BBC TV Sitcom Format

Hey all, does anyone know what the format style for television sitcoms is? I know it varies from the radio format and I've looked on line but I can't seem to find a uniform style. Any help will be very appreciated. Thanks

If you look on the writers room website they have plenty of examples of TV sitcoms. I don't know where the Matt Carless style guides have gone in the revamp.

I had a look but the sample scripts seem vary somewhat and they make no mention of relative positioning to the margin? Did you go with a hanging 4cm indentation from the margin?

If its any help, I've just (Six hours its taken!!!!! It better win.) converted a radio format into a TV script in celtx. And I've got an Outnumbered script to hand for brushing up.

You do realise it has to be with them by 12pm wednesday?

9am Wednesday. I've just had an insane flood of inspiration today - everything seems to be flowing brilliantly. So will see if I have something worth submitting tomorrow night. Otherwise I'll save it for something else.

My mistake. Sorry 9am is right. Hope you produce something worth the effort.

Thanks, me too.

Quote: KLRiley @ March 19 2012, 8:21 PM GMT

If its any help, I've just (Six hours its taken!!!!! It better win.) converted a radio format into a TV script in celtx.

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Hi KL. I use Celtx too, but as ever defaulted to using the "Screenplay" format. Can you tell me how you managed to get a TV format?

Thanks

Got some good stuff written but it's not worth submitting - it's annoying I've missed out on this one - but I'll treat it as a lesson. Nevermind, I'm sure there'll be more opportunites

Probably a wise move DBM. Save it. Hone it and try it out in something like the sit com trials.

Quote: Frantically @ March 20 2012, 6:26 AM GMT

Hi KL. I use Celtx too, but as ever defaulted to using the "Screenplay" format. Can you tell me how you managed to get a TV format?

Thanks

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The hard way. Cutting and pasting. Hitting return a lot!. There isn't a specific TV format in the version of celts I have which is why it took me six hours to reformat from bbc style radio to something approaching TV general style. If I ever get to doing this for a living I'm going to invest in a really good scriptwriting software as the free stuff is so difficult to format in that the font size can only be changed by going into exe files which I really don't feel competent to do. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Though I must admit I'm feeling a little low about missing this opportunity (I was so focused on Newsjack I didn't pay attention on anything else that was going on) I have realised I can still submit it to the BBC when the next window opens (From the 26th of March). As they say when God closes a door He opens a submission window

Quote: KLRiley @ March 20 2012, 12:00 PM GMT

The hard way. Cutting and pasting. Hitting return a lot!. There isn't a specific TV format in the version of celts I have which is why it took me six hours to reformat from bbc style radio to something approaching TV general style. If I ever get to doing this for a living I'm going to invest in a really good scriptwriting software as the free stuff is so difficult to format in that the font size can only be changed by going into exe files which I really don't feel competent to do. Sorry I can't be of more help.

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Thanks, no worries KL - that's what I've done in the past too. I just thought there might be a new BBC format in a later version.

Quote: DeathbyMonkey @ March 19 2012, 7:35 PM GMT

Hey all, does anyone know what the format style for television sitcoms is? I know it varies from the radio format and I've looked on line but I can't seem to find a uniform style. Any help will be very appreciated. Thanks

View original

Only just noticed your message, but see my Scriptwriters Toolkit, which has templates for Sitcom format.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/14314/ http://www.datahighways.net/dhl/toolkit.htm

Did they actually ask for submissions in Sitcom Format? Usually with the BBC & UK production companies they do not mind what the format is as long as it looks like a script, i.e. you can usually submit in Film format, which is in any case more compact that a Sitcom (studio 3-camera) format.

Quote: KLRiley @ March 20 2012, 12:00 PM GMT

Probably a wise move DBM. Save it. Hone it and try it out in something like the sit com trials.

The hard way. Cutting and pasting. Hitting return a lot!. There isn't a specific TV format in the version of celts I have which is why it took me six hours to reformat from bbc style radio to something approaching TV general style. If I ever get to doing this for a living I'm going to invest in a really good scriptwriting software as the free stuff is so difficult to format in that the font size can only be changed by going into exe files which I really don't feel competent to do. Sorry I can't be of more help.

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>as the free stuff is so difficult to format in that the font size can only be changed by going into exe files which I really don't feel competent to do.

Oi! that ain't true of my Scriptwriters' Toolkit. All of the facilities of Microsoft Word are still there. But you shouldn't be changing the font in any case, because that would have been part of the specification of the format.

The Americans like to have EXACTLY a specific version of the Courier font on their TV/Film scripts, because they have this myth that only that font resolves to one minute of screen-time per page of script. It's nonsense of course as that rule is only a crude approximation. So anyway in my toolkit I've provided a Hollywood format template in Courier in two versions (one for US LETTER paper size and one for A4 paper size) and a third Film template that I call "Private Films" which has a nice compact Arial font for paper saving & for publication of a script.

Quote: billwill @ March 22 2012, 2:42 PM GMT

...and a third Film template that I call "Private Films" ...

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Didn't think those sort of films had much of a script.