Friday 28 December 2012

9.5million watch Miranda

9.5million watch Miranda

Sitcom is THE Christmas hit

9.5million watch Miranda
Miranda attracted 9.5million viewers yesterday – more than the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders.
An impressive 37.8 per cent of all viewers at 9pm were tuned to the BBC One sitcom, making it the biggest ratings hit of the festive season.
And the episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys that immediately followed was also a hit – with nine million viewers (36.9 per cent).
That’s slightly more than the 8.8 million who saw the Christmas Eve antics of Brendan O’Carroll’s Irish mammy.
It has been a good Christmas for comedy, according to the official overnight Barb figures compiled by Attentional.
Outnumbered's Christmas Eve special averaged 7.84million, but peaking at an impressive 9.1million. And on Christmas Day, the Royle Family scored a very strong 7.68million.

via Chortle

All of which seems an opportune time to recall the debut of her novelty shop-based sitcom, in The Sitcom Trials back in 2001:



According to Wikipedia, Miranda Hart's eponymous sitcom, now on BBC 2, first appeared as part of The Sitcom Trials at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001. It featured Miranda, working in a joke shop that sells penis pasta, with a diminutive blonde sidekick, originally played by Charity Trimm, and the love interest in the cafe, played then by Gerard Foster. The camp character played in 01 by Dan Clegg went on to be played in the TV series by James Holmes who, coincidentally, was the star of the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Sitcom Trials.


If you would like to create the next great British situation comedy, The Sitcom Trials is an opportunity for your sitcom to be seen live. Keep watching here, on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news.

Monday 17 December 2012

New call for Sitcom Trials entries - deadline Jan 26th



Vince Stadon, Bristol Sitcom Trials producer, writes:
Hello! Well, after a bumper 2012 for the Sitcom Trials, it's time to usher in a new year with a new competition for the next show.



THE BRIEF for submission to The Bristol Sitcom Trials.

The Sitcom Trials wants situation comedy scripts that a small group of actors can perform in a live environment with minimal stage in front of an audience, who will hopefully laugh. Ideally these sitcoms will be so marvelous that the TV & radio industry representatives in the audience will snap them up immediately.

THE FORMAT:

Your script must have a first 'half' of less than 8 minutes
This first half should end in a cliffhanger, or something that leaves
the audience wanting more.

It must then have a final scene of 2 or 3 minutes long. This will be
performed only if your sitcom is the winner on the night

Scripts should come in at around 12 pages.

Your script must have NO MORE THAN 5 CHARACTERS. (We're flexible on this, but it's good to keep it focused on just a few characters)

The sitcoms we are to test out in our regular pub theatre shows with an eye to them being developed for TV must be PERFORMABLE LIVE (ie no filmed or location inserts)
&
ON ONE MINIMAL SET.

Think in terms of a radio script.

UPLOAD SCRIPTS TO THE FILES:

Upload your entries to the appropriate folder in the files section of the egroup. You will need to join the free egroup to do so:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/files/

And you can find a handy VOTE and REVIEW thing on the Sitcom Trials website:

http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk/

Deadline for entries - midnight January 26th, 2013
Deadline for voting - midnight Friday 1at February, 2013

VOTING:

All members of the SitsVac egroup/British Comedy Guide Sitcom Trials thread, you included, will be invited to read, review, and vote on all scripts in contention. Vote YES, MAYBE or NO as to each one's potential and add a short one paragraph review. Your votes will not be counted unless you include a review.

Send reviews to the Sits Vac TV group message board (http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/), or to the Sitcom Trials thread at the British Comedy Guide Forum (http://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/23202/)

Writers are welcome to vote on their own scripts.

Votes are then totalled thus; Yes = 2 points, Maybe = 1 point, No = minus -1 point. This way we draw up a shortlist for a script reading, from which we select the items to go into the stage show.

PERFORMANCE:

The top ten entries (as voted by you) will be read by the team, from which we'll select AT LEAST TWO SCRIPTS to be performed on Friday February 22, 2013, at the Wardrobe Theatre, St Michael's Hill, Bristol. The other scripts will come from writing sessions by the Bristol team of writers and performers.

This will be a rehearsed-reading/script-in-hand/radio-style affair, though we're not averse to using the odd prop or two. These sitcoms will be in competition with each other, the winner to be decided an audience vote.

There is no set theme this time round (such as the Halloween/Eurovision/Sci-Fi Trials) - you're free to come up with absolutely anything you want.

Any questions?

