Paul Roff got a lot out of conference (including a hangover!)
Develop your sitcom without the collection of rejection slips.
Your successes


BSCW BIRMINGHAM 2001
by Paul Roff

All the conferences that I have attended in the last few years have been technical affairs. In most cases, I was one of the speakers, even if no one told me until I got there. This time I knew it would be different, I would be able to relax and enjoy it without getting stressed about the order of my slides or wondering which geeky know-all was preparing a dastardly question.
 
However, I was still apprehensive about attending the 2nd International BSCW Conference for two reasons.
 
Firstly, I would not know a soul there.
 
Secondly, I could not help feeling I was somewhat of a fraud - I had still to be paid for a single word I had written.
 
Thankfully, I did not need to worry. Everyone was very keen to chat, and once the initial small-talk barrier was breached, the conversation started to flow. One immediate benefit was putting a face to each name of the management team - they can't hide from me know.
 
A wide range of professionals including satirists, producers, editors, sitcom writers and agents led the sessions. They covered TV, radio and Internet comedy for the UK and other countries. The speakers passed on too much information to reproduce in a single article, so here are some of the key points.
 
Nev Fountain, writer for 2DTV and Deadringers shared some tips for getting started in satirical comedy, including:
 
- Listen to shows, really get to know the market
- Don't be precious about sketches
- Persevere, but stop before you go mad
- Don't just write one type of thing
 
Carol Smith, producer of Radio 2's News Huddlines, echoed some of those themes, and enlarged upon what she expects in the material submitted for her show:
 
- Avoid the main stories unless the angle is sure to be original
- Create a picture without commentating
- Keep it brief - identify the Who, Where and What as quickly as possible.
 
Ronnie Wolfe, creator of such classics as "The Rag Trade" and "On the Buses" believes that sitcoms should be about character reaction, not just a series of gags. If you can put your hand over the character names on your script and still know who has each line, you are on to a winner. Failing that, children and dogs are great fallbacks for visual
gags.
 
Brent Quinn, writer/producer with Quintet Productions, highlighted that within a few years time 40% of under 25 year-olds in Britain will have a non-white/British background. Therefore, it is important to write for a multicultural audience. For best results, get direct involvement from people with differing backgrounds, and learn to poke fun at yourself before others.
 
Steve Berry from E4.com pointed out that while the Internet is a great medium to reach a wide audience, it does not lend itself to making money easily. While tired of receiving scripts for cartoons, he is keen to consider quality, interactive tie-ins to E4 shows.
 
John Gough from Distraction Formats explained how the TV formats industry was developing. The good news for writers is that the reality TV market is starting to decline. This means that there is more opportunity for comedy, drama and traditional variety on television.
 
Other themes were the importance of making contacts, attending the Rose D'Or Montreux Festival and getting pieces performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. All the presenters took questions from the floor and most stayed around after their slots for more private discussion.
 
But the weekend was not all 'work, work, work'. The evenings came with drinks receptions (kindly hosted by Distraction Formats), some superb food and plenty of entertainment.
 
Friday took the form of an Open Mike night where the bravest society members gave us their own brand of stand-up and song. Doing stand-up for a room full of comedy writers - that's a gig I don't envy.
 
Saturday had a fuller bill, kicking off with The Sitcom Trials. They performed the opening scenes of three new sitcom scripts submitted through their website and, after a vote, played the concluding scenes of the winner. Woven into the proceedings was a Pitching Competition. Audience members submitted a title and a single-line description of a new sitcom on a slip of paper. The best were read out by the host and winners elected by audience reaction, be it the loudest laugh or, more likely, groan.
 
The Trials were followed by two even newer 5 minutes sitcoms performed by society members.   They had written them in the spare moments of the weekend under the guidance of Terry Adlam. Top of the bill came Debbie Nunn, with her uncanny impersonation of Madonna and a host of other popular female singers.
 
For the more dedicated drinkers, the downstairs bar hosted an impromptu sing-a-long well into the early hours of Sunday.
 
