Turning the situation into a comedy

I make a living as a comedian and speaker. Or at least I did until March 23rd. On that day, my work suddenly stopped.

All gigs and speaking engagements were cancelled, and, like many people I suddenly found myself with no source of income.

Because of the way I paid myself (something about annual payroll, which I still don't fully understand) I was not eligible for the Government's furlough scheme.

So, with a family to feed, clothe and for whom to buy video games, I had to think of something quickly. What other skills did I have with which I could attempt to make some kind of living?

Before I became a comedian I used to write sketches for TV - at a time when you could send in material on spec. I wrote for Hale & Pace, The Real McCoy and others. One of my sketches was actually chosen as one of the 100 Best Sketches of All Time Ever. Or something. In fact the only reason I became a comedian was because a sketch of mine, which I thought was very funny, was turned down by a producer. The only way I could find out if either I, or the producer, was right, was to try it out on stage. So I wrote 5 minutes of stand-up material and included the main joke of the sketch. Fortunately I was right.

Being a very shy person, I had no intention of becoming a comedian but the reaction to that five minutes of material was so addictive that I had to do it again. Over 20 years later and I am still doing it. Well, I was.

In addition to writing sketches on spec, I also wrote a couple of sitcom scripts. One of these scripts won a writer's award and was performed at the Riverside Studios. I played the lead - I had trained as an actor so I had written it for myself, of course. Although that script wasn't picked up, it did become my calling card and I have subsequently had more than 40 sitcom scripts produced on television and radio.

Comedian friends, usually in green rooms before a gig, often asked me for advice on how to write scripts, how to lay them out, to whom they should be sent etc. They would also ask me to read their scripts and to give them notes. I was happy to do this for free for friends. But then it became friends of friends. Then friends of friends of.... well you can see where this is going. So I started charging. This resulted in fewer people asking but those that did at least brought in some extra money.

So, when all my work stopped in March, I wondered if there were people who had scripts that needed editing/commenting on etc. So I bought the website domain self-isolating.co.uk and offered my services as a script editor at a heavily discounted rate - a quarter of what I would normally charge.

Fortunately there was a lot of interest. Many of the scripts on which I worked started well, but then lost their way. Others had inconsistency with characters, plots etc. Recurring problems began to emerge, so I decided that I would try to run online sitcom writing workshops, to not only help experienced writers but also to teach new writers how to write a script from a blank page. I had run these workshops in the past, as one-day events at various venues around the UK as well as in Amsterdam, and previous students had subsequently had their own sitcom scripts produced. But I had never tried it online.

The online workshops would run one hour a day, Monday to Friday. There would be homework on which I would give feedback and, as a group, we would write a sitcom script from scratch. I would cover situation, characters, plots and dialogue as well as formatting and to whom their own scripts should eventually be sent.

I had no idea if there would be any interest, or if I would know how to work Zoom (I have only just mastered WhatsApp).

I have now run five online workshops and taught more than 200. The sitcoms we have come up with in each group have been great and many students have now written their own scripts to send to producers and/or to enter into competitions.

I have also written a 10,000 word booklet to accompany the workshop. Attendees receive this free, but it can also be purchased separately. (Proceeds from sales go to dementia and Parkinson's charities.)

What started out as a way of covering the money I was losing from stand-up and speaking engagements has turned into something I am enjoying immensely. And the feedback from students has been incredible.

There are some very talented writers out there and I am really pleased to be helping and encouraging so many. I'm looking forward to seeing their scripts on TV or listening to them on the radio. I only hope they remember to thank me in their BAFTA speeches...

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Bennett Arron's Sitcom and Comedy Writing Workshop runs online. The next set of dates are Monday 17th August - Friday 21st August 2020 (11am daily). Information & Booking Details