on board, consider if you (honestly) agree with it, and use those points of view to make it better.
It's pretty harsh but this is how it is in writing. It's never particularly nice but criticism from so many independent people is a good and useful thing to have.
And well done and thank you to everyone who read through and provided that criticism. I've learnt a lot about writing from reading others' scripts and I've found it to be an invaluable process for my own writings.
I wouldn't get too hung up on the negative voting. It's just so there is some comparison. It's important that zero is given if somebody's not read a script at all, and that needs to be differentiated from not enjoying a script. If it's that much of an issue, it could be normalised by simply adding the (positive equivalent of the) lowest score so the last placed sitcom is zero, but I don't think we'd be fooling anyone as the score doesn't actually 'mean' anything as such -- It's just for comparison purposes. I mean, even 31 is a rubbish score -- if this was an IQ test
It was interesting to read through and see how other's humour differentiated from my own. I know people say this all the time, but this was the first real example of it. My view of comedy is very different to a lot people and this was a nice example of that.
Again, don't be too disheartened if you didn't do too well. Read through the critiques you got and see how you can improve your scripts; they will only help in the long run and, rarely in the history of forever, has a rewrite ever been worse than the previous version!
Oh, and thanks to Kev for organising this. You're never going to win over everyone and I think (well, hope!) by now he has sufficiently thick skin to stick to his guns with the voting method. You can't say it's not been entertaining!
Dan
Kev can you say again where/what the theatre is called and what time does the performance start/end. If it's late finishing, it's too late for transport back here 
bushbaby-- it's at a bar called the "Lass o Gowrie" and it seems to be from 19.30 to 21.30 on Saturday July 2nd. That's from 7.30pm to 9.30pm for non-military types!
Here's the homepage of the bar:-
http://www.thelass.co.uk/index.php
And here's the contact page where you'll find the address and map:-
Quote: evan rubivellian @ June 29 2011, 1:34 PM BSTbushbaby-- it's at a bar called the "Lass o Gowrie" and it seems to be from 19.30 to 21.30 on Saturday July 2nd. That's from 7.30pm to 9.30pm for non-military types!
Here's the homepage of the bar:-
http://www.thelass.co.uk/index.php
And here's the contact page where you'll find the address and map:-
... and after The Sitcom Trials you can see the fantastic Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.
The events are all part of Lass Fest http://lassfest.co.uk/Comedy.php The Sitcom Trials costs just £3, the Socks are £8. The Socks are also on Sunday at 6.30.
Book Sitcom Trials tickets at http://www.wegottickets.com/event/122060
(the box office listing, rather unhelpfully, doesn't describe the show but does give you the details for entering a script. That must be my fault).
If any forum members are able to make it to The Sitcom Trials, do make yourselves known. Meanwhile the writers who are being performed will get complimentary tickets (which reminds me, I must find out which scripts are being performed, sorry I don't know that yet.)
Kev F
Produtor Executivo da
Comédia de Situação Ensaios
Will they be searching people for guns..?
Kev: Have the Sitcom Trials gone international? Your new title sounds like Portuguese!
Quote: evan rubivellian @ June 29 2011, 1:34 PM BSTbushbaby-- it's at a bar called the "Lass o Gowrie" and it seems to be from 19.30 to 21.30 on Saturday July 2nd. That's from 7.30pm to 9.30pm for non-military types!
Here's the homepage of the bar:-
http://www.thelass.co.uk/index.php
And here's the contact page where you'll find the address and map:-
Thank you
Quote: evan rubivellian @ June 29 2011, 2:32 PM BSTKev: Have the Sitcom Trials gone international? Your new title sounds like Portuguese!
Você não soube? Os Julgamentos das Comédias de Costumes sempre foram um negócio internacional. Embora, se eu sou honesto, eu era somente fannying em volta com um programa de tradução para um riso. E porque alguém ofendeu-se no título produtor executivo. Por favor ignora esta bobagem e continua.
Kev F
Executive Produsent
Situasjonen Comedie Studiene
Oh god, Niles, akkurat hva vi trenger. En tredje språk.