I've written a spec sit-com script for an existing (UK) show which, at some stage, I would like to send to the producers. Would anyone be prepared to read it, and give me some feedback? Does the story work, would the characters do that, is it funny (obviously I think so) that sort of thing.
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Anyone perpared to be a beta tester for a spec sit-com script?
(25 posts) (12 voices)
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thisisall1word
offlineMemberWhereas writing an episode of a current sit com won't be taken by the makers and made - they might, if they read you work and enjoy it, incorporate elements, ask you for further scripts to be kept on file, etc... it's all handy networking.
The BBC once had a competition to send in a script for the show Hustle, the weak but moderately enjoyable con-artist drama series. They never used mine, nor let me know if it was any cop. This may be because I had killed off one of the lead charectors within the first page of dialogue and also because I never actually sent it in for review.
So my advise is, unless you are writing for The Green Green Grass, do not kill of any main charectors.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Gerontius
offlineMemberI had a go at that Ian
Lead Balloon
Sent in what I thought was a cracking story line with some great gags (I honestly felt it was good stuff)
Not a word back.
It just goes in the bin. The last thing they want is somebody muscling in on their territory.
And quite right too.
Factory floor- first rule is never appoint someone who might make you look a tit.
Lead Balloon is brilliant and my effort was, in all probability crap.
But in my head it was great.
I never heard back from that John O'Farrell about my idea for a book... "Impartial History of GB"...probably went in the bin tooPosted 2 years ago # -
FormerlyAlOPecia
offlineMemberYep - same story years ago with me, I had an idea for sit-com based on a really rude old-guy who always got the shit end of the stick. Submitted 7 full scripts and ideas for a second series....nothing back, zip, de nada, diddly squat. I just couldn't believe it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
rikkor
offlineMemberIan, don't let negative people try to drag you down. If you feel like doing something, do it.
I started a business that was very successful for a long time until it wasn't. I lost a lot of money. I am still happier than being the person who has never tried to do anything outside the box.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Doylem
offlineMemberThat's right, don't let the fact that something is impossible stop you from having a go. Write an episode of a series currently on telly, and have it end up in a bin at the BBC (or cut out the middleman, save a first class stamp, and shred it yourself).
On the other hand, write two compelling episodes of a sitcom that, as yet, exists only in your imagination... and give yourself a fighting chance...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Doylem
offlineMemberI can see my idea - Silvio Berlusconi shagging a donkey - running for three or four seasons at least. Every episode would end with the same catchphrase - “Oh Silvio” - as some woman in Silvio’s life opens a door, unannounced, and finds him up to his nuts in the cook, the cleaning lady, the milkman, the donkey, etc. The action would freeze on Silvio’s shiny face - like a small boy caught with his hand in the biscuit tin - as the credits rolled. I’m too busy to actually write it, and collect a big fat cheque, so feel free to take it over. As you can see, the story’s all there...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Textbook
offlineMemberUnsolicited scripts from unfamiliar names go in the bin. I know the Marvel Comics offices quite well so I can tell you this is standard procedure. They are rarely even opened.
However, there is another pitfall and this has happened. I don't want to be too specific but occassionally someone goes "What the hell" and looks at an unsolicited submission and likes what they see. Rather than contacting the author, they decide to take the elements they like and use them themselves, allowing them to take the credit and not need to pay anybody. It is exceptionally difficult to prove this was done.
There was something of a scandal once where there was a "send in your ideas" competition and none of them came to anything. But 2-3 years later at this same company, they began rolling out a series of concepts virtually identical to some of those which contestants had sent in. Very very dodgy and this company now has a ban on 'send in your ideas' competitions.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Extrapolating from Marvel Comics might be a mistake - they are notorious for being cunts who wouldn't know a good sitcom script even if it killed their parents in front of them and gave them a burning desire for justice and revenge.
There are ways for a determined novice to get attention, and these opportunities are not always rip-offs.
NewsBiscuit veteran Shitsu_Tonka (Dogtanian) always seems to know, and she sometimes posts links here. Most recently:
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mr Target
offlineMemberI don't want to be too specific, but in August 1993, Graham Linehan sent a draft for a Father Ted pilot to Marvel Comics, and got no response whatsoever.
Fair enough, you might think - it was a long shot anyway. But a few months later, elements of his script showed up in X-men storylines in "Phalanx Covenant" et al.
Caveat scriptor.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Interesting you should bring up Graham Linehan, as my "Axed Council Staff start own Council" pitch fits quite well with his "Three Exiles trapped in a situation" format (Father Ted, Black Books, The IT crowd).
If you're reading this, Graham, PM me, yeah? I read all PMs...
Cheers.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The trouble with the BBC writer's room is that it's for the BBC. So you'd have to write a sitcom, then read it back through and take out anything that could be even remotely offensive to anybody, anywhere in the world. Then what you're left with is basically a sitcom without the jokes.
I like the idea of the breakaway council sitcom but don't see how you could stretch it out to a whole series. Having said that, My Family is into about it's 43rd series now isn't it? And that's shite.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Doylem
offlineMemberThe trouble with the BBC writer's room is that it's for the BBC. So you'd have to write a sitcom, then read it back through and take out anything that could be even remotely offensive to anybody, anywhere in the world. Then what you're left with is basically a sitcom without the jokes.
Ah, BBC scripts... so different from the no-holds-barred, laugh-a-minute hilarity of most of the subs here, then? Editorial restrictions can actually help, IMO, provided they’re not too tight. Look what happens when anything goes: yes, Tramadol Nights...
Posted 2 years ago # -
@VCG
I don't want you to think I'm taking my Breakaway Council sitcom idea too seriously, but how can you say it won't stretch to a series? You haven't got to know the characters yet...the dynamic between the visionary Brian, with his "You won't see initiative like that in Winchester" catchphrase, his disgruntled but equally deluded partner Andrew, and the relatively sane, yet trapped employee, Mike is what keeps this juggernaut of mirth running.
I admit the second series will be a bit ropey, especially when I introduce a wise-cracking 12-year-old kid* who constantly outsmarts Brian and Andrew with his old-for-his-years insight as a regular character to try to reboot the formula, but the first 6 episodes and the Christmas Special will be classics...
________________________________________
* Thinking of casting Jay Ruckley who plays the kid in Grandpa In My Pocket for this role, if he hasn't entered puberty by then. I'm a big fan of GIMP.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The more I think about it the more I think it could actually work. If you've got the time I reckon it would be worth having a crack at a script for a pilot episode and sending it to the BBC writers room.
As much as my previous post may have come across as having a pop at the BBC I think the writers room is a really good concept. I'm probably just bitter because they never replied to mine, which I took to mean it was too edgy for the BBC.
Could also have been because I never sent it in. Or wrote it. Or even got past a couple of vague ideas for something I thought might be quite funny...
Posted 2 years ago #
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