Comedy Writers Conference/Workshop

To coincide with the new website (see here for more on that: https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/10082), there's various new things in the pipeline... time to unveil the first of them:

In 2009 I'm looking to help setup, in conjunction with others, a large all day Comedy Writing 'Conference' ('Workshop' could be another word for it). A chance to get advice from well-known industry experts and, just as importantly, network with industry people and fellow writers. It'll be aimed directly at your level (i.e. not patronising beginners stuff) and will be as affordable as possible.

The main organisation of the conference will be headed up by Adam Bromley rather than directly by the website. This is because Adam has far more knowledge, contacts, organisational backup and ideas behind him than I (plus, it turns out, he has been planning such an event for a while now). The BCG will be supporting Adam though, i.e. making sure it's directly relevant to you.

For those that don't know, Adam is one of the top radio producers (Hut 33, Double Science and Think The Unthinkable are three of his sitcoms). He also works a lot with new writers - you may also know him via Recording For Training Purposes.

So, if you think this sounds a good idea, an event (or events) will follow in 2009. Something more immediate though...

Adam is looking to run a pilot soon, with about 30/40 people, to test this idea out. Here's the details...

- Five or so hours in the afternoon in London (maybe in December on a Saturday)

- Advice on sitcoms, sketch writing, creating characters and making online comedy and how to get paid to work in these areas. This content will be tailored to the 'BSG writing level' - i.e. practical advice for getting up to that next step, not the basics which you already know. This will be delivered by Adam and three other speakers from the industry (to be named soon) with slides, video and audio clips to illustrate points.

- To cover the costs of venue hire and the speakers, this pilot is likely to cost about £50 a person.

So, questions...

1. Is the conference something of interest to you? Would you attend such an event if it went ahead in London in 2009?

2. If so, any specific topic(s) you would like covered? Anyone you'd particularly like to see as a speaker? etc etc. Ideas / thoughts please!

3. Putting on such an event is going to be expensive (especially if the top names are going to be speaking)... so it'd be good to get an idea of the budget that's going to have to worked to... what sort of price would you be willing/able to pay for a day's useful advice and networking opportunities? (Please be honest + realistic)

4. If the idea is of interest, would you like to attend this forthcoming pilot? (at a cost of about £50... the slightly more intimate setup you'll be getting makes that good value I think). If so, can you make a Saturday (or weekday) in December, or is that too soon?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Yes I'd probably be interested, can't think of any topics off the top of my head though. £50 sounds OK (but maybe not at short notice right before christmas!).

Adam Bromley is a good bloke and an excellent producer.

Just my opinion but I think £50 for a trial/pilot is a bit much. £50 for an established event would probably be ok. I guess it depends on who will be there apart from us!

The useful people would be people in both radio and tv that are looking for new writers. The ones that actually commission stuff, that will read your stuff as they can tell us exactly what they want and be useful contacts. Then I guess a few people who have made the breakthrough recently and maybe a well established writer.

A lot of these things can end up with people that are all established and broke into the industry a long time ago, so while inspiring (and useful) its not relevant to what is needed today.

I'd certainly consider a conference in 2009. I think it would be interesting to hear from both writers and commissioners and anyone who can give advice on how to start making a living from writing comedy, once you've achieved some level of recognition, what's the next step?

Week days are better for me than weekends but I'd consider a December trial for about £50.

I did a one day course on sitcom about 2 years ago that I found through this site and, from memory, it was about £100. There was a group of about 12 of us I think.

Sorry, I got carried away below!

(1) Yes, I would attend. Most definitely (bar it clashing with the production of my new sitcom ;-) )

(2) It'd be great if all the BBC Radio producers (and those at a similar level at independent companies) could be there to explain what exactly they're looking for. Particularly those who don't mind being approached by these 'second-step' writers we're aiming at here and genuinely looking for new talent.

New and established writers would be nice to talk to, to explain how they got in, what they did once they were in and how they keep the work flowing in to pay the mortgage.

