Commissions

Has anyone here ever been "commissioned" as, say, a sketch writer by a production company? If so, what exactly does it entail?

Cheers,

Bo.

In my experience it entails receiving a creative brief for the show, writing shitloads of material, waiting a couple of months while they sift through the best stuff, getting an email saying which (if any) of your stuff got through, then getting a cheque a month or so later. Then hopefully being invited to a screening with a free bar and posh nibbles.

Or sometimes if you're lucky you get some cash up front to keep you from dying of malnutrition while you work on the show. Pretty simple really.

Ah, great. Cheers, Perry.

Bo.

Quote: Perry Nium @ April 3 2008, 1:36 PM BST

In my experience it entails receiving a creative brief for the show, writing shitloads of material, waiting a couple of months while they sift through the best stuff, getting an email saying which (if any) of your stuff got through, then getting a cheque a month or so later. Then hopefully being invited to a screening with a free bar and posh nibbles.

Or sometimes if you're lucky you get some cash up front to keep you from dying of malnutrition while you work on the show. Pretty simple really.

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Hmmm, so basically that amounts to 'don't give up your day job!'

It's a pitty there's nothing in this area with a bit more security/certainty.

It's often as Perry says: get a brief, send in lots of stuff - a largely remote process. Sometimes though, the producer will bring you in for meetings (usually with other writers) to talk around things - or have a brainstorming sesh. Sometimes you'll be commissioned in advance for a certain number of minutes (in which case you get paid typically half up front). Other times you might get paid a daily rate to come into the offices, sit at a computer and try to be funny from 9 to 5. It depends on the project and on the way the producer/company likes to work, really.

Quote: ian_w @ April 3 2008, 1:50 PM BST

Hmmm, so basically that amounts to 'don't give up your day job!'

It's a pitty there's nothing in this area with a bit more security/certainty.

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I don't think anyone ever got rich writing for other peoples' sketch shows. It's like someone else on these boards said - if you want to be well-off, there are a lot more lucrative professions out there. It's no coincidence that most comedians / comedy writers are scruffy-looking bastards - it's because we're all skint.

Still, there's always that pot of gold at the end of the comedy rainbow...unfortunately it's got Ricky Gervais's arse sat on it at the moment.

Agree with what's been said so far. In September I had a meeting with a very famous comedy producer and was given a brief for a new themed sketch show. Spent a month furiously writing (and re-writing) and submitted a shed-load of stuff.

Not heard much as to whether this show is ever going further in development, though I can see that he's got a lot of stuff on his plate at the moment. Was told at one point it was on the 'back-burner'.

I think you have to be philisophical when you're a newbie. If you're asked to write for someone with a reputation in the business, then look on it as a challenge and a opportunity. The stuff you're commissioned to write may never see the light of day, but it 1) is an opportunity to have more of your work read and 2) a useful writing exercise in working to a brief.

I am also trying not to forget that some projects take years to come to fruition; and that the best way to deal with waiting for news on your previous efforts is to be getting-on with writing your next project.

So it seems that a commission, unless there is some kind of payment upfront, doesn't really mean anything substantial? Simply that you'll receive a brief, that the material you generate will be read and considered for the show.

There is no real committment from the producers to use any of your material so you are, in effect, in no better a situation than you were before the commission?

What happens to material you've submitted which then doesn't get used? I'm assuming its returned to you - surely its not "owned" by the producers at this stage?

Quote: Bohannon @ April 7 2008, 11:42 AM BST

So it seems that a commission, unless there is some kind of payment upfront, doesn't really mean anything substantial? Simply that you'll receive a brief, that the material you generate will be read and considered for the show.

There is no real committment from the producers to use any of your material so you are, in effect, in no better a situation than you were before the commission?

What happens to material you've submitted which then doesn't get used? I'm assuming its returned to you - surely its not "owned" by the producers at this stage?

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From another source - meaning nicked from another forum - quoting a sketch writer.

"Commissioned writers are paid on the basis of however much they are commissioned to write.

Non-commissioned writers are paid on the basis of how much material they submit actually gets broadcast.

If a commissioned writer has more material broadcast than they were commissioned for, they get paid the extra minutage, though most commissions tend to be generous and remain unfulfilled."

Hope that helps.