Phew!
<leaves everything till the 25th instead of 18th>
Dan
The Sitcom Trials 2013 Page 2
Hi,
I submitted a script to the Sci-Fi trials and, although it got a bagful of Nos, it also got a fair few Yeses/Yes's/the plural for Yes, so I might have a go at this.
One question though. How rude are we allowed to go? Are all swear words allowed or some off limits? Also, what subject matter is off limits? Sex, I presume, is okay, but dialogue of graphic sex?
Seeing as (hopefully!) this would be performed in a pub full of over-age drinkers, I can't imagine there being too much off limits.
But I have been wrong before :-)
As it's the 'reaction in a pub', you probably could go with the swearing and graphic sex dialogue.
The crowd tend to be comedy types (of a sort), or they wouldn't be there, I guess, so I'd draw the line at the gay dwarf paedophilia.
Dan
Quote: writer for hire @ January 7 2013, 11:10 PM GMTHi,
Sex, I presume, is okay, but dialogue of graphic sex?
So, it's okay for the actors to copulate on stage but they can't talk about it? What the hell is going on in Bristol?!?
Excuse my ignorance but are we talking of a complete narrative ("episode") in 10 minutes? Or a work in progress which clearly has gaps which would be filled in later?
Complete narrative, whole thing, one 10-minute episode.
Dan
Quote: Poirot @ January 9 2013, 5:06 PM GMTExcuse my ignorance but are we talking of a complete narrative ("episode") in 10 minutes? Or a work in progress which clearly has gaps which would be filled in later?
The Sitcom Trials is an opportunity to test out your sitcom writing in a sketch-length segment. So, ideally, you'd think of it as like the first half of a US sitcom, up to the ad-break. You get as long to establish your characters and tell a story as they do in that format.
Over the years Trials entries have favoured scripts that are written specifically to fit the format, or well-edited or rewritten to do so, and have worked less well for scenes cut and pasted from long sitcom scripts which don't make sense in isolation.
The best examples to look at online (at sitcomtrials.co.uk or go straight to our YouTube Playlist) are the episodes from our TV series where you can see how the scripts can still work when chopped down to just 8 minutes.
Kev F
Quote: swerytd @ January 8 2013, 9:54 AM GMTThe crowd tend to be comedy types (of a sort), or they wouldn't be there, I guess, so I'd draw the line at the gay dwarf paedophilia.
That's a shame, cos I have a cracking script here called Life's Too Short & So's My Boyfriend's Cock Cos He's Only 9. That one goes back in the bottom drawer, then.
I really do hope to be announcing something new and exciting for The Sitcom Trials 2013 very very soon (oh the pain of having to wait for someone else to confirm things before you can make announcements). In the meantime, the next Bristol Sitcom Trials looms and the deadline is TOMORROW
Tomorrow as in we have to upload before midnight tonight? Or tomorrow as in I can upload tomorrow?
As you can see, I'm all in a tither.
The midnight between Saturday and Sunday is the deadline.
No-one sensible makes Friday night a deadline! 
Dan
Thank God!
SITCOM TRIALS
BRISTOL FEB 22 2013
- TIME TO VOTE (Everyone welcome)
Right everyone. There are 38 scripts at the Sitcom Trials egroup which are in contention for the Bristol show at the Wardrobe Theatre on Friday Feb 22nd (tickets on sale now).
You can find them all here:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/files/Bristol%202013/
I'd like you all to read, review and vote on them now. You post your votes here in this forum, or over in the other forum, choice is yours.
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/
https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/26384/
Vote YES, MAYBE or NO to every script you read, and give a brief review of each to prove you've read it, and to provide valuable feedback. Please be honest yet tactful ("Didn't find the characters interesting, and the gags fell flat" is preferable to "This was shit and made my eyes bleed"). It would be very helpful if you could list your reviews in alphabetical order, and post them all together.
The deadline for posting your votes is midnight Sat Feb 2nd
Don't worry if you don't get to read them all, but it would be splendid if you possibly can.
Your votes are counted Yes=2, MAYBE=1, NO= minus 1. So anything you don't vote on doesn't affect the figures.
The top ten scoring scripts will be read by the team and AT LEAST THREE will be performed at the Wardrobe Theatre on Friday 22nd Feb (unless deemed unstageable - we're unlikey to have the resources to properly do justice to a sitcom set directly after the Tet Offensive and featuring a flotilla of helicopter gunships dropping napalm on villages... with hilarious consequences).
The scripts are (in alphabetical order):
A Cult Show
All the Fun of the Fair
ARE WE NOT MEN?
Cliff & Elaine Fall Out.
Donnie's Appraisal
Expecting_the_Worst
FLETCHERMALLARD.
FOURPLY (You Killed My Cat) - Don't Get Up
Giraffe
HILLY ETCETERA.