Happy scribbling

Vince Stadon

Saturday 15 December 2012

Sitcom Trials Christmas drinks & review of the year



Merry Christmas from The Sitcom Trials. Last night the Bristol team got together for Christmas drinks (above). I had to leave early, they're probably still going. A fine celebration ending an excellent year for the Trials.

A year which, you could say, has been won by Bristol, who produced three shows to London & Manchester's two apiece, as well as holding more meetings than any group has held for years. They've been actively developing new material in-house, which was one of the original points of the Trials, and have ambitious plans for next year. They've also delivered the biggest audiences of the three teams, filling the Wardrobe Theatre (which is twice the size of London's Camden Head & Manchester's Lass O'Gowrie) every single time.

All three teams have put on their best shows yet in 2012, with Manchester continuing a revival which, we mustn't forget, they kick-started with their summer 2010 show. London staged their first show since 2009 with the Eurovision Sitcom Trials, and raised the quality bar with the Sci Fi Trials, breaking all previous records for use of sound effects.

As I may have hinted at occasionally, there are discussions going on that might see a very special project happening with The Sitcom Trials, about which we'll all find out soon. In the meantime all three teams are ready and raring for more, with the first show date being Feb 22nd in Bristol. Here are the links for a look back at the 2012 Sitcom Trials:

Nov 2012 - Sci-Fi Special, London
Oct 2012 - Halloween Special, Bristol
Oct 2012 - Halloween Special, Manchester
July 2012 - Sitcom Trials Manchester
June 2012 - Sitcom Trials Bristol
May 2012 - Eurovision Sitcom Contest, London
March 2012 - Sitcom Trials Bristol 

Sunday 2 December 2012

World Cup of Sitcom, done it.

The marvellous Richard Osman, of Pointless fame (which, anecdotally, seems to be everyone's favourite quiz show), has been running a game on Twiter called World Cup Of Sitcoms. He preceded this with a World Cup of Chocolate, and no doubt has more such ideas to come. It's jolly good fun and I urge everyone to join in. Just don't forget one important thing - I've been doing it for years.



The head-to-head elimination game that Richard calls World Cup Of... is a game show format that I first piloted back in 1998 as The Best. Somewhere I have a VHS recording of a stage version we made in Bristol, with panelists including Justin Lee Collins and Danny Robins, since which time a simplified flipchart version of the game has been the warm-up routine for The Sitcom Trials. Above we see me preparing the grid for a game of The Best ahead of the Eurovision Sitcom Contest back in May.

Having long since got past the "Best Sitcom" version of the game, we've played innumerable variations over the year, from Best Sitcom Sidekick (usually Baldrick), Best Sitcom Pet (won in the past by Santa's Little Helper), Best Sitcom Location (Torquay has played Tooting in the final), Best Sitcom Catchphrase (How You Doin'? vs I Don't Believe It) and my personal favourite Best Sitcom Vehicle (won at least twice by Compo, Clegg & Foggy in a bathtub).

My attempts to pitch The Best as a TV gameshow didn't get very far, the problem being that once a panellist has extolled the virtue of an item in their first head-to-head round, they end up having to repeat themselves when said items comes up again in the semi final and again in the final. The flipchart version, pitting just 9 audience suggestions in contest, with me drawing an improvised cartoon version of each suggestion, lasts about 5 minutes (up to 10 if it's going particularly well) and is an ideal warm-up for a show which is all about sitcoms. I've even performed The Best as the warm up for a studio recording in the BBC Radio Theatre (Hey Hey We're The Monks starring Bill Bailey & Simon Bates, now you ask).

So, there's another footnote in comedy history to add to the list. On with your business.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Thursday 29 November 2012

Sci Fi Sitcom Trials video



From the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials, held at the Camden Head London on Weds Nov 28th 2012, here is a video capturing a taste of the night. As ever you really had to be there, but hopefully this gives you a feeling of what you missed.

See a full report and photos here.

Thoughts on the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials

Tonight's was an excellent show, with the highest standard of scripts, equalled by the quality of the productions. I can safely say there have never been this many sound cues used in a production of The Sitcom Trials, and as far as I could tell not a single one was missed. All hail the iPad, and occasional use of an iPod, it's the future kids.

The quantity (and, arguably quality) of props was also at a high, with Myles McLeod's team on Starship Impossible supplying the most. There was, at one point, a wig moment, a beard moment, a moose moment, and recurring appearances of a plague doctor / Venatian masque mask. Top marks. Best use of a sound cue goes to Event Horizon Crescent's "I'm not your Mum" line, and most self-effacing casting goes to Nick Ewans who was the unseen yet titular Burrax Bringer Of Desserts.

