Quote: Leevil @ January 28 2009, 1:15 AM GMTAre you talking about Sootyj's jokes?
Jokes?
There's been more than one?
Sitcom by numbers Page 2
Sitcom as I always say is deeply conservative and as has been said, that includes the wacky ones.
If you don't follow the rules of sitcoms it's not a sitcom.
Sometimes feedback in critique can be savage, but damn it I resent reading half a dozen rotten pages and some truly are awful.
Especially one's followed by comments saying "This is perfect I'm just about to send it to prodcos,"
That said for a while there was a tendency just to be negative and that's improved.
Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 11:17 PM GMTBut let's put to bed this constant refrain about "people wouldn't have got The Royle Family" or "The Office" which comes up time and again.
OPENING LINES OF THE ROYLE FAMILY:
INT. TEATIME - LIVING ROOM
IT IS HALF PAST SIX ON A FEBRUARY FRIDAY EVENING. A 26-YEAR-OLD WORKING CLASS GIRL, DENISE ROYLE, IS SITTING WATCHING TV WITH HER MAM. HER DAD, JIM ROYLE, IN HIS SIXTIES, IS SITTING READING A PHONE BILL. ALL THREE SMOKE CONSTANTLY THROUGHOUT.
DAD: Ninety-eight quid... it's good to talk my arse... (READING PHONE BILL) 929 1246, whose number's that?
MAM: It's Mary.
DAD: Mary! You've been ringing Mary next door? If you shouted she could hear you.
DENISE: She can hear you.
MAM: Give it a rest the pair of you.
DAD: Rest my arse... two pound fifty phoning next door... she's in and out all day like a bloody yoyo. (PAUSE) I'll put you a serving hatch in.
DENISE: You're tight as a crab's arse you.
DAD: Crab's arse my arse. Two pound fifty... good job she cured her stutter.
I have never watched The Royle Family and so I am not familiar with the show, its format or its humour. Yet, the above opening extract made me laugh and I thought DAD's character really stood out in that short section.
Def.
If I had read the quoted Royle Family scene before seeing it I would have enjoyed it, but I imagine a lot of readers wouldn't.
Wouldn't many an Oxbridge producer reading the script first hand think that 'teatime' implied they were having scones at 4pm? 
I might put a scene I've written in a naturalistic style and humour on Critique and see what others think of it.
Don't tease us, Dagger. Do it!
Quote: Griff @ January 27 2009, 11:30 PM GMTI don't say this to put to bed the oft-repeated claims that scripts for the Royles and the Office are without merit and only got made because of friends in high places.
But I don't think it's only people in the forum saying that, nor are they saying they are without any merit, are they? Office had (from what I hear) a notorious struggle getting made, and wasn't the self-made pilot the eventual clincher that pulled doubters onboard? Same debate over the Royle Family script.
Would that indicate the scripts were not convincing some of the decision-makers? If so, then do you think a show with Aherne or Gervais attached would pull more clout than a show with no visual aid, like a self-made pilot, or names already wanting in? I think Office and Royle Family tales do show other factors weigh on the final yes or no. If you love the show, it's a good thing. If you hate it, then you'll hold a different opinion.
I don't see dark bitter conspiracies btw, it's just how the cogs turn and have always turned, learning how to exploit the machine is the way forward. 
Quote: Griff @ January 28 2009, 12:22 PM GMTThe only reason your script won't be understood is if you don't write it well enough.
100% spot on. Plus I agree with most of your content in above post too.