Thanks to everyone who participated in the marvellous Eurovision Sitcom Contest at the Camden Head in London on May 24th. Here is the video that captures a little bit of the atmosphere of the event.
The next Sitcom Trials take place in Bristol in June and Manchester in July, stay tuned to the website for details, and don't forget to join the Facebook group.
The Sitcom Trials has a new Facebook community page: http://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei#!/pages/The-Sitcom-Trials/224909300962293
(er, I have no idea why that link has "George Takei" in the middle, I'll just amend it...)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sitcom-Trials/224909300962293
This is in addition to the existing group, it's one of those "Pages" that you "Like" and which seems to be making me write everything in "inverted commas".
If you all Like this page, it could be the best page to put updates, videos, feedback, etc as the Trials progresses. Coming next is the Bristol show on June 29th and the Manchester show on July 20th (call for scripts ahoy - watch the new Facebook page for news)
It may seem that things have gone quiet on the Bristol Sitcom Trials front, but that's only because we've been very busy indeed - we're now only a few weeks away from our next exciting show at the Wardrobe Theatre on Friday June 29th (tickets available now).
We've five terrific sitcoms in rehearsal, and I'm currently sourcing all sorts of interesting props - including a shotgun; an easily-snappable candle; and a thing I can't tell you about, but which is bound to be the bit everybody remembers after the show.
These sitcoms have all been written (and re-written until our eyes started bleeding) by the Bristol team, with considerable input from our very talented cast. Over the past few months we've been meeting every Sunday at a pub to throw around all sorts of strange ideas ("It's set in the Himalayas, there's a Yeti loose amongst a bunch of randy nuns!"), and on Friday June 29th, you'll get to see the sitcoms that were voted through by the team (and you can judge for yourselves if rejecting the Yeti/randy nuns thing was a wise move). We promise you a show that's guaranteed to cheer you up after England inevitably go crashing out of the Euros, the economy spirals deeper into recession, and yet another crushingly disappointing Ridley Scott film disappears from cinema screens.
Kind regards,
--Vince
(Vince Stadon, producer, Sitcom Trials Bristol)
"It's set in the Himalayas, there's a Yeti loose amongst a bunch of randy nuns..."
Ah yes - "Hairy Narcissus". 
I must say you're doing great work on the Bristol Sitcom Trials, Vince! Nice one.
Why is Vince Stadon logged in as Kev F? Are they the same person?
Quote: evan rubivellian @ June 11 2012, 5:06 PM BSTWhy is Vince Stadon logged in as Kev F? Are they the same person?
No, Vince is his own person (though, as you'll see from previous posts, he also uses a pseudonym on this forum). I posted his message on the Sitcom Trials blog, then stuck it up here as well as he hadn't done so. You're right, I should leave it to Vince to do things like that. I thought maybe you were missing us.
On which subject, Manchester Sitcom Trials will be needing scripts. Expect the call, right here, very soon.
Kev F
Calling all comedy writers, actors and comedians - July 20th sees the latest Manchester Sitcom Trials, part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, and you are invited to enter.
As ever in The Sitcom Trials, we will be showcasing five mini sitcoms (live on stage at The Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester) and letting the audience vote for which one they like best. We are now putting out the call for fresh sitcom scripts. From you.
If you want the chance of having your sitcom showcased in this ever-popular comedy showcase, regularly attended by representatives of the TV and comedy biz, all you need to do is write 10 minutes of situation comedy. There's a Sitcom Trials format to write to (see below) but most importantly we want it funny and we'll try and do it justice.
Deadline for script entries is midnight Sat 30th June - a very short deadline we know, which is why we will be welcoming back scripts that you may have entered into previous Trials (hoping you've learnt from their past experience in the voting and maybe rewritten them accordingly).
Then the deadline for voting (where readers and writers get to help choose the scripts) is midnight Saturday 14th July - everyone is invited to join in this process, to which we've given longer than before so the maximum number of people can participate.
