Getting a sitcom commissioned is hard work.

After several knockbacks and rejection letters more or less saying the same thing I decided to conduct an experiment.

I chose a sitcom from 2006 that had been commissioned and produced by the BBC but only lasted one series I then copied episode 1 and wrote a script practically word for word including 'actions', the only thing I did was change the characters names and name of the show.

I sent the script to the production company who produced the original series and was told by them that the script was not something they would look to invest in as the characters were one dimensional and the plot didn't seem strong enough to sustain a series.

What do you have to do to get a commission...

Contacts, luck and lucky contacts?

You could pitch all the top rated comedies ever and it could still get thrown in the bin. Because who are you and why should we give you money?

Well that was a nice waste of your time and theirs!

Quote: zooo @ February 14 2013, 6:49 PM GMT

Well that was a nice waste of your time and theirs!

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Someone not involved with the original show obviously didn't feel the same way about the script as whoever developed it first time round. Different people, different opinions.

Quote: MrBucktrout @ February 14 2013, 6:45 PM GMT

but only lasted one series

the characters were one dimensional and the plot didn't seem strong enough to sustain a series.

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Q.E.D.

I didn't find it a waste of time and I used the directions from their script on writers room also the reply was from the script editor of the actual series.

Then well done.

Quote: MrBucktrout @ February 14 2013, 6:57 PM GMT

I didn't find it a waste of time and I used the directions from their script on writers room also the reply was from the script editor of the actual series.

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Do you not think you probably just got a form rejection, and that they probably get this exact thing happening a couple of times a month?

Quote: MrBucktrout @ February 14 2013, 6:45 PM GMT

What do you have to do to get a commission...

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Accept, as your example shows, that it's mostly a lottery and just keep trying.

Or, as lotteries are a mug's game, give up and do something more useful with your life.

Or make it yourself and stick it on YouTube.

(Or go into a production office and shoot everybody. Then you'll be able to come back on here and say you've not only been on Radio 4 Extra but also real Radio 4 and all the other TV and radio channels inbetween. Albeit as a news item and not a 30 second sketch, but a credit's a credit)

They went in to specific detail about a scene and said it was too long and the dialogue didn't move the plot forward. It was just an experiment that took no time at all and involved a bit of copying and pasting and an email.

Ah, fair enough!

With production companies, if you're any good, or are just doing something interesting, then I'd say at some point, if you manage to get enough people at enough places to read, you'll get interest. You just will.

Obviously actually getting to the point of a channel commissioning your show is a whole other ball game, and it can be more of a lottery at that point. Your show may be amazing, but unlucky for you, no one wants ensemble sitcoms set in a pub; or they happen to have something too similar already further along.

Also you submitted episode one. Isn't it an unwritten rule that you don't submit pilot episodes?

Quote: MrBucktrout @ February 14 2013, 6:45 PM GMT

After several knockbacks and rejection letters more or less saying the same thing I decided to conduct an experiment.

I chose a sitcom from 2006 that had been commissioned and produced by the BBC but only lasted one series I then copied episode 1 and wrote a script practically word for word including 'actions', the only thing I did was change the characters names and name of the show.

I sent the script to the production company who produced the original series and was told by them that the script was not something they would look to invest in as the characters were one dimensional and the plot didn't seem strong enough to sustain a series.

What do you have to do to get a commission...

View original

I don't think this could be classed as an experiment. If you sent it to the same company who originally produced it then why would they want to make a program with the same plot as something they have made before? especially something that didn't do that well in the first place? hence only lasting one series.

My advice is keep waving yours under their nose and one day they might snap it up. But here is a thought. What if they had gone for it and asked you in for a meeting.