Sketch Writing Page 2

Interesting questions. I'm afraid I don't really have an answer though.

I don't post in critique as much as I used to. I have found it genuinely useful before though, as it's much harder to spot the mistakes in your own writing than in someone else's and the feedback has helped me get better at spotting my own mistakes.

Now I tend to post in critique if it's something I'm not sure about or it's something I've not tried before, like a mockumentary.

I don't suppose I'll ever be 'groundbreaking' but I do enjoy trying to do something a bit different. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but trying it out on here can be helpful to gauge which of those it might be!

You have to write the shit before you write the gold.

Quote: Tim Azure @ August 15 2011, 8:19 AM BST

I don't think people aim to be the Dead Parrot sketch because it seems such a high level of comic writing.

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Do you think so? I'm not that sure.

The basic premise is funny, and 'pining for the fjords' is a good line, but the main joke seems to be Cleese listing a number of different ways to say 'dead' before the sketch peters out with some nonsense about going to Bolton and an Army colonel stopping everything by declaring that it is 'too silly'.

It looks a bit rubbish on the page, to be honest, but really takes off when performed.

How about 'Four Candles'? Great start but nobody quotes the ending. Probably because the ending is rubbish.

Now, the 'Mastermind' sketch looks great on the page and when performed but I've read that the writer, David Renwick, was only convinced that he hadn't written a pile of crap when he saw the audience reaction.

To sum up:

1) Sometimes great sketches need to be performed to become great.
2) Sometimes great sketches are a bit rubbish but people forget the rubbish bits.
3) Sometimes the writer doesn't know his sketch is great.

Several reasons why we probably won't see any 'great' sketches in Critique anytime soon.

Well said Jinky, it's my belief that most if not all sketches need to be performed to actually be funny. Even better if it is a rubbish script then it pushes the actors to make it funny in some way, if not in the originally intended manner. Spike Milligan comes to mind, go pull up the 'Arrr Jim Lad' sketch. I bet you on paper it is nowhere near as funny, (if you find Milligan funny at all), and it goes off on a tangental long jump more tangental than Python's Dead Parrot sketch.

Part of the reason for posting in Critique is precisely because of the lack of opportunities; a sketch to come to life needs to be performed if only in the imagination of others. The real reason though for posting your work is the same as why you should never be shy to express your opinions; just as you need to say stuff out loud to realise how stupid it sounds, so you need to expose your work in public just so you yourself can see what is wrong with it - other posters' comments can be helpful in forcing you out of denial as to the problems with the sketch, occasionally they can be genuinely challenging (I miss Griff), they can gift you solutions, and best of all other posters can find the sketch funny, which is ultimately why you wrote it. There is nothing as lame as an unsold sketch sitting in a sock drawer unseen by any but the author convinced of its genius.

There are depressingly few markets, and most performers have a style of their own which might not fit yours. There are many sketch shows that I could not begin to write for. Many of the funniest writers on here have a distinctive voice, which others posters come to appreciate, but which could make their work a hard sell on a one-off basis.

There have been some wonderful posters in Critique, whose writing every bit as good as much of what makes it onto the telly or radio, but as has been pointed out the writing is only a part of the final product.

The beginning of this year I'd never even wrote a joke not to mention a sketch so I'm not in any position to dissect what makes a good sketch, how to go about it etc etc, but what I do know is what I find funny, we all have that ability at least. From what I've read on here there are a few good funny writers who could make the leap to making a living from it if given the right opportunity and breaks.
My reasons for posting stuff on here is to get a reaction to it, to find out if other people find it funny or any good. What else would I do with it once it's written?...apart from sending it off somewhere. Better to get it out and give it an airing surely? 'cue for Marc P/ Sooty'
I don't worry about anyone trawling the site stealing ideas, naive maybe, but people who write, write to satisfy something within themselves and any writer worth their salt wouldn't go around lazily nicking ideas, it wouldn't take them very far in the end anyway if they had no talent.

Quote: Shandonbelle @ August 15 2011, 2:45 PM BST

What else would I do with it once it's written?...apart from sending it off somewhere. Better to get it out and give it an airing surely? 'cue for Marc P/ Sooty'

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I did it one time, once! And it was a wasp that had flown up my trouser leg. For God's sake let it go people!

I believe you Marc, thousands wouldn't

Well twelve people didn't

I'm kind of doing alright for myself in sketch-writing terms and only after, what, six years of writing has my writing come on a lot in terms of consistency. ie. I write a lot less shit now as I'm au fait with what makes a decent sketch. I still occasionally have my better moments but what I consider the best thing I ever wrote sits happily in Critique.

Dan

EDIT: Added link at request

I think that deserves a link!

Link added above

Dan

Quote: swerytd @ August 16 2011, 10:34 AM BST

Link added above

Dan

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Outstanding. Even more relevant now than it was then.
Iv u now wat I mean?

Thanks.

Dan