If you want to enter a script, simply upload your scripts to the SitsVac files. First read The Brief below for guidelines.
If you have any questions about The Sitcom Trials you can ask at
The Sits Vac Forum
Here on The British Comedy Guide Forum
or on Facebook
The Sitcom Trials Manchester
Friday July 30 2012
The Lass O'Gowrie
36 Charles Street Manchester M1 7DB
8pm - 9.30pm £3
THE BRIEF for submission to The Sitcom Trials
The Sitcom Trials wants situation comedy scripts that a small group of actors can perform in a live environment with minimal stage in front of an audience, who will hopefully laugh. Ideally these sitcoms will be so marvellous that the TV & radio industry representatives in the audience will snap them up immediately.
THE FORMAT:
Your script must have a first 'half' of no more than 8 minutes This first half should end in a cliffhanger, or something that leaves the audience wanting more.
It must then have a final scene of 2 or 3 minutes long. This will be performed only if your sitcom is the winner on the night
Your script must have NO MORE THAN 4 CHARACTERS. Ideally 2 boys 2 girls. If you can write a script with just 2 or 3 characters, all the better.
The sitcoms we are to test out in our regular pub theatre shows with an eye to them being developed for TV must be
PERFORMABLE LIVE (ie no filmed or location inserts)
ON ONE MINIMAL SET.
Think in terms of a radio script.
WRITER-PERFORMERS - INCLUDE YOUTUBE DEMO
We are particularly interested to hear from writer-performers, especially those with an on-stage track record (eg Edinburgh) who would present their own sitcom as a self contained package. To demonstrate your live potential we would need to see a video, ideally a link to a YouTube video, which we can judge alongside the script. Please include the video link as part of the script.
UPLOAD SCRIPTS TO THE FILES:
Upload your entries to the appropriate folder in the files section of the egroup: http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/files/
Deadline for script entries - see latest SitsVac egroup notice or sitcomtrials.co.uk.
Deadline for reviewing and voting for scripts - see as above.
VOTING
All members of the SitsVac egroup, you included, will be invited to read, review, and vote on all scripts in contention. Vote YES, MAYBE or NO as to each one's potential and add a short one paragraph review. Send reviews including Yes/Maybe/No votes either to the Sits Vac message board. or to the British Comedy Guide Forum.
Writers are welcome to vote on their own scripts.
Votes are then totalled thus; Yes = 2 points, Maybe = 1 point, No = minus -1 point. This way we draw up a shortlist for a script reading, from which we select the items to go into the stage show.
Any questions, ask the egroup so we can all benefit from the answers.
Happy scribbling
Kev F Sutherland
Producer and Presenter
THE SITCOM TRIALS
http://sitcomtrials.co.uk
And if you have already entered a script in a recent Sitcom Trials, either Bristol, Manchester or London's Eurovision Sitcom Contest, I'd be happy to see you re-enter your scripts for the forthcoming Manchester show - assuming you've learnt something from the reviews and voting last time round and have, hopefully, rewritten accordingly.
Were you one of the scripts that just missed out of being in the top 5 or even the top 3 last time? Then by all means put your script into the forthcoming Manchester Sitcom Trials, and the chance you deserve could be coming this time.
Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials
http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/scripts-wanted-for-manchester-sitcom.html
Hi Sitcom Trials fans and participants. You will be delighted to know The Sitcom Trials now has its own Twitter page, from which all Sitcom Trials news will henceforth come.
It's Twitter @SitcomTrials
If you'll follow that it'll save you having to also get tweets from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, Kev F's Comic Art Masterclass, and those godawful pop videos I go mad tweeting late some nights. You're welcome.
Hi Sitcom Trials writers,
The Manchester Sitcom Trials is looking for entries, and I'd like to give some earlier runners-up a second suck of the sauce stick. So, would the authors of the following scripts mind if I re-entered them, as it were?
