- Writing
- Online
- £295
Course leader
Chris HeadGROUP SIZE = 4 ONLY
Across three sessions, two group sessions and a one-to-one, receive industry insights on your TV script writing and answers to all your questions on how the industry works and how shows get commissioned from TV comedy producer, former BBC Controller of Comedy Commissioning and Head of Comedy at Sky TV, Lucy Lumsden, who will be leading the session alongside comedy teacher, author and director Chris Head who will give you writing coaching.
Live and interactive on Zoom
Session 1: Friday 12th May 18.30-20.30
Session 2: One-to-one session week commencing 15th May
Session 3: Friday 26th May 18.30-20.30
* Group session times:
7.30pm-9.30pm European time
10.30am-12.30pm Pacific time (PDT)
1.30pm-3.30pm Eastern time (EDT)
"The course was fantastic. It felt like a series of friendly, enjoyable conversations, yet I came away with my own writing sharpened up, great advice on where I could improve, and practical guidance on treatments, pitching, story structure, and how commissioning works. I'm a better, more prepared writer than I was going in. So I'd highly recommend this course." A.B.
When Lucy Lumsden (bio) left her role commissioning TV comedy for BBC and then Sky, she had an itch she wanted to scratch. She wanted to get under the sitcom car bonnet and understand what writers were up against to help them navigate this sometimes intimidating TV industry. One of the greatest pleasures of the last few years of running her production company Yellow Door has been nurturing new writers from all walks of life, seeing them flourish and getting their scripts seen by the right people.
By meeting Chris on one of his comedy writing courses, Lucy quickly realised that they could join forces to help writers not just understand how to write sitcom but show them what to do with their script to help it get made. And dispel some myths along the way.
And so Lucy and Chris are now offering a bespoke writers' retreat on Zoom for groups of 4 writers who already understand the nuts-and-bolts of putting a TV comedy script together and are ready to take their writing to the next level.
"I’ve attended many comedy writing courses and sessions over the past few years and this is hands down the best money I’ve ever spent on my writing because I learned so much. The sessions were an excellent blend of writing tutoring from Chris and industry insights from Lucy. She covered what producers are looking for, what needs to be in a treatment and discussed our ideas. Attending this session certainly opened doors for me and my writing career." Katy
What you’ll get out of it:
- a greater understanding of how the TV industry works and how shows get commissioned.
- an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses from a commissioner's perspective of your ideas and pitches.
- a deep dive into your work with Chris to explore how to develop your writing.
- a stronger understanding of how to get your work more widely seen and what to do next.
How it works:
Ahead of the course you will submit to Lucy and Chris:
- A brief bio, your experience and what you would like to get out of the course
- Short pitches for two different TV comedy shows. For the course, this needs to be one side of A4 for each pitch.
- Writing example. Up to 10 pages of script. (And you can write a short introductory framing to the script excerpt.)
"The three sessions were just right and the personal session with Chris and the group sessions with Lucy were great. The industry insights from Lucy were important and I thought the size of the group (four) was spot on. Overall it’s been a really helpful course and it has helped me rethink my projects." Anton
Here's how the three sessions unfold:
SESSION 1: The Industry With Lucy & Chris
Lucy will also offer comments on your two pitches and we will decide which is the strongest one to move forward with, looking at it from the producer and commissioner’s perspective. We will also look at writing treatments and you can write yours up ahead of the third session.
SESSION 2: 60 mins one-to-one with Chris on your writing
Various slots available day time and evening. After the first session, you can decide which project to focus on and then you can send the first 15 pages of a script to Chris who will look closely at your writing and give feedback and pointers on developing it as well as talking with you about your ideas for the complete script. Following this, you will then submit 15 pages of rewritten script and your treatment to Lucy and Chris ahead of the third session.
SESSION 3: Next steps With Lucy & Chris
Lucy will give you feedback on your writing and pitch from the producer/commissioner perspective and suggestions for how to take your work forward. And they will discuss ways to get your work seen as a writer or writer/performer and pitching techniques.
You'll get insider tips for making contact with producers and other industry people, and they will also explore live shows, tasters, short films, script competitions, readings.
So this is going beyond simply tips on pitching to producers and looking at the bigger picture of getting seen and known.
£295
4 WRITERS ONLY PER GROUP
Via Zoom
About Lucy
Lucy Lumsden, MD for Yellow Door Productions and former Controller of Comedy Commissioning for the BBC and Head of Comedy at Sky, commissioned many of the classic shows of recent times. Her credits include Outnumbered, Miranda, Gavin & Stacey, The Thick Of It, The Trip, Nighty Night, The Catherine Tate Show, Rev, Lead Balloon, Stella, Spy, Yonderland, Charlie Brooker's A Touch Of Cloth, Alan Partridge's Mid Morning Matters, Camping, Psychobitches and Hunderby. Her shows have won numerous awards including an International Emmy for Chris O'Dowd's sitcom Moone Boy. Her latest Yellow Door productions are The Cockfields, written by Joe Wilkinson and David Earl and the forthcoming Ruby Speaking with Jayde Adams for ITV.