Workshop - So you want to write a sitcom?

Hallo there,

We've decided to throw our double-headed hat into the sitcom workshop ring. Details below, let us tickle your fancy (at no extra cost)...

best wishes
Andy

SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A SITCOM?

An intensive one day workshop with professional comedy writers Andrew Jones and Ciaran Murtagh

12th November 2011, 10am-6pm, The Rag Factory, London, £65

Got a brilliant sitcom idea locked in your brain just waiting to be transferred to the page? Maybe you've always wanted to write a sitcom, but don't know where to begin? Or have you written the first draft of a sitcom and need help to take it to the next level? If so, this workshop is for you!

In the last two years, Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones have written over 18 hours of broadcast comedy, with credits including top-rated shows on BBC1 and Radio 4. They were Grand Finalists in 2011's Sitcom Mission, and the sitcom they created for this competition has now been optioned by Hat Trick. Now they have created 'So you want to write a sitcom?', a writing workshop for beginners keen to break into this very competitive industry.

Ciaran and Andrew will take you through the first principals of sitcom writing and give you a road map for the future. Combining creative sessions, practical writing techniques and business insight, as well as offering critique on your existing work, 'So you want to write a sitcom?' aims to provide you with the tools you need to achieve your dreams.

This fun and practical workshop will cover:
- The Sit: What makes a sitcom work, Creating classic characters
- The Com: Creating comic plots, Structuring comic stories
- Be funnier: Practical techniques in writing funny things, and in making what you write funny
- Be smarter: We answer all your business questions, including some you never thought to ask
- Sitcom from Scratch: A brand new sitcom evolves from first idea to professional pitch document - in an hour!
- Critique: Analysis and practical constructive advice provided on your material, either brought with you or created on the day

To book your place on this strictly limited workshop, or for any other queries, please email: sitcom@blacksheepcomedy.co.uk

I think I'd prefer to go to one by more established and succesful writers. Sorry.

This all seems a bit Del Boy Trotter to me. Have you guys ever had a TV or radio sitcom go to air?

If so, I apologise.

Ciaran and Andrew's credits include Newsjack, Hotel Trubble and Recorded For Training Purposes. I understand that their Sitcom Mission entry was robbed - but good to see it's been optioned.

As Johnny points out, they may not be Galton and Simpson, but they do have some successful credits, are active and have current experience of the ins-and-outs of the topic, and the course price sounds a bargain.

Lots of people with no actual comissioned series run courses.

If these chaps have got a comission off the back of the Sitcon Mission they know their onions.

And it's a bargain price. So I think it's worth a look.

No one is going to tell you how to get the head of the BBC to offer you a bath full of cocaine and hookers for your script. But I suspect they'll walk you through the basics quite ably.

But Ciarran and Andrew might be a plan to big up your achievements next time?

Morning everyone! Nice to start a conversation.

Sorry for those who wanted things spelled out a bit more, I figured it was quite a long post anyway and as what we do is in the public domain it would be quite easy to find our credits. But here goes.

We've been working together as a double act called The Black Sheep for a decade, starting out with almost ten successive Edinburgh Festivals under our belt. The shows, written and performed by us, have since toured to over 200 theatres and arts centres in 7 countries. We've gone on from there to three successful West End runs. You can find details of all our shows, and our reviews, at www.blacksheepcomedy.co.uk

After those 10 years of live work, we found a route into writing for CBBC. In the last two years, we have written close to 30 episodes of The Legend of Dick and Dom, Hotel Trubble, Scoop, The Slammer, and various others which are less relevant as they aren't sitcoms. If you want a (more or less) full list, you can look us up on IMDB. Using the skills we've learned from working on those, our first adult sitcom, 'In the Meantime', has been optioned by Hat Trick. We now make our living as professional TV writers.

In that time we've learnt a lot, the things we've learned aren't necessarily the things you'd expect, and we figure that other people might be interested in hearing what they are. As it's the first time we've done the course (although not the first time we've run workshops by a long shot), we've hopefully set a reasonable fee.

So - that's us. If you think we might have £65 worth of advice to give you, come along. If you don't, fair enough!

Why don't you do a sketch writing course?

I'd pay to attend that.

And usually I get my education by mugging teachers.

It's a good idea, and something we've thought about in the past but didn't have time to do. Maybe next time, depending on how this one pans out!

don't know if im doing wrong by jumping across forums but I would like to ask people in this room whether they feel work has more chance of being read properly and accepted by traditional 30 min sit com (tv or radio) via writers rrom or via competition such as the sitcomission?

You might be best to create a new thread for that one, smudger.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/new/13/

(Also, please do remember capital letters!)

Wow. Plucky competiton (almost) winners to timeshare salesmen in 3 days.

"That watch costs more than your car. I made 18 hours of TV last year. How much you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here - write! You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can't take this, how can you take the abuse you get on a sitcom? You don't like it, leave."

Quote: Jinky @ September 15 2011, 12:29 AM BST

Wow. Plucky competiton (almost) winners to timeshare salesmen in 3 days.

"That watch costs more than your car. I made 18 hours of TV last year. How much you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here - write! You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can't take this, how can you take the abuse you get on a sitcom? You don't like it, leave."

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How'dya get hold of our course notes? There'll be a big bloke wiv a sledgehammer coming your way later. Just give im what e wants.

Quote: andyblacksheep @ September 15 2011, 9:57 AM BST

How'dya get hold of our course notes? There'll be a big bloke wiv a sledgehammer coming your way later. Just give im what e wants.

View original

Brass balls!

Quote: Jinky @ September 15 2011, 12:29 AM BST

Wow. Plucky competiton (almost) winners to timeshare salesmen in 3 days.

View original

It's almost like a Red or Black? winner in reverse...

Work and ordinary life-stuff keeps getting in the way of me writing, so I'll probably have to give this a miss. Though Andy and Ciaran clearly have a good track-record and I'd attend if I could.