The Sitcom Trials 2012 Page 25

Hope I'm not too late to give feedback. I applaud anyone for writing and submitting a script full stop, but the competition doesn't work without feedback and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Who Judges the Judges: Not so keen on the 'writers writing about writers writing about writers' device. A bit too much reliance on regional accent for humour. NO.

Gormley Street: Dialogue seemed natural, good cliffhanger, could do with more jokes. MAYBE.

Blackstable: Some likeable moments, but a bit too sedate and there didn't seem to be much action. NO.

Country Rock: Liked the idea but it meandered a bit. Didn't quite get the cliffhanger. NO.

Draszic's Lot: Perfect premise (incl. sorting office error), clear set-up, vivid characterisation, and above all loads of good jokes. YES

Femme Fatale: I quite liked the script but the author suicidally crosses French brasserie with intrigue - I can't get the Ronnie Hazlehurst accordion out of my head. MAYBE.

Kill Bob: Quite liked the idea and the appearance of God and Satan but the use of the 'Shirley' joke almost killed it for me. MAYBE.

Purgatory: Full of excellent ideas. Loved the limbo-based self-help group. YES.

Red Sky at Night: Really needed the set-up to be more memorable and I didn't care enough about the characters. NO.

Randolph Carter's Casebook: Liked the prose a lot but not so sure about the plot. Could do with more immediate tension. YES.

Roy Richards Lethal Gardener: The internal logic of its world seemed a bit forced and as a result it was hard to get involved. NO.

Separate Parents: Conflict established immediately, action flowed naturally, good writing. YES.

The Brides of Pete-enstein: Good set up and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to this. :-) YES.

The Witching Hour: I liked bits of it but the 'Four Weddings' swearing distracted me a bit. Also, don't know where it would go next. MAYBE.

Three in Tow: Great start, story unfolds well, good ideas and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. YES.

Trick or Treat: I got a bit lost trying to follow this one. NO.

What Was That? Too much toilet/olfactory humour. NO.

Good luck with the Trials, everyone!

Quote: Ennie @ September 18 2012, 4:51 PM BST

Hope I'm not too late to give feedback.

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What Was That? Too much toilet/olfactory humour. NO.

Sorry, far too late...

Quote: Ennie @ September 18 2012, 4:51 PM BST

Hope I'm not too late to give feedback.

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Definitely not too late. We're seeing if we can organise a read-through with the Manchester team to select scripts, and whatever's at the top end of the voting when we come to it will get a look-in.

I'll keep totting those votes up as they come in, I hope we're all benefitting from the feedback.

Kev F

Quote: Kev F @ September 17 2012, 9:09 AM BST

The Sitcom Trials' Manchester home, the Lass O'Gowrie, has won the prestigious Pub Of The Year Award. Congratulations to Lisa, Gareth and the team.

http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lass-ogowrie-wins-pub-of-year.html

The Sitcom Trials returns to the Lass on Oct 20th with the Halloween Sitcom Trials.

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Hi Kev,

Will tickets be needed to watch the Trials in Manchester next month?

Cheers

Alan

Quote: Alan O'Brien @ September 19 2012, 10:26 PM BST

Will tickets be needed to watch the Trials in Manchester next month?

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It's tickets on the door, yes. I think it's £3. There's not yet advance tickets on sale as far as I can see. I'll let you know when I know more.

Kev F

I've totted up the recent sets of votes from Ennie and Roland Moore on the Halloween Sitcom Trials and we find the tally looks like this:

Draszic's Lot27
Randolph Carter24
Separate Parents21
3 in Tow21
13 Gormley St16
Blackstable16
Brides of PeteEnstein15
Red Sky at Night10
Country Rock9
Kill Bob8
Witching Hour8
Who Judges the Judges6
Roy Richards6
What Was That?¬¬¬6
Purgatory4
Femme Fatale2
Trick or Treat2
Womb With a View0
Café Rico0

No change at the top end and, frankly, I don't think there will be now. It seems that certain scripts have proven the most popular amongst the readers. If I can encourage Manchester to give a table reading to a large group of scripts from the top end we might get an interesting final choice from them. Let us see.

I think the one thing I've learned from this is that we only need two weeks maximum for the online voting, and that dragging it out for as long as we have starts to get a little painful. Bristol chose the scripts they'll be performing two weeks ago, Manchester may well just choose theirs the day before the show, and the London Halloween Show sadly hasn't come about. So in future, we may close the script deadline and start the voting nearer to show time.

On which subject, scripts are still invited for the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials, which will be performed in London on Nov 28th. Upload your scripts to the SitsVac Files by Sat Nov 4. Deadline for voting Sat Nov 17. We'll then have the table reading on Nov 18th in London from which we'll choose the three scripts to showcase in the show alongside the in-house productions.

Two Halloween shows and a Sci Fi show on the horizon, and some interesting plans in discussion for 2013, it's feeling like a good and busy time for The Sitcom Trials.

Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of our Time: Metal Mickey

If you can do better, enter the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials, deadline Nov 17th.

Quote: Kev F @ September 23 2012, 9:32 AM BST

No change at the top end and, frankly, I don't think there will be now. It seems that certain scripts have proven the most popular amongst the readers. If I can encourage Manchester to give a table reading to a large group of scripts from the top end we might get an interesting final choice from them. Let us see.

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Why don't you just tell the script YOU'VE chosen have done with it...

Quote: RedZed333 @ September 23 2012, 3:44 PM BST

Why don't you just tell the script YOU'VE chosen have done with it...

