Quote: Mr Ashdown @ October 23 2011, 1:15 PM BSTAnd thanks to Kev, for the pen (and everything else).
What...? Not even a Blankety Blank Chequebook...?
THE SITCOM TRIALS - October 21st 2011 Manchester Page 23
Quote: Mr Ashdown @ October 23 2011, 1:15 PM BSTHad a brilliant time at the Sitcom Trials, and congrats to Debbie.
There was some really funny stuff in these scripts ("Plain As Day's" line about the pandas being forced to wear oven gloves to stop them from climbing trees had everybody roaring with laughter, to give just one example), and there was a really happy vibe in the room. Superb performances all round, too.
"Checkpoint Dave" went down very well, I'm happy (and relieved) to say - Lisa, Dave and the terrific cast worked very hard, and I can't thank them enough.
And thanks to Kev, for the pen (and everything else).
That's very gracious of you, Mr Ashdown! I was feeling a bit bummed out by the lack of votes, but if people were laughing then my job is done.
And congrats on "Checkpoint Dave" going well. I'd like to hear more about how you turned it into a full-length piece, and what plans you have for it now that it's been performed.
Congratulations to Debbie and a big thank you to Kev. Just watched the vid online and it was quality seeing something I had written being performed on stage however small the audience was. Well done everyone who entered and reviewed.
I'd like to add my congratulations to Debbie. Well done. I enjoyed the script and it obviously came over well on stage as well. Shows what can be done with just two characters.
Would love to have been there on the night, if only to have doubled the vote for Doing it for the Kids. Thanks to whoever voted for it - I owe you a beer. Just regretting not coming up with 4 friends and walking away with the prize. If only.....I had 4 friends.
Thanks to Kev for putting the whole thing together. These sort of opportunities are few and far between. Having a deadline to work to is a great spur for the lazier of us to actually put pen to paper.
Thanks to all involved, from everyone who entered/voted on the scripts to all those involved on the night.
I wondered if Ian, Cedar, Red, Evan, have entered anything for critique' on here? or 'Newsjack'?, very good to get yourself known professionally, and if not why not?.
You all seem very talented ,yet your posts are all about The Sitcom Trials and not any other comedy subject, why the obsession with 1 show?
Please share some of your comedy ideas with us, love to hear your opinions on our
forums! There are so many interesting subjects.
I hope you don't go all quiet, and we hear nothing again for a year!
Do you all know each other personally? as you have all been involved with Comedy trails for the past couple of years, and had stuff performed.
Good luck with writing! and join in on here! 
I found this site via the Sitcom Trials which I find find really fascinating and great fun and quite possibly the best thread on here...
The way Kev deals with some of the flak he and the competition gets at times is something to be admired...
I don't know anyone else on here but I have posted quite a few items for your delectations, you've just got to find them...
Hey Dellas that was a nice post. I only got into writing when I stumbled across the sitcom trials a few months back and thought I would give it a go, I wrote a script over a weekend and sent it off and I think I came 7th so I just missed the cut. This time I spent longer writing and it appears I came second in both the online and audience vote so I'm more than happy. I haven't put anything on the critique forum as I have only ever written two scripts both were put online through the sitcom trials so I got feedback through this.
I can only speak for myself but I have never met any of the other writers nor anyone connected with the sitcom trials. I have really enjoyed the writing and review process so I hope to continue writing in the future.
Thanks guys for your responses, do hope you will join in more here!
Agree Kev does get a lot of aggro, but the more you post and don;t look 'clique' all the better!
Please post your work on here I'd love to see it, I'm trembling to look at my 'Newsjack' reject critique!
Hi Dellas
I've been attempting to write stuff on and off for about 5 years, although it's been more off than on. I've had a crack at most of the sitcom competitions that have cropped up over that time with limited success. I have had a crack at some of the open submission shows like Newsjack but finding the time to work up topical stuff has been a problem. I've been aware of this site for quite a while but haven't been in the habit of posting anything - I'm been more of stalker than a contributor! I may have to change that. Do you find you get useful feedback when using the critique area? By the way, which was your sitcom?
Ian
Hi Dellas,
I joined the BCG back in January of this year because I was looking for info about the BBC's Laughing Stock competition. Since then I've been all over the writer's board (including the critique area) like white on rice so I'm bitterly disappointed you haven't noticed my contributions. Not only did I post first drafts of "Shock Treatment" and "As Plain as Day"(my Sitcom Trials entries) but I've also posted sketches. And one joke (which turned out to have been unoriginal).
Anyway, I entered the Sitcom Trials like I entered every suitable opportunity that crops up on this board, but the sheer interactive nature of this particular competition is what leads me to post more on this thread than on others.
Also, I really love how Redzed manages to make the most harmless of comments such as "Congratulations Debbie" somehow sound menacing by the addition of an ellipsis. Other highlights include the merciless crits by Jack Daniels, the Alan Rickman-like barbs of Marc P, and the occasional posts from user who obviously have not the slightest idea of what is going on.
I didn't know the other entrants to the Sitcom Trials, but, as said before the interactive nature of the competition encourages the writers to talk to one another. If only to have them go over the current rules of the comp, which shift like the tides. I suppose in that way it can seem like a clique. But everyone's welcome. Even Kev F. Sutherland sometimes doesn't get shouted at.
What you have to remember is that people hear about the competition in various ways so some writers have never visited the BCG, never appear on this thread, and prefer to post in the hi-tech Yahoo groups forum. Others do pop up once or twice but then vanish once the competition has finished.
It's a thing of rare and precious beauty, is what I'm saying. Have you entered the competition, Dellas? If not, then give the next one a go. The only thing you've got to lose is your sanity.
Thanks for that, Evan...
You're welcome...
Evan, you have probably just given The Sitcom Trials its nicest review in a decade.
And almost as if in tribute (but not, obviously, in tribute) I have cobbled together a new Sitcom Trials website. which you'll find here. And also, as you'd imagine, at sitcomtrials.co.uk.
Also there's a lovely new animated banner:
No expense...
No problem, Kev. But all that hard work on a mammoth post and Dellas, well, she's only bleedin' naffed orf, ain't she?!?
Quote: evan rubivellian @ October 25 2011, 8:36 AM BSTNo problem, Kev. But all that hard work on a mammoth post and Dellas, well, she's only bleedin' naffed orf, ain't she?!?
She's probably got bigger cliques to fry...