The BSG Guide to Comedy Page 2

Quote: Tuumble @ January 27 2009, 3:43 PM GMT

It could have advice on writing...

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Now there's a thought.

To my knowledge there are only two UK books on how to write sitcoms. One is by Marc Blake and the other by John Byrne & Marcus Powell. All other books on the subject tend to be from the USA.

It would be great if everyone could pool their experiences and tips from dealing with the industry, as well as their knowledge of the sitcom writing craft itself into one book. I'd definitely consider buying that. This would work the same for sketch writing also.

Def.

Quote: chipolata @ January 27 2009, 4:17 PM GMT

Usually with a celebrity edge, such as Pop Bitch. Somehow I don't think reprinting posts from Michael Jacob, Andrew Collins and Ed Morrish has quite the same ring.

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Law of the Playground, and A nice cup of tea and a sitdown are celeb free.

Quote: sootyj @ January 27 2009, 5:08 PM GMT

Law of the Playground, and A nice cup of tea and a sitdown are celeb free.

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Fair enough, I just plumped for the one I was most familiar with. Still not convinced there's a huge market for website tie-in books.

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:10 PM GMT

I have seriously considered writing a "How To" book on sketch writing, by interviewing various successful comedy writers on the subject, as that does seem a notable gap in the market given the myriad of other "how to write" books on the market.

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I think the biggest problem with sketch writing is not the writing but the selling. While there's a relatively large number of places to submit unsolicited sitcom scripts, there seem far fewer places to send sketches. Most people that seem to write sketches for TV shows seem to be people who already have a foothold in the industry.

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:11 PM GMT

Unfortunately THERE IS NOTHING ON BSG THAT ANYONE WOULD PAY ANY MONEY TO READ.

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Sooty's Guide To Gramma? Godot's Taxi's A to Z of Humility?

Quote: chipolata @ January 27 2009, 5:14 PM GMT

Sooty's Guide To Gramma? Godot's Taxi's A to Z of Humility?

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You've been reading Sooty's Guide to Gramma. It should be Godot Taxis' A to Z of C**ting Humility.

Quote: Badge @ January 27 2009, 5:15 PM GMT

You've been reading Sooty's Guide to Gramma. It should be Godot Taxis' A to Z of C**ting Humility.

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Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:10 PM GMT

I have seriously considered writing a "How To" book on sketch writing, by interviewing various successful comedy writers on the subject, as that does seem a notable gap in the market given the myriad of other "how to write" books on the market.

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Mark Blake's guide to comedic writing has a big section in it on sketch writing.

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:11 PM GMT

Also The Onion, Dilbert and so on are website spinoffs that sell millions.

Unfortunately THERE IS NOTHING ON BSG THAT ANYONE WOULD PAY ANY MONEY TO READ.

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Griff when you explode how do you keep your purple pants on?

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:43 PM GMT

Yeah, so do lots of other comedy books.

But I've only ever seen one book solely devoted to sketch writing, Andrew Barclay's one, and that was only sold on his website. It just amazes me that you can buy books on sitcom writing, but not sketch. I'm convinced it would sell.

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Why don't you, you've seen the gap in the market..

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:43 PM GMT

Yeah, so do lots of other comedy books.

But I've only ever seen one book solely devoted to sketch writing, Andrew Barclay's one, and that was only sold on his website. It just amazes me that you can buy books on sitcom writing, but not sketch. I'm convinced it would sell.

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Why don't you, you've seen the gap in the market..

Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 5:52 PM GMT

Well, mostly because I'm too idle.

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Reminds me of a bit in a Mark Wallington (I think) book...

"I was at an age where I really felt I could change the world if only I'd get up earlier in the morning."

Quote: chipolata @ January 27 2009, 4:50 PM GMT

I think we'd all enter a raffle to win one of Seefacts School of Comedy scripts.

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And burn it. Burn it with fire.

I usually print off the pages after a long BSG session and hang them on a piece of string by the toilet. Saves me going into critique really. It's a kind of publishing right?

Quote: Tuumble @ January 27 2009, 3:43 PM GMT

My recent talk of self-publishing and the useful comedy related tips and advice that appear on here makes me wonder if we could compile a BSG "Best of" book.

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roscoff puts in perfectly...

Quote: roscoff @ January 27 2009, 6:53 PM GMT

I usually print off the pages after a long BSG session and hang them on a piece of string by the toilet.

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ha ha.

No, seriously, it's nice that you think there's enough of value on this website to make a book. Personally though I don't see the point in reference books when the internet exists?

To publish the whole of the reference section of this website you'd already need more pages than is possible to get in a book... and even then you'd be cutting out a lot of the additional stuff like character guides etc.

Not to mention the whole hyperlinking thing... when the site is fully up-and-running every person, show etc will all be linked together nicely. You don't get that easy cross-referencing in books. Oh, and because of publishing rights the pictures of the shows couldn't be included either.

(Another advantage of the web is my spelling mistakes are not set in stone!)

Maybe there is merit in more of a 'novelty' official BSG BCG book - but that'll be years down the line, if at all. There's too much else to think about now!

Quote: Deferenz @ January 27 2009, 5:04 PM GMT

To my knowledge there are only two UK books on how to write sitcoms. One is by Marc Blake and the other by John Byrne & Marcus Powell. All other books on the subject tend to be from the USA.

It would be great if everyone could pool their experiences and tips from dealing with the industry, as well as their knowledge of the sitcom writing craft itself into one book. I'd definitely consider buying that. This would work the same for sketch writing also.

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I think you'll find you won't need to buy any writing books. The new writers area - which I'm currently slaving away late into the nights working on (with help of some very knowledgable people) - will hopefully provide everything you want, and more.

OK, it won't all be there from the word go... but we'll be working on it. The new area is not just about sitcom writing, it also has sketch comedy, stand-up, gag writing etc in it too. Plus it'll soon after launching also have industry info etc on top of that as well (e.g. a place to pool info on exprience with production companies). Not to mention a very real new 'opportunity'... which I'm hoping will be a nice surprise for all when the new area does launch early next month.

All free too. I'm too kind

Yes, yes you are. All hail the Mark!

*bows and chants*