British Comedy Guide

First draft of a sitcom pilot: The Sexy Party Page 3

Eggie, I read the first 7 pages of your script when you first posted this thread. I found these first 7 pages to be funny, but I would say that I think it suffers from too much banter and really needs to move in on the story straight away.

As I found out myself, this is a difficult thing to do properly and get right. It is very tempting, and in fact seems correct when you begin, to get your characters exchanging funny conversation and telling jokes from the moment you start. The problem is (in my opinion) that it is all too easy for a script to get bogged down in loads of banter and this can obscure the story.

When I posted something on here for critique, it was Marc P who gave me some really good advice. He said, "Some funny stuff here but it could be pacier, you might want to get your scalpel out and see how ruthless you can be cutting it without losing anything".

So my skill with a scalpel is something I have been working on a lot because of this comment. At first it's easy to think that you couldn't possibly remove any of your great jokes or witty set ups. But you soon realise how much 'dead wood' can be cut away and yet still leave your work funny and your story sharper.

So what I'm saying is, go through The Sexy Party and try and see why people here are only reading a few pages. Then look to see how you could make it better. Could you remove some banter and jokes in order to crisp it up?

Marc P - I don't think I ever thanked you for your scalpel comment, so Thank You! :)

Quote: Deferenz @ September 3 2008, 3:09 PM BST

Eggie, I read the first 7 pages of your script. Could you remove some banter and jokes in order to crisp it up?

My scalpel.

Quote: Morrace @ September 3 2008, 3:25 PM BST

My scalpel.

Very Good!

Quote: Marc P @ September 3 2008, 1:18 PM BST

Do you hand in quickly dashed out and unfinished essays at college Eggie?

Yes.

Quote: Marc P @ September 3 2008, 1:25 PM BST

There is an exponetial relationship I should think between the amount of effort someone puts into a piece of work and the amount of effort someone else will put into critiquing it.

My exact words to the Mrs when she rambled on about my efforts to f**k her up the arse.

Quote: Eggie @ September 3 2008, 9:58 PM BST

Yes.

Well to borrow from the apprentice I am out and good luck with your studies and career.

Share this page