Quote: simon wright @ November 17 2009, 12:23 AM GMTNow that's how to hook a reader. I give up; why will it end badly?
I can't even get a gag on to radio, so trying for a sitcom is something of a brave/ridiculous move. God loves a trier though, allegedly.
Where is the venue for the workshop in Manchester?
Hi Spotland
It's on Portland Street, just down from Piccadilly Gardens.
Yeah, like I know where that is.
Cheers, Declan
Thanks mate just making sure I won't be in breach of my ASBO by attending
Oh, you're THAT Spotland.
Quote: Declan @ November 16 2009, 11:22 PM GMTHello my BCGing chums
Some very exciting news from Sitcom Mission land is... The Sitcom Mission is now FREE to enter!
That's right, FREE!
It's FREE, I tell you, FREE dammit FREE!
Just like Berlin, 20 years ago.
We're only charging for the feedback, so you can enter as many times as you flipping well like for the cost of... er... nothing.
And for the one person who has paid to enter... please contact us for a refund. You know who you are!
Cheers, Declan and Simon
PS, check out our latest blog here https://www.comedy.co.uk/sitcom_mission/blog/
Oh crap, I can't work the quote function.
I meant to quote and ask: Why have you made it free? To get it on writersroom? Or, er, other?
Oh, I can work the quote function. I just didn't realise.
technological fail.
'Why have you made it free? To get it on writersroom?'
We were happy to comply with writers room's request and from now on we won't charge a fee to enter The Sitcom Mission. From what we've been told, our workshops and our feedback options offer very good value for money and we're happy for those to be our income streams. We want to attract as many scripts as possible, and we're willing to put the work in reading them to give ourselves a greater chance of turning up material worth developing.
I think free entry charge, but pay for feedback is a very fair scheme.
Me too. Hope you manage to make a go of it.
Have you thought of diversifying into a sketch equivalent, or are TV producers not so interested in finding sketch writers?
Quote: simon wright @ November 18 2009, 11:33 AM GMT'Why have you made it free? To get it on writersroom?'
We were happy to comply with writers room's request and from now on we won't charge a fee to enter The Sitcom Mission. From what we've been told, our workshops and our feedback options offer very good value for money and we're happy for those to be our income streams. We want to attract as many scripts as possible, and we're willing to put the work in reading them to give ourselves a greater chance of turning up material worth developing.
Good on you both Simon!
So, playing the (naughty) devil's advocate; straight from the comedy producer (Micheal Jacob)'s mouth:
'...it's pointless to write more than one script of a potential series, since a producer and broadcaster can make radical suggestions.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/2009/11/back_on_the_blog.shtml
Dan
The title of this thread still hasn't been changed. This upsets me greatly.
*fidgets anxiously*
Quote: swerytd @ November 18 2009, 5:10 PM GMTSo, playing the (naughty) devil's advocate; straight from the comedy producer (Micheal Jacob)'s mouth:
'...it's pointless to write more than one script of a potential series, since a producer and broadcaster can make radical suggestions.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/2009/11/back_on_the_blog.shtml
Dan
Mmmm. Not convinced to be honest. Surely if you submit anything other than your best work it won't have any future anyway. How do you make sure its your best work? By not writing much or by writing as much as possible? The things you discover by writing episode two feed back into episode one and make it richer.
If he'd written 'don't submit more than one episode' I'd agree, but surely any writer worth working with is going to treat the initial episode as work in progress anyway and welcome those 'radical suggestions'.
That applies whether the episode you submit is the only one you've written or a synthesis of several.
Maybe I'm wrong. It'll have to happen sometime...
I think that no matter how good you feel your first episode is, you only really get to know your characters once you've written a few episodes, explored different avenues and put them in different situations.
If I hadn't been to Simon and Declans workshops, I wouldn't have progressed to writing episode 5 and 6 and these are far better than the original episode that I would have been prepared to enter into the 'Sitcom-mission'.
If you really can't be arsed to write more than one episode, you'll probably never find out how good your characters could have been!
You're on episodes 5 and 6? That's excellent.
Hats off to you, bluer than blue.
s