Laugh Track - Studio Sitcom Contest Page 6

I'd really like to prostitute my craft to the point where I'm virtually sucking BBC cock to get work.

Are there any more sample scripts I can read to help me obtain my goal of being the Beeb's unfunny slag whore who'll do anything for cash?

It is my dream to one day bump into Stewart Lee, Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci and proudly proclaim that I created 'Mother Doesn't Like It' or whatever label I lazily stamp on my tired, brain retarding and ultimately laugh free sitcom involving middle class families.

Jeez, just don't enter BBC competitions if you don't like the company. Don't bother trying to adapt to a brief if you aren't aiming to hopefully have a writing career. Don't watch shows with the aim of giving yourself a hernia from passionate contempt.

Writing, in itself, has value...of course it does. You are left with something that you have created and that should give you satisfaction and if you write for the satisfaction - all well and good. If, however, you have ambitions of selling what you write it may be as well to remember that the people paying get to choose what they want...and, like any job, if you walk in and tell everyone they are idiots and don't know what they are doing and that you know much better (without any track record to back that assertion) than they do what is funny I don't see much basis for a relationship.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 7 2012, 12:57 PM GMT

It is my dream to one day bump into Stewart Lee, Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci....

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They may very well have kept it quiet but none of them got their big break via a competition like this.

If Wikipedia is correct, Lee started off on Weekending and the other two started their careers as BBC radio producers.

The rules of this competition make it quite clear that they aren't looking for an 'Iannucci', they want some 'thigh-slapping' sitcoms where, because of recent successes, the leads will most likely be played by women or a bloke in drag.

If they ever announce "Pedorapenazi 2012: The BBC is looking for the edgiest comedy in the UK. Think Nighty Night 2 but with jokes" then our day has come.

(You forgot to bump into Kitson and Sadowitz, by the way)

Quote: Jinky @ February 7 2012, 1:51 PM GMT

because of recent successes, the leads will most likely be played by women

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No bad thing.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ February 7 2012, 1:55 PM GMT

No bad thing.

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Well, I've decided that if I'm entering this then I'm going to call the female lead Pedora Penazi and I'm going to insist that Nina Conti plays the part whether she wants to or not!

Basically, if they can't get Amy Poehler, I'll go to ITV.

On an entirely unrelated subject, Mrs Browns Boys just got 6.2 million viewers, beating Harry Hill's TV Burp in the ratings http://chortle.co.uk/news/2012/02/06/14796/britain_loves_mrs_browns_boys

Quote: Jinky @ February 7 2012, 1:51 PM GMT

If they ever announce "Pedorapenazi 2012: The BBC is looking for the edgiest comedy in the UK. Think Nighty Night 2 but with jokes" then our day has come.

(You forgot to bump into Kitson and Sadowitz, by the way)

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Well pointed out Jinky. Christ knows I don't want to accidentally bump into Dawn French - think of the collateral damage.

Quote: Kev F @ February 7 2012, 2:14 PM GMT

On an entirely unrelated subject, Mrs Browns Boys just got 6.2 million viewers, beating Harry Hill's TV Burp in the ratings http://chortle.co.uk/news/2012/02/06/14796/britain_loves_mrs_browns_boys

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My Mum watches Mrs. Brown's Boys and enjoys it, she also watches X Factor - that's all I really need to know about it's populist credentials.

I did try and watch an episode of it once, but didn't want to be an accessory to theft because all of the jokes (and I mean all of them) were stolen from more original and superior sitcoms. Seriously, these people should be in jail.

[quote name="Renegade Carpark" post="847969" date="February 7 2012, 12:57 PM GMT"]I'd really like to prostitute my craft to the point where I'm virtually sucking BBC cock to get work.

Monkey tennis?

Ahh, first ten pages done. Lovely, lovely pages *gazes lovingly at pages that will probably be cried over because of their shiteness in a few days*

Quote: AJGO @ February 7 2012, 4:24 PM GMT

Ahh, first ten pages done. Lovely, lovely pages *gazes lovingly at pages that will probably be cried over because of their shiteness in a few days*

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I've just gone over ten pages, and no doubt I'll be having those exact same feelings as well.

Aw, I'm sure your ten pages are lovely too. See you back here in a few days for sobbing and dismay?

Well done AJGO and Ian - haven't even started mine yet...or come up with an idea.

I read the 'Marigold' script some years ago and enjoyed it. I think it was quite subversive for it's time (I could be wrong, but I believe the competition it won was before 'The Office' blew the existing sitcom-scene out of the water). Maybe it seems old-hat now, but it still reads funny, works within a tight sitcom format and as Tim says, has decent structure. Not sure how well it'd translate to the small screen, but I'd like to see it.

Stuck at fifteen pages. Stuck, stuck, stuck