So, what did I get from this weekend, apart from two severe hangovers?
 
For starters, a lot of support. My track record was obvious as every one could see my name tag had the suffix  'Subscriber' rather than 'Member'. Nevertheless, no-one told me to turn back - members were willing to share tips and resources whenever possible.
 
Secondly, confidence. While the collective rejection letters acquired by that room would fill a skip, everyone had achieved something in the world of writing. The achievements ranged from the odd one liner on the News Huddlines through to long running sitcoms sold across the world, but everyone had done something.
 
Next, contacts. The networking element should prove useful when the time is right. The next Montreux Festival will be too soon for me, but try to hold me back at the following one.
 
Fourthly, friends. If any of you recognise my name from the conference without 'Bearded Buffoon' coming to mind, I have achieved something.
 
Finally, motivation. Blimey, will I actually sit down and write something saleable now??

For more information :
www.tvformats.com
www.edfringe.com
www.rosedor.ch
www.e4.com
www.sitcomtrials.co.uk
 
 
ANY VACANCIES?
by Gill Smith

Have you ever written a sitcom? Have you ever sent it off, proudly, to a producer? Have you ever wondered why no one had the vision to realise just how great it was?

If so, you certainly aren't alone. And like all the rest of the undiscovered geniuses, perhaps all you lack is a little more help, guidance and feedback. Or possibly you simply need a chance for a producer to discover you.

Situations Vacant, known as SitsVac can even offer you both. And what's more, it doesn't cost you a penny. A little effort, occasionally, and possibly a few quid for a ticket to see some entertaining comedy, but if that might be your entertaining comedy, then it doesn't seem a huge investment in being discovered.

SitsVac is, in the main, an online group discussing sitcom. But discussing doesn't simply mean whinging about how 'Frasier' has gone downhill (although feel free, if you can back up why you think that). It means submitting work for others to consider and comment on. It means voting for the best of the recent submissions to be performed at the Sitcom Trials. It means trying to analyse why someone's sitcom does - or doesn't - work. And it means trying to take feedback from others in your stride, and act on anything useful to improve it.

This doesn't mean it's always a wildly fun group to hang around. When you've entered your best work and someone dismisses it as clichéd, it can be heart-breaking. If someone declares your hysterically funny character leaves them cold, you wont enjoy it. But will you improve? Hopefully. Will you get the eight series run on Channel 4, Friday, 9pm? Probably not, but you just might manage a BBC Radio 4 11:30pm weekday short run. 

SitsVac organiser, and Sitcom Trials producer, Kev F Sutherland sums up the group's purpose: "Situations Vacant sitcom works with new writers and performers to devise, develop and test on stage new sitcoms for TV and radio."

Before you get wildly excited, and bombard SitsVac with your already-rejected scripts, join the online group and have a look at what goes on in it. There is space for you to offer your half-hour sitcom for comments, but to be part of the Sitcom Trials - the regular show for performing the best of the group's work - you need to fit the brief.

Kev explains the Sitcom Trials: "We stage scripts of up to 10 minutes long, each of which is intended to demonstrate to us and the audience the characters, ideas and writing style of a brilliant and original new situation comedy. We then invite the audience to vote for which, if any, they'd like to see again. We then develop the more popular ideas and stage further episodes until, we hope, we have a hit."

Other things to think about are the limit of four characters, preferably one central one, and the radio-style performance. It's no good writing a visual quickie with the cast of a West End musical, but a two-hour talking head wont win you many more friends.

Every script will get some feedback from other SitsVac members. It wont all, always be complimentary. It wont all, always be helpful. Comedy is subjective, so the feedback is just an opinion. But if you can't get your work past 700 online sitcom writers and actors, you probably needn't expect viewing figures in the millions if it does get made. And it seems to me a far better way to get feedback than by guessing from the lack of mug rings after page 4, and getting a bad name for writing rubbish with the coffee-spilling producer.

