If a budding sitcom writer had to choose between watching as many sitcoms as possible or reading novels, which should he/she choose in order to hone their craft?
Sitcom writers, watchers or readers?
Well, watching sitcoms.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ September 18 2009, 12:44 PM BSTWell, watching sitcoms.
Watch a lot of sitcom, but seriously, have an interest in all sorts of things. The broader your general knowledge and interests in life, the more you have to draw upon to put in your script. And watch a lot of mediocre or bad sitcoms as well. You learn almost as much from the bad ones as the great ones about how/how not to construct characters, plots and jokes.
I don't watch sitcoms on TV.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 18 2009, 12:51 PM BSTWatch a lot of sitcom, but seriously, have an interest in all sorts of things. The broader your general knowledge and interests in life, the more you have to draw upon to put in your script.
This. If you do not have exposure to ideas and experience outside of sitcom (and the day job that you hate) you end up writing something like Lunch Monkeys.
And watch a lot of mediocre or bad sitcoms as well. You learn almost as much from the bad ones as the great ones about how/how not to construct characters, plots and jokes.
And this, though I would say the best ones to learn from are the ones that should have been good but weren't. It astonished me to see so many would-be writers dismissing, for instance, Lab Rats as crap, when they should have been analysing why a script that must have looked terrific on paper failed to make the transition to the screen.
when they should have been analysing why a script that must have looked terrific on paper failed to make the transition to the screen.
Some sitcom scripts look awful on paper too and you then wonder how they even managed to get on screen. For verification, check out the Grownups script at writersroom.
I must admit, I don't watch a lot of noughties sitcoms. I guess I should, just to see how, if you're a celeb already, you can write anything twonk and it'll get on screen.
Quote: Timbo @ September 18 2009, 1:29 PM BSTAnd this, though I would say the best ones to learn from are the ones that should have been good but weren't. It astonished me to see so many would-be writers dismissing, for instance, Lab Rats as crap, when they should have been analysing why a script that must have looked terrific on paper failed to make the transition to the screen.
I still have somehow managed not to see a single episode of Lab Rats and so cannot as yet comment.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 18 2009, 1:44 PM BSTI still have somehow managed not to see a single episode of Lab Rats and so cannot as yet comment.
Watch it, it's good old fashioned zany fun. Some more hit and miss than others but I liked it. I am a rarity in that regard it seems but I have met others who liked it too.
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ September 18 2009, 1:44 PM BSTSome sitcom scripts look awful on paper too and you then wonder how they even managed to get on screen. For verification, check out the Grownups script at writersroom.
I must admit, I don't watch a lot of noughties sitcoms. I guess I should, just to see how, if you're a celeb already, you can write anything twonk and it'll get on screen.
Mikey J you are too young to be so bitter, come back next year with this kind of attitude.
heh heh.
Next year I'll be a mill-yun-naire, Rodders. 
Quote: Marc P @ September 18 2009, 1:52 PM BSTWatch it, it's good old fashioned zany fun. Some more hit and miss than others but I liked it. I am a rarity in that regard it seems but I have met others who liked it too.
Cheers, Marc. I might see if I can find it cheap-ish on DVD.
Has it got a second series? Maybe if they hired better writers...etc.
I totally agree. I would never have persisted with "We Are Klang" were I not watching it for research purposes, then 20 minutes into the first episode. I suddenly went from, "This is toilet" to "Actually; it's rather charming" and from thence to "I love it" was but a mountain goat-like skip.
Quote: Stan Doubt @ September 18 2009, 2:01 PM BSTHas it got a second series? Maybe if they hired better writers...etc.
No I don't think it got a second series. I don't think there was anything wrong with the writing it was just a silly sense of humour kind of show, a bit like the Goodies I guess, and if you didn't get it then you didn't like it all seemingly. A marmite com.
Quote: Marc P @ September 18 2009, 2:08 PM BSTNo I don't think it got a second series. I don't think there was anything wrong with the writing it was just a silly sense of humour kind of show, a bit like the Goodies I guess, and if you didn't get it then you didn't like it all seemingly. A marmite com.
I do no think it was the sillines per se that sunk it; the far sillier Klang seems to have plenty of admirers. I think it was more the lack of a coherent comic vision. Lines ranged from the cleverly observational to the childishly silly, performances veered from the cartoonish to the naturalistic; and the sets, costumes, lighting etc, succeeded in being neither acceptably credible nor interestingly stylised.