When is the deadline?
I don't think I'll enter, but I really like the thread.
The Sitcom Mission 2012 Page 20
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Good Lord!...If Simon and Declan are pissing themselves laughing at a script for fifteen minutes there's a good chance it's going through I'd say.
A sitcom needs to make you laugh, surely, that's the only 'rule'!
Quote: Tim Walker @ November 24 2011, 10:04 PM GMTNo disrespect, really, but this is a very poor script.
I disagree. It reads funny and did what it was supposed to do - make people laugh during its performance.
No it's not 'sitcom' as such, in that it's not currently on the TV/Radio for 30-minutes each week, but rewritten for one of those formats it easily could be. The scripts that get sent in are supposed to be targetted for the stage and need to make people laugh in a theatre setting...and quick.
You say 'I can see how it might play fairly well on stage...' like that's not a major accomplishment.
1) We always say that you should read the rules and stick to them. If you do that, you'll be in the top 10%. Then break a few and you'll be in the top 1%. Disregard them completely and you're in the bottom 20% and we'll ridicule you on this forum.
2) If we're laughing our heads off and turning the page because we're interested in your characters and what they're doing, you're in the top 1%. We'll probably want to talk to you.
2) Thunderer was voted Best Sitcom by the comedy commissioners from BBC TV, Channel 4, Sky, BBC Radio and ITV.
3) We considered not putting it through to the top 32 because it was very close to Radio 4's Bleak Expectations, which was also the reason why Radio 4 rejected it. But we thought it was a cracking calling card for the writer, who is now in talks with a major independent TV production company.
Exactly. Those are 3 - or perhaps even 4 - excellent points. 
Quote: Declan @ November 24 2011, 11:34 PM GMTDisregard them completely and you're in the bottom 20% and we'll ridicule you on this forum.
Why on earth would you publicly ridicule a writer who, in good faith, has entered a script into your competition - even if you consider his/her script to be terrible and/or not conforming to your rules of comedy?
And, to me, it does seem curious that this competition is called 'The Sitcom Mission' when what you actually appear to be soliciting from writers are short, comic stage plays. Not sitcoms.
Oh well...
Hi Tim
In the past we've held up examples of people who have blatantly disregarded the rules and guidelines so that other writers can learn from their behaviour. We also get loads of emails from writers asking about script formatting and whether they can have a live giraffe on stage.
We always respect the fact that writers have taken the time to enter the competition, but in the past a large number have been lazy and sent us 30-minute TV sitcoms when we've categorically asked for 15-minute stage sitcoms. As we've now got an entry fee, we're hoping this number will drop dramatically.
As for 'what is a sitcom?' maybe we should do that another time.
Quote: Declan @ November 24 2011, 11:34 PM GMTDisregard them completely and you're in the bottom 20% and we'll ridicule you on this forum.
To be honest, I hope and expect anybody running a competition not to ridicule any of the entrants in public, never mind on a well-read forum like this. Even if you think they have wasted your time by not reading the rules properly. It's not classy. I am guessing something was lost in translation.
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ November 24 2011, 10:14 PM GMTWhen is the deadline?
I don't think I'll enter, but I really like the thread.
As we've now got an entry fee, we're hoping we'll make a fucking fortune this number will drop dramatically.
Fixed!
Quote: Declan @ November 24 2011, 11:34 PM GMTDisregard them completely and you're in the bottom 20% and we'll ridicule you on this forum.
Thanks, you just saved me a few quid...
Quote: Tim Walker @ November 24 2011, 11:54 PM GMTWhy on earth would you publicly ridicule a writer who, in good faith, has entered a script into your competition - even if you consider his/her script to be terrible and/or not conforming to your rules of comedy?
Imagine reading well over a thousand scripts. You open an email to find...a poem, a full length stage play or a synopsis with the words 'I feel this could make a very successful series and I'm willing to split the royalties with you'. All these things have happened.
Do you:
a)Take the attachment seriously because it's been entered 'in good faith'?
Or
b) want to strangle the idiot who sent it?
I know what I felt.
Quote: Marc P @ November 24 2011, 8:23 PM GMTSitcom cliffhangers are hooks that set up a new narrative... when end of series etc. A cliffhanger is the idea (I know I tried to explain this before) when at the end of an episode is a kind of stop to the narrative with a man holding on by his fingers to a cliff edge or a woman tied to the train tracks with a train coming - how is the incident to be resolved - rather than a basic shift from the Status Quo. End of series the dynamics change to set up the next. There really are two different things. The original question (again) is whether to end a entry for the sitcom mission mid narrative (not even on an act break) ... with a 'to be continued' subtitle. And the answer is no.
Okay, thanks for explaining this, Marc. I do think that you're being a little too strict in your definition of "cliffhanger". Now, I'm not suggesting that the "P" in Marc P stands for pedantic, but I can't see myself correcting fans of Lost by saying, "no that end of series revelation isn't a cliffhanger it's a hook, you gobshite". But your insight into sitcom cliffhangers setting up new narratives is spot on.
Still, I sometimes feel that you are Wil Wheaton to my Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory). My only problem is that I can't growl "P!!!" in the same way as Sheldon does "Wheaton!!!" without the family thinking I'm incontinent.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Stage play dialogue is a very different beast to TV dialogue, and the pace of scenes in a TV sitcom can be very fast, but this wouln't work on the stage. So, as some of the earlier posters said or implied, how do I approach writing a stage play when what I really want to do is a fast-paced TV sitcom?
Sorry Evan but 'hook is common parlance in the TV industry - in continuing drama commissioning documents the 'hook' is always specified. It's honestly not just me and my terms. There is a difference at the heart of how the narrative works in sitcom and returning/continuing drama. A cliffhanger will be resolved immediately in the opening scene of the next episode - a hook may take an episode or a whole series. Who shot JR? The cliffhanger is... will he die - the hook is who did it?
But yes the terms can be pretty much interchanged I was clarifying so as to address the original question - do you just stop an episode half way (esp as it is 15 mins - therefore likely to be adapted from an original 30 min script) and I and you thought it not a good idea.
There are worse words the P could stand for!!
Oh well, you can use facts to prove anything.
P!!!!
Prezunctly!