I See a Penguin
In with the new.
JUDGEMENT DAY
King Chicken and the Ning Nings
MAC BREATH
MaryGodmother
Midnight music
Nice
No-Hopers
Not Book Smart - The Date
Out of Ideas
POSTDOCS_BIOHAZARD
Poundland
Second Coming of Christ
Sodding House
Spies Like Us
Stranded
Symposium
The Boomerangers
The Dating coach
The Incompetent Hustle
The Luke Mcardle Sex Chronicles
The Regulars
THE SOCIAL COMMITTEE.
The Ward
Theatre
Toyz 4Boyz
Umbrellas of London
Best of luck to everyone who's entered, and have fun reviewing and voting!
Announcing The Sitcom Trials - So You Think You Write Funny 2013
The Sitcom Trials returns in force in 2013, with the ultimate competition to find the best new situation comedy talent in Britain. And this year we have joined forces with the UK's longest running comedy new talent competition - So You Think You're Funny.
Since it began in 1988, So You Think You're Funny? has kick-started the careers of dozens of the country's top stand-up comedians including Peter Kay, Dylan Moran, Lee Mack, Tommy Tiernan, Sarah Millican, Rhod Gilbert to name a few, with heats held across the country and a grand final at the Edinburgh Fringe. Now the Sitcom Trials are offering that same opportunity to sitcom creators.
The Sitcom Trials has been running since 1999, showcasing brand new sitcoms in a competition format. Its first Edinburgh Fringe show in 2001 at the Gilded Balloon starred Miranda Hart in a self-penned sitcom set in a joke shop, with a little blonde-haired sidekick and a fanciable chap in the café next door (sound familiar). The following year's show starred future Perrier-winner Laura Solon. If you think you could follow in those illustrious footsteps, now is your chance.
The Sitcom Trials - So You Think You Write Funny is open to writers and writer-performers whose comedy writing has never before been broadcast on national TV or radio.
You are invited to submit a 10-minute sitcom script (to guidelines, below). The entries will be selected by our panel of script reading judges, and the lucky shortlist will be showcased on stage, by our teams of professional actors, and voted for by the audience and a panel of judges from the comedy industry. The 5 scripts that prove most popular in the heats will be performed in the grand final at the Edinburgh Fringe where one sitcom will win a cash prize and a development deal with Gilded Balloon Productions.
If you are a writer-performer, whether an actor, a comedian, or a sketch-team, and you wish to perform the competing sitcom yourself, then that is fine. You're asked to submit a YouTube demo of your performers along with your script entry, it's as easy as that.
Oh, and did we mention The Sitcom Trials - So You Think You Write Funny is completely free to enter?
The deadline for script & video submissions is midnight March 31st 2013 and all details can be found at the website sitcomtrials.co.uk
The Sitcom Trials 2013 Script Guidelines:
Sitcom Trials scripts need to be written for a maximum of 4 actors, with no more than 3 of the same sex. This can be varied only if you are performing your own script & can supply the entire cast.
The format needs to be a script of approx 10 minutes duration ending in a "cliff-hanger" moment (e.g. the ad-break moment, leaving the audience wanting more). The script then needs a denouement scene of no more than 3 minutes max. What will happen is the audience with see the first "half" of all the sitcoms in contention, then only see the ending of the winner (of the audience vote on the night). That way the audience never get bored by anything they don't like, and they're never more than 10 minutes away from something they might prefer.
Scripts can be laid out as TV, radio, stage or movie scripts, whichever the author prefers.
They can be sent as word document or pdf document. Please avoid other formats if at all possible.
Top tip: These scripts are to be performed on a minimal theatre stage, with few if any props, so it is best not to enter scripts that rely heavily on visuals, or on a filmic treatment. Scripts written with radio production in mind would work best in this limited stage environment. For examples of how previous Sitcom Trials performances have worked, see the many video clips at sitcomtrials.co.uk
Submission:
Scripts can be laid out as TV, radio, stage or movie scripts, whichever the author prefers.
They can be sent as word document or pdf document to scripts@sitcomtrials.co.uk
Include your name, mailing address, contact email, and which location you could best attend if your script is shortlisted for performance: Manchester, Bristol or London.
If you intend performing your own script, include a link to a YouTube (or other online) clip that shows the performers in question. If they are performing the script that's entered, that may be more helpful (but not essential).
The deadline for script & video submissions is midnight March 31st 2013. Any questions, ask here at the Forum.
Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials
sitcomtrials.co.uk
Blimey!
How many scripts can we enter?
Could you clarify the "never before broadcast" rule please Kev? Are you ruling out people who have had one gag in an open door show like Newsjack, which would be a bit strict, or do you mean broadcast sitcoms?