I hear this a lot. There has never been a better time to get into sitcom writing or television writing in general. Are production companies / public service channels as accessible as everyone seems to suggest? If so, great, but why?
There has never been a better time...
I love asking rhetorical questions...
I thought it was rheotorical, thats why I didn't want to reply, you know, and make a tit of myself.
Quote: Laertes @ October 23, 2006, 11:15 AMI love asking rhetorical questions...
Ha ha. Sorry I'm not sure anyone has an answer hence no replies.
In my opinion now is a fairly good time as there's a lot of investment going into comedy programming at the moment hence more opportunities (what with Five looking for new sitcoms, BBC1 increasing its comedy output etc). That said, it's still not quite the 70s where anyone could just wander into the BBC and be given a show.
Quote: Laertes @ October 18, 2006, 7:58 PMI hear this a lot. There has never been a better time to get into sitcom writing or television writing in general. Are production companies / public service channels as accessible as everyone seems to suggest? If so, great, but why?
Who has told you this? When I was starting out a couple of years ago, the only people who told me this were, somewhat unsurprisingly, those who had written 'How to write a sitcom' type books or ran courses. Production companies/TV channels are certainly not as accessible as 'everyone' seems to suggest. It's very hard to break in to the industry. Having said that, from my experience it is possible to make inroads but it is far from easy and involves a lot of setbacks and closed doors.
I think the reason is mostly down to the internet expanding and everyone having alot more access to competitions and there are more production companies out there trying to make the next "the office" or "little britain"
There does seem to be a great deal more interest in the 'next' big sitcom, but I guess there always has been. On the Writersroom various professionals term finding the next one the 'Holy Grail' and are literally begging people to have a go. Seems from what you guys are saying this might be a optimistic smoke screen though...
Compared to other areas of film and tv writing, comedy makers are much more likely to give a nobody's work serious consideration as we all know how rare it is to get it right.
More writers could come up with a competent drama than create a sitcom that does the job and the gods of telly probably know this as there tend to be more new comedy schemes than other genres.
I've had a few possibilities come from sending stuff out cold so it can't ever do any harm to put your work about and the majority of prodco's will take unsolicited work. Whether the prodco's themselves have a clue what works and what doesn't is a whole other subject though.
There seems to be as many people tolling the bell for sitcom as there are people saying it's a good time for them. I guess that if writing one is what you want to do you just have to be positive regardless, and keep getting your work out there.
Good point Miranda... if a sitcom is very funny (which after all is what writers should be striving to achieve) it should get commissioned whether it's a "good time to write" or a "bad time".
The Slagg Brothers actually had a sitcom turned down for being "too funny". Yikes. There is a delicate balance between tone and projected audience.
Wow, who was that by?!
And how the hell did they explain it? Sounds bloody weird!
I'll PM it to you. I was gobsmacked.
Due to:
1) internet access to opportunities previously only available to industry pro's
2) the urine-poor state of most comedy on TV, giving every bus driver in Britain the impression they can write better (which they probably could)
3) The domination of automatic commissions for shows attached to 'big names' that aren't creating their best thru normal healthy competition of the submission process
4) That viewing figures are in freefall because everyone is on the internet watching stolen snatches of comedy in 'bite-size' portions on youtube
I'd say that the chances of commission are worse than at any time.
SlagA, could you also PM it to me?
I'm afraid that SlagA is right. With more channels than ever before, there should be lots of opportunities for new writers to break in to the business, but there aren't. From my experience, one of the main reasons is that many of the people who make the decisions wouldn't know good comedy if it kicked them in the nuts. Not that I'm bitter.