And somebody to tell us why all new 'open-doors' opportunities are radio-based and there's not a single television equivalent.

I'd personally hate it if anybody was there for the money who has such a closed approach to new talent (and no intention of ever using anything but established writers) that they're just spouting the same old spiel. For this reason, maybe the appearance fee should be minimal (to act as encouragement to the genuine people). Ooo -- controversial I bet, but it would give the event more integrity (particularly for the future).

Oh, and I want Micheal Jacob there too as, at the moment, he's the only true link we seem to have between us and any producer of note (the BBC in this case), who actively gets involved and explains the processes to us, especially when some myths/conspiracy theories start to get bandied about.

What I'd most like to see is a 'Where do I go from here?' talk, specifically for people who have had the odd sketch broadcast here and there (or similar) but don't really know what to do next. Should we be cajouling every possible producer? If so, how? Do they mind? Should we be impressing them with sketches for their particular sketch show, or should be try to impress with a fully-fledged sitcom? Are we going to get blacklisted for constant submissions? How do we approach producers? A lot of us find the networking side quite difficult (even just approaching somebody to say 'hello') -- what are the best approaches? Should we be sending out work everywhere? Or waiting for a single company to get back to us before moving on? Will people hold it against you if you go with someone else having received two offers? None of these questions are obvious to me! It'd be nice to hear the professionals views.

And I think everybody would be happy if Tim and Susan could make up their differences live on stage

(3) Ideally, I'd say £50 but I don't think that's particularly realistic. I'm going to have to say £100 per person for the day is ideal and realistic. Any more than that and you're going to put people off attending. I think the optimum price not to discourage attendance is going to have to be in the region of £75-£80 each. More than that, I'd certainly have to think twice about it (just from purely a cost point of view) and I'm probably paid well above the average of the core demographic for this kind of event. I reiterate the point that perhaps lower appearance fees may encourage only those geniunely open to developing talent.

(4) £50 for the pilot is more than fair, in my opinion. In fact, I think it's a really good price for what will probably be a more intimate, approachable event than the 'real thing'. Saturdays (or Sundays) are better for me personally, because arranging leave with work at short notice might be a bit difficult (especially in my current case). December's probably fine with me, as it happens though probably won't suit all.

That is all

Dan

Well put Dan.

Thanks. I am very trying.

Dan

I'd definitely be up for attending this, and the price is right, but I'd echo the people saying December is too soon. Save the pilot for early 2009 if you want a decent turnout I reckon.

And as Dan says, it would be a real boon to have Mr Jacob there.

Thanks for all your posts (particularly Dan for his essay )... some very useful feedback here which, rest assured, will be taken into consideration - like I say, the aim is, after all, to provide a day of sessions/speakers that are all of high interest/use.

The more feedback I can get the more we can make sure this day is spot on what you want, so keep it coming please!

I would definitely be interested in attending something like this.

£50 seems reasonable enough and my December-January is pretty much free...

OK, you've convinced me that £50 is ok. I've never been to one of these events but looking at how much they usually charge then £50 is very favourable in comparison. Plus I'm clearly tight

Keep us up to date. I think the new year will be better as weekends in December might be hard to make for some people.

I think Dan has said it all very well.

The 2009 even sounds good. I would mirror Dan and agree that £100 is about a fair price for that day.

As for the December Pilot, I think £50 is a good price and I would like to attend subject to any date clashes. Is there any proposed dates as yet? do we have to go into a lottery for places?

Def.

Thanks for the feedback everyone... I don't believe a date for the pilot has been set yet. Adam is currently on holiday, but when he's back next week more info about the pilot will no doubt flow onto here (dates, speakers etc) so watch this space!

Yes, the non-terminally-shy slaggs (b and c) would attend this, as it seems to be pitched at the right level. Especially if the speakers are looking for new writers and weren't one-foot-in-the-taxi-home as they were delivering their presentation.

Ooh, yes to Mr Jacob ... please. The man is a giant ... although it might cause problems with finding a venue with such a high ceiling.