Usually with the Trials we have a "Sacrificial Lamb" syndrome with the first sitcom of the night faring poorly as the audience gets to grips with the style of the evening. This show had the opposite situation, with the early sitcoms having such an impact that by the time Not From Round Here hit the stage, its props and sound effects seemed less novel than they might have done. And the science fiction brief resulted in the unusual situation of space-time conflux and every other permutation of alien being a bit passe by the end of the night. Other shows would be jealous of our variety.

The victor of the night defied many odds. Alice and The Genie was a stonking script, blessed by a stonking Chris Fitchew as the Genie and Emma Packer as Alice. But, and I'm being honest here, the Sitcom Trials on-the-night voting system might normally have squashed it like a bug. Why, you ask? Because you can only fit fifty people in that room, and a good few are the writers, the actors and their friends. Which can sometimes result in the sitcom with the most popular writer (or, worst case scenario, the sitcom with the biggest cast) getting most votes and winning.

So it was the proudest result of the night that the only sitcom whose writer wasn't in the audience, and which had the smallest cast of all (just two), won. Hallelujah for comedy lovers, their good taste and honesty. Image

Sci Fi Sitcom Trials report & photos

The Sci Fi Sitcom Trials at the Camden Head in London on Weds Nov 28th was a tremendous success, showcasing five new sitcom scripts of the highest quality in the tightest of contests.


Starship Impossible: Susan Husband, Alexander Perkins, Rachel Perkins, Myles McLeod

The sitcoms, in order of appearance, were Starship Impossible written, directed by and co-starring Myles McLeod (above in rehearsal); Event Horizon Crescent by Jeremy Limb, directed by Louisa Gummer; Burrax: Bringer Of Desserts by Andy Gittins, directed by and co-starring Nick Ewans; Alice & The Genie by Neil Tollfree, directed by and co-starring Chris Fitchew; and Not From Round Here by Ben Lole, directed by & co-starring Sarit Chen. See the video here.

As always the audience saw the 5 sitcoms up to a cliffhanger moment then voted for their favourite, only seeing the ending of the winner. And that winner was ... Alice and the Genie by Neil Tollfree. Congratulations to Neil and all the writers, it was a splendid show, a video of which will be following soon.


Alice and The Genie: Chris Fitchew, Emma Packer

The Sci Fi Sitcom Trials was performed by Myles McLeod, Louisa Gummer, Nick Ewans, Chris Fitchew, and Sarit Chen (all also directed), with Emma Packer, Andrew Scott Butler, Simon Balcon, Nicola Redmond, Alexander Perkins, Susan Husband, Rachel Perkins, Annabel Bashford and Jenny Collier, with sound by Gavin Heaney (Starship Impossible) and the various directors. The producer and host was series creator Kev F Sutherland.

The audience had the chance to win a prize by coming up with their own ideas in The Pitch Fest, the prize being a poster from tonight's show signed by the cast & directors (see photo below). The winning suggestion was "Chairs - A similar concept to Cheers, but all the characters are played by inanimate furniture. Ernie 'Bench' Pantusso and Frasier Cane Chair are already two characters. But the possibilities are endless." Er, I'm not claiming the competition was as stiff in the Pitch Fest as it was in the rest of the show. Watch this space for video of this show and details of the next.


(above) Andrew Scott Butler, Nicola Redmond, Nick Ewans, Louisa Gummer, Sarit Chen, Simon Balcon; (below) that Pitch Fest prize in its full glory


Image

Monday 26 November 2012

At Last, the Bristol Sitcom Trials (June 2012) video

It's been a bit of a wait, but here at last is the video of the highlights of the June 2012 Bristol Sitcom Trials hosted by James Dowdeswell.



This show, which I wasn't able to make myself, has hung around on a rogue DV tape until now, waited to be edited and uploaded, and I must say has managed the unusual task of being funny even if you weren't there in the first place. Do please enjoy.

Read the full details of the show here, and a 4 star review here. The next Sitcom Trials is the Sci Fi Special in London on Nov 28th, and then you might care to stay tuned for the announcement of 2013's plans.


Thursday 22 November 2012

Sci Fi Sitcom Trials Nov 28

Image

The Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special takes place at the Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street, London NW1 0LU at Weds 28th November - book now to avoid disappointment!*

5 sitcoms compete head to head, the audience vote for their favourite, only one can win. And this week the theme is Science Fiction. Have we found the new Red Dwarf? The new 3rd Rock From The Sun? The new Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy? Only You Can Decide.

