March 9: BBC open submissions: Comedy scripts  Page 2

Quote: Lawrence Diamond @ 20th March 2015, 2:20 PM GMT

> Are you getting this info from transcripts or actual working drafts?

Transcripts. The actual word count of 24 minutes of American TV sitcom dialogue is about 3,000 words.

My last two radio scripts = 3,019 and 3,037 words.

I'm not even particularly trying to get them a certain length. I guess I've just watched a lot of American TV sitcoms and this length is now second nature to me.

From what I've listened to, radio sitcoms don't seem to have a C story, so it's basically a case of writing in a way that allows you to massively stretch scenes out with monologueing or have "character building" scenes that aren't strictly necessary or... I don't know.

6,000 words seems a very unnatural length to me. I've written a two-parter with the A story carrying through but with a bit of a clunk as the B-story just suddenly switches over.

I would be genuinely interested to hear from people who have written 30-minute radio scripts on how you go about outlining that in a way that isn't a bit shit.

View original

Do you count every single one of the words? Sounds exhausting.

I have something called a word "processor". It boasts a number of advanced features including typographic alignment, text colour and word count.

> I also think simpler plots are better in radio, because people are generally listening to it while doing something else - driving, cooking, emailing Feedback.

Right. You can't expect the whole family to be sat around the radio like when Marc was a child. Radio sitcoms are more about discussion points than plot points.

I think I've been writing TV scripts without the visual elements.

Famously Hitchhikers was very visual.

Quote: Lawrence Diamond @ 21st March 2015, 2:21 AM GMT

I think I've been writing TV scripts without the visual elements.

View original

The thing is, TV is a visual medium. Therefore, visual elements are essential.

And, regarding wordcount, my half hour scripts are around 5500 - 6000 words.

The closing date for this is insane - lunchtime on Thursday before a 4 day bank holiday, 4 vital days a godsend usually to amateur writers. You do have to wonder if the Beeb actually want anything from unknowns and amateurs. I honestly don't think they do, after another insult like this.

Some of us stopped wondering.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 29th March 2015, 11:18 AM BST

The closing date for this is insane - lunchtime on Thursday before a 4 day bank holiday, 4 vital days a godsend usually to amateur writers. You do have to wonder if the Beeb actually want anything from unknowns and amateurs. I honestly don't think they do, after another insult like this.

View original

This deadline has been coming for at least a year since they announced the comedy submission was happening early 2015. I had been working towards this date for a over a year. Submitted 3 weeks ago, now working on the The Drama Script Room that will be open in the autumn. Good luck to everyone that has submitted.

We are submitting ours today. Good luck everyone!

Yes, good luck to everyone who took a shot at it. Those who didn't, the good news is you have about 365 days left to try and get something together.

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who gets feedback.

Ours is in! So... with that done and Newsjack finished, it's on to Kirrin Island!

Oh piss.

Got mine in at about 1:30am. Had an issue with final draft saving as PDF but got there eventually.

BBC writers room tweeted a few days ago that they hope to let everyone know the results by the end of the month (June).

Is it a good bet that the 2016 entry dates will also be in March?

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 13th February 2016, 11:06 PM GMT

Is it a good bet that the 2016 entry dates will also be in March?

View original

So it would seem!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/send-a-script#heading-submission-windows