James Cary
- 49 years old
- English
- Writer and script editor
Press clippings Page 9
Make it worse. and worse. and worse.
I've written about this in the past, saying how important it is to give your characters hell. Let rip!
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 14th June 2016Sociopathic behaviour
An awful lot of comedy at the moment seems to feature characters that are essentially sociopaths. And that's being reflected in the scripts that I read too.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 31st May 2016Notes for newbies
If you've written a script, sent it to a producer, development executive or script editor and they want to meet up, they're most likely going to give you notes.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 29th April 2016Mainstream Sitcom: Situation Report
Tomorrow I enter a brief comedy nirvana, in which I will be surrounded by other sitcom geeks. I'll be at the Craft of Comedy Conference in Llandudno where we'll do very little but talk about comedy, writing and writing comedy. And one thing I hope to find out more about is attitudes to mainstream sitcom which is not currently hitting the heights of our friends/rivals in drama.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 7th April 2016Mainstream Sitcom: Situation Report
Why are household names like Steve Coogan and Harry Enfield still making comedy for BBC2, not BBC1 or ITV?
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 7th April 2016The danger of constantly celebrating the past
Nostalgia. Easy promotability. A blend of old and new. Low risk. Lots of press. And a brand new half hour to be written by Clement and Frenais, writers of the near-perfect Porridge. What's not to like? As a consumer of comedy, I'm fine with all of the above obviously. As a writer of comedy, my feelings are slightly more mixed.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 14th March 2016Trying something new
I'm typing this blogpost in a Holiday Inn Express, somewhere between St Andrews and Edinburgh. I'm on a tour of a play wot I wrote called The God Particle, a romantic comedy about science and religion.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 24th February 2016Bluestone 42, War and Comedy
A few weeks ago, I was asked a few questions about Bluestone 42 for an article on the BBC Website about comedy and war, prompted by the Dad's Army movie. I thought some people might be interested to read that e-interview in full.
James Cary, 7th February 2016When is a sitcom not a sitcom? When it's a movie
At the moment, there's lots of press about the Dad's Army film, which I have not yet seen. I make no comment on that film in particular. The reviews already seem to be very mixed, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. It is, however, worth thinking about why movies based on sitcoms tend not to work, or at least not satisfy. Clearly they can work, or at least be extremely profitable in the case of The Inbetweeners and Mrs Brown's Boys. But it's a tall order.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 27th January 201613 rules of sitcom
What are the golden rules of sitcom? I've been asking myself this, because, well, I've been asked this recently.
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 22nd December 2015