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I honestly don't choose the scripts in The Sitcom Trials. The whole online voting set up originated from the fact that I hate reading mountains of scripts and wanted other people to do it for me, PLUS I wanted to enter my own scripts and give them a fair chance of being judged (hence the occasional use of pseudonyms on my scripts over the years).

But when it comes to the Bristol team under Vince, everything they perform has been chosen either from the online selection by them - as done at the last meeting - or written in-house (though I was well chuffed that in their last show they performed a script from the Archives which, as it happens, was by me - and I wasn't even there to see it. I haven't even seen the video! I'm that hands-off).

Manchester to date have performed almost entirely what has been chosen by you lot alone, performing the top 4 or 5 from the online voting with no extra filtering done. (Last show included one in-house script, and their very first show was all in-house scripts. Next show will be 2 inhouse, 3 online).

London performed 2 inhouse 3 online last time, again picking the top 3 off the pile as voted for by you, and in November will be doing the same. Once more, my only input will be my votes, which appear on this forum (or the other) in full view like everyone else's.

For the last time*, if you want to enter a sitcom competition that is like the Sitcom Trials but isn't the Sitcom Trials and where all the scripts that get performed and go into contention for a cash prize are chosen by the people who run the show, I'm sure such shows exist. But for the time being The Sitcom Trials remains a democratic show (with no cash prize) where, whenever we invite scripts in an open competition, we keep the selection process open and transparent.

Keep the scripts coming. That Sci Fi file is fair bulging.**

Kev F

*It clearly won't be the last time.
** No it isn't.

Right, I have decided to set an ultimate deadline for reading, reviewing and voting on the scripts in the Halloween Sitcom Trials, if you haven't already. Midnight this Saturday, Sept 29th, will be the final deadline.

The reason for this is there will be a meeting of the London Sitcom Trials team on October 21st at which we will give a table reading to the top few (I say few, we don't know how many we'll do yet) in contention. There won't be an actual London Halloween show, but the writers will be invited to this table reading which will, I hope, help them to hear how their scripts sound. The meeting may be videod, but that's not guaranteed.

So, get your votes in by Sept 29th and the London team will look forward to reading the most popular (if, indeed, that changes between now and then).

The scripts are here: http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/files/Halloween%20Sitcom%20Trials%20Oct%2012/
You post your reviews and votes (Yes, Maybe or No to each script) here in the Forum.

Kev F
Producer
Sitcom Trials

Sitcom Trials meeting Sunday in Bristol, actors wanted: http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bristol-trials-meeting-sun-30-actors.html

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Times: Come Back Mrs Noah.

According to Wikipedia, Come Back Mrs. Noah is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1977 to 1978. Starring Mollie Sugden and Ian Lavender, it was written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, who had also written Are You Being Served?, which had also starred Mollie Sugden. Joke banter was recycled from other series, and outrageously strange props were used. Come Back Mrs Noah was not a success, with some regarding it as one of the worst British sitcoms ever made.

So, could you do better? Well, now's your chance to find out. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.

As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Oct 19 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol
Oct 20 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London

Hello!

There's a email service called Dead Man's Switch. This lets you send emails after your death. You compose certain messages, add the recipients you want the emails to get to after you've snuffed it, then send them - for a fee - to Dead Man's Switch. Dead Man's Switch then contacts you after every 30 days or so to make sure you haven't croaked. If after six months they don't hear back from you, they send the emails, and your loved ones get your ghostly messages. I'm not making this up - check it out here:

http://www.deadmansswitch.net/

Bizarrely, one of the web developers at Dead Man's Switch died suddenly before the beta testing process, but the other guys on the team had no idea of his death because they were still reviving emails from him as part of his testing procedure. In fact, he got paid for a full three months work after he'd met his maker before his team realized they'd been communicating with a corpse. Even more oddly, the last message they got from him was a jokey curse telling them that they'd all be dead within a year for meddling with forces they should leave well alone. Two more of the team died before the year was out.

Anyway.

It's a week to go before the Bristol and Manchester Sitcom Trials Special Week-and-a-bit-Before-Halloween shows!

I've no idea what's happening in Manchester, since they've got guns and I don't like to ask.

But in Bristol, we're rehearsing and props-gathering, and SFX-sourcing, and really getting all pumped up and sexy for the next show. We've a terrific cast, great scripts, and a splendid host in Becky Brunning (standing in for Kev F).

And don't forget the Sci-Fi Sitcom Trials in November - it's all happening, so come along, send scripts, join our meetings (we're nice) and remember that the future of comedy is in YOUR hands! (resists Jutin Lee Collins joke).

Hi there,

I know I'm being thick here but I am totally useless when it comes to uploading/downloading/whatever-loading-you-like.

How exactly do I send you my sci-fi sitcom script? I am at the Sitsvac files > Sitcom Trials SF Special 2012 page after having created a Yahoo e-mail account. There is a script called Clarice by a Mr Kirby and that's all. Do I create a text file and put my script in there? If not, where?

Thank you :-)

Quote: writer for hire @ October 13 2012, 12:16 PM BST

How exactly do I send you my sci-fi sitcom script? I am at the Sitsvac files > Sitcom Trials SF Special 2012 page after having created a Yahoo e-mail account. There is a script called Clarice by a Mr Kirby and that's all. Do I create a text file and put my script in there? If not, where?

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You are in exactly the right place, and yes that is precisely what you do. Put your Word or Pdf file in that folder, alongside the lonely first entry. Most writers wait until the eleventh hour to upload their scripts, expect a flurry around midnight Nov 3rd.

Kev F