OK. So now you know about submitting. You know that you'll receive dozens of insults, and plenty of people will totally miss the point of your fabulously inventive work. What about the all-important TV people who can understand your vision and producer your ground-breaking sitcom?

Well, some time ago Kev said "Someone from the BBC returns every month Cat & Matt from the Comedy Unit are regulars. Chrysalis, Tandem, DLT, Tiger Aspect, Paramount, Granada and Avalon have all been 'returners' and feedback has always been at the very least polite."

Since then the Sitcom Trials have produced many more shows, been to Edinburgh, performed before a certain BSCW conference, and are busy planning the tour round the country.

But has this really got anyone anywhere? Who better to ask, than the producer again: "some producers and writers have got talking at Sits Vac shows, and I believe actors have got work from being seen (we have a few casting directors along, the BBC and LWT had folks at the last couple of shows)." Notable acting successes from this include minor roles in Eastenders and Coronation Street.

It's all very well for actors, you may say, as they are noticeable, but I'm a writer. Well, writers among the group have made use of the contacts who attend. A recent example is Gez Foster, (who performed in the BSCW performance of the Sitcom Trials) who wrote and also acted in a Radio 4 four-part comedy. Not one that had been 'Trialed' but a great success none the less.

So you're all set to join SitsVac, and can't think how you ever lived without being a part of this esteemed group? I'd better tell you how to get involved. Step one involves going and having a look at the Sitsvac website (http://www.sitsvac.org/index2.html). Then read the Writers Guide. It's a very helpful outline of sitcom writing, on just a small number of webpages. Read it if you want to write for the group, but also read it even if you aren't going to join, but want to write sitcom. Even if you are already a brilliant writer, a quick reminder of the basics never hurts.

Then go back and click on the link to the SitsVac E-group, now in fact a Yahoogroup, which is all deeply confusing. Somewhere along the way you sign your life away to Yahoo, and get an ID to let you upload and download files. Try not to lose it, it will be significant later. You have then joined the other (at time of writing) 789 members of SitsVac, assuming, of course, Kev lets you in.

Then take a good look at the latest brief, and get writing something suitable. In fact, get writing something suitable even if there isn't a show date, and corresponding brief to work towards. There will be another, and the format doesn't vary all that wildly. Currently on the way is the touring Trials, at which Kev hopes to be presenting locally written sitcoms. Look at the 'Book Tickets' section, and work out the tour date near you. Now go and write something!


YOUR SUCCESSES

Crispin Fisher reports "I received confirmation this week that I've sold a sketch to Smack the Pony it's only 9 seconds long but it's a start. My final tally for the Huddlines was 10 jokes out of the 8 shows I sent stuff in for."

Tony Kirwood has had sketches on the last series of Russ Abbott.

Carol Donockley, the member with the best excuse for missing conference, reports back on how her play went: "my play,'Dear Gran' went really well and played to capacity houses.The 'Theatre by the Lake' in Keswick is a new theatre and Judi Dench is patron. My play was at the end of a week long litereature festival which saw 10,000 (YES!) peole through the doors of the theatre in 6 days. Speakers included Roy Hattersley, M.Bragg, Brian Keenan etc"

David Bodycombe reports on his book: "I am writing a comprehensive guide to developing game shows, from idea to paper format to marketable video tapes. As such, it should be of interest to devisors and producers alike. The chapters will cover sections on how to come up with new ideas, test your format, pitching/selling, legal aspects and ensuring you making money! It will be launched at Montreux next year."

Gill Smith did, as promised last month, manage another attempt at stand-up, braving the open mic spot at conference. Thankfully, people laughed. Another attempt at Bristol's 'Bunch of Grapes' got a good response too.

Please send me (gill@bscw.co,uk) all your successes for the next issue - I'd love the first issue of 2002 to really show off how well everyone in the BSCW is doing.


And the BSCW Management Team would like to wish you all a very Merry
Christmas, and an extremely successful New Year.