Crowdsourced sitcom Page 2

This is very similar to what I'm doing in a sitcom project I've been commissioned to write for. Only, with this one, there's only about three writers and a script editor.

The outline has already been (loosely) planned. Each writer will pick a certain scene to write. It's structured a little like League Of Gents with different characers heading down interveaving plots, so it won't be such a nightmare as, say, a sitcom with one main and one sub plot.

It will then be put together, then we'll all fill in the gaps.

However, I'd listen to Lee and Micheal if I were you, re both messiness of too many writers and the legal/rghts side of things.
Fewer writers and signed contracts would iron out those problems.

Thanks Mike - I'm absolutely certain there will be rights issues but at this stage I'm trying to work out whether there is an appetite for this kind of experiment within the comedy community and with comedy fans uin general. But as I said before, in the long run I would envisage this being about cash and credits for writing rather than having a collective ownership of some IP. Some people will see this as a great opportunity to be involved in something interesting, whilst others will see it as something that is professionally compromising. I see it as a new way of testing something that already exists within many other indutries and creating a platform for me to get to know people who I would not normally meet who are talented and funny

Quote: Gary M @ December 9 2011, 2:23 PM GMT

I think it is all up for grabs. Depending upon how into it you want to get. So you could occasionally "chip in" or be a regular "chipper". I'd like to give it a deadline though... what do you think would be a good time frame... 2/3 months?

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Difficult to judge, depends how many writers I guess! Maybe get statements of interest confirmed and let interested parties know basic plot lines, structure, etc by end of month (if that's on track with your work) then start early Jan with aim of completing end of Feb, then have another month free to sort out weaker bits- not necessarily writing quality, but as it goes on, earlier stuff will need deciding if it's still relevant, and characters may need changes to dialogue or action to make a strong later part make sense or shine.

Thanks Lee - I admit it sounds ambitious, but that's why it's an experiment. I want this to be a platform for people to shine as writers and for comedy fans to try and shape what they want.

I already have the concept which of course would be the starting point. Then say we want 4 lead characters. People send in some character profiles, people then vote for their four faves. We then invite people to propose pilot plot outlines. Again people vote. We then take it scene by scene. Again we vote on a more detailed scene outline. People can then submit dialogue for these scenes. The group vote on their favourite lines/ scripts. And on we go

I think the thing is to keep the experience interesting for everyone. Having deadlines for voting to move the project in is essential. Also listening to people as to how we might be able to improve the experience is vital

Sounds like comedy designed by committee. And we all know how good things designed by committee usually turn out to be.

Sounds like an interesting experiment. I'd be up for it and I am guessing that particularly newer writers would be happy to be flexible over the details - probably except the credits bit.

I think Tim has a point though as the uses of crowd-sourcing of which I am presently aware have usually been about idea generation rather than detail work. Seems to me like the writing of a sitcom is detail work. There would surely need to be a fairly strong hand on the tiller with respect to character consistency in particular, and tone too.

Would voting on individual characters work? I would have thought that you'd really need to agree a character set - perhaps in broad detail to be fleshed out and vote on the fleshing out, or look for the most effective combination.

speaking as a complete (as yet)unknown, how about this;
all contributers sign an agreement saying that, the first of these two ideas of yours, is a freebie and we work as a collective; the prize/ fee for us all is that the five writers that contribute the most lines, percentage wise go through to work on the second idea and share any cash/ credits between them? for the both of them.

You can see now why I remain uknown?

I think Johnny's idea is a very interesting one. Obviously motivation is essential to the project working. From the feedback I've been getting I don't think there is much motivation for very established writers to take part in this, unless they just thought it was a fun idea. So I think the people that might be interested in getting involved will be comedy fans, part time writers, new writers, writers stuck in a rut who would really like to be writing sometyhing else, people with funny bones who would struggle to write a sit com on their own or get their work seen by others

I'ml aming to get something started in January, working on the tech side of things now. Any thoughts on how to get the message out there to a wider community?