Runners up in the recent Bristol voting:
Cooper: Hangover
As Plain As Day
The Old Legion
Welliott Marsh and the Big Soak
The Gaia Centre for Holistic Healing
Cold Call
Runners up in the Eurovision Sitcom Contest:
Cooper
Doodlebugs
A Weekend with Wogan
Audition
I'd also quite like to give Manchester a chance to see the following Bristol finalists:
Making Heavy Weather
Games Night: Monopoly
Whitecoats
(Shock Treatment & Roger Bulwark from the last Bristol show have already been seen in Manchester)
So, if any of the above writers would like their scripts entered into Manchester 2012, just shift them over from one file to the other, or even better upload an improved new rewrite.
Any one else with scripts new or pre-worn, get them into the Manchester Sitcom Trials folder by June 30th, we look forward to seeing them. (You may care to mark your script "brand new" if it is indeed brand new, as this might get it some preferential treatment when we're choosing what to read.
Bring em on
Kev F Sitcom Trials
When are the ringers going to be announced...?
Quote: RedZed333 @ June 16 2012, 1:36 AM BSTWhen are the ringers going to be announced...?
Yeah, it'd be nice if this was clarified up front this time, as it was a shame Cooper missed out on the final last time because of that.
Quote: RedZed333 @ June 16 2012, 1:36 AM BSTWhen are the ringers going to be announced...?
Ah, yes, "Ringers". Okay, let's put them to rest. What has happened, for the benefit of anyone who's just joined this discussion, is that in recent Sitcom Trials I have invited script entries online - a great many of them coming from this very forum - without making it clear in advance exactly how many would be used in the final show.
For example in the recent Eurovision Sitcom Contest in London, I put out the call for scripts, then when it came to the immediate run-up to the show, I suddenly announced that only three of the online submissions would be used in the show, the other two contenders having been prepared by writer-performer teams. And, lo, those writer-performers won.
I can see how frustrating this is when, you could reasonably have assumed, all five shows performed on the night could have been selected from the online submissions, as had happened in most recent Sitcom Trials.
So, can I tell you in advance how many of the Manchester Sitcom Trials sitcoms to be performed will be chosen from the online entries? Er... well...
What I can tell you is that the forthcoming Bristol Sitcom Trials, at the Wardrobe Theatre on June 29th, will feature absolutely no scripts provided by online submissions. And, if it's any consolation, Manchester will definitely use more than that. How's that?
The situation is, at the moment, I have no writer-performer teams lined up to perform in Manchester in July so, as things currently stand, Manchester will perform 5 sitcoms chosen entirely from online submissions.
However I have invited submissions from writer-performer teams, so they may yet come in and have to be considered. And the producer of this show is Michelle Ashton, lead actor from the last three Manchester Sitcom Trials show, and she has a say in what finally makes the cut, allowing for her to include writer-performed material if it comes directly to her. However, to date, she's not suggested anything other than performing the scripts that come in online.
So, all I can tell you at the moment is that, unless you hear otherwise from me, we will be choosing 5 scripts from online submissions and performing those 5 in Manchester in July. If any, as you call them, "ringers" come in in the mean time, I shall let you know in advance, hopefully, of the voting process.
Looking forward to seeing those script submissions.
Kev F
Producer
Sitcom Trials
http://sitcomtrials.co.uk
Just spotted on Facebook, something to reassure all the budding sitcom writers out there.
If you want the chance to get one step closer to being rejected by the BBC, entries are invited to the Sitcom Trials Manchester, deadline June 30th.
Quote: Kev F @ June 18 2012, 9:46 PM BSTJust spotted on Facebook, something to reassure all the budding sitcom writers out there.
If you want the chance to get one step closer to being rejected by the BBC, entries are invited to the Sitcom Trials Manchester, deadline June 30th.
That's nearly as good as the review you once gave one of my early submissions...
"Shit Happens.pdf - There's a thin line between Rabelasian and gratuitously scatalogical. This puts a thick brown smear over both. NO"
KevF