The five competing sitcoms are
Alice and the Genie by Neil Tollfree, directed by Chris Fitchew
The Bringer Of Desserts by anon, directed by Nick Ewans
Event Horizon Crescent By Jeremy Limb, directed by Louisa Gummer
Not From Round Here by Ben Lawler, directed by Sarit Chen
Starship Impossible written & directed by Myles McLeod

There's also the chance for the audience to win prizes by coming up with their own sitcom ideas in The Sitcom Trials Pitch Fest. Tickets for the show are only £3, doors open 7.30pm.

Writers, performers and sitcom fans can keep in touch with the Sitcom Trials at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Facebook. And make yourself known at the show, you're always welcome. Retweet this: http://tinyurl.com/SFsitcom

The Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special
Weds Nov 28th, 7.30pm doors
The Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street Camden London NW1 0LU Phone: 02074854019
Tickets £3, book now*.




* NB: Update - ticket booking does now work

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Sitcom Trials meeting Sunday - you are invited

Vince Stadon writes:

Hello!

Just to let you know that the next meeting of the Bristol Sitcom Trials will be this Sunday at the Oxford pub, Oxford Street, Totterdown, Bristol, at roughly 3pm.  I say roughly because this eccentric boozer has its own special relationship with time, and you never know when it'll open its doors.  I keep telling the landlord we'll be meeting, and receive enthusiastic assurances that yes, we'll be able to get in, but many's the time I've been stood outside the locked doors, in the rain, musing on why author Raymond Chandler never bothered to explain who bumped-off the ill-fated chauffeur in "The Big Sleep", his seminal detective book from 1939. 


At the meeting we'll be reading a few archive Sitcom Trials scripts to get us all back in the groove, discussing plans for the next show (Friday Feb 22nd at the Wardrobe Theatre) and beyond, and we'll also try to definitively sort out a date for the Christmas Party thing, hopefully without it coming to blows.

Please do come along if you've the afternoon free,

Monday 19 November 2012

The final five sitcoms going into the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials on Nov 28th are:

Alice and the Genie
Burrax: Bringer Of Desserts
Event Horizon Crescent
Not From Round Here
Starship Impossible

Congratulations to all those successful writers, who may feel free to contact me now for their freebie tickets (+1) to the show. Commiserations to the writers whose scripts ended up not being chosen this time.

Here were the 8 scripts read at the table reading on Sunday and the votes cast by the directors and actors based on how well the scripts sounded.

Alice/Genie. Yes 8 maybe 1 no 0 total 17
Burrax Bringer of desserts Yes 5 maybe 3 no 0 total 13
Event Horizon Yes 5 maybe 3 No 1 total 12
Not from round here Yes 4 Maybe 3 No 1 total 10
Starship Impossible Yes 3 maybe 3 no 3 total 6
Space vets yes 1 maybe 4 no 2 total 4
FaceTime Yes 0 Maybe 4 no 4 total 0
Chimps Yes 0 maybe 4 No 5 total -1

I realise the verdicts reached by people hearing a script read around a table by actors can, and in this case do, vary wildly from the consensus reached by people reading the scripts on the page. I would defend these conclusions as they are based on a judgement of something much closer to how a performed version will come across than otherwise is possible, but I bet I'd feel disgruntled if I was the author of online favourite FaceTime.

So, we have the line-up for the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials. Who's coming?

Kev F

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Vote now in the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials

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Keep those votes coming in in the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials online script selection (deadline Saturday). With the most recent sets of votes counted the table's looking properly indecisive with five scripts tying for 8th place and, in the middle of the table, six scripts sitting on zero points.

An exciting contest this time around, and I hope we're all feeling the benefit of the constructive feedback from all the reviewers.

Face-Time 16
Starship Impossible 10
Our Mutual Friend 9
Them & Us 8
Clarice 7
Space Vets 7
Country Rock 6
Alice & The Genie 5
Burrax/Bringer of 5
Chimps 5
Event Horizon Crescent 5
Not From Round Here 5
Where No MAN Has Gone Before 4
Aliens 3
Apocalypse Cake Sale 3
King Chicken 3
Stanburg 3
Time Travel Tours 2
Great Space 1
BFF 3000 0
Bunk 0
Men In Brown 0
Nova FM 0
Space Cowgirl 0
The Princess of Darkness 0
Chaos -1
Dome Sweet Dome -1
The Crew -1
Area 47a -2
51 Roswell Rd -4
A Womb With A View -4
Apocalypse -5
Inconceivable -5
Hey Human -6
SU -6
Sky Level -7
The Time Travels of Dr Choo -8

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How do I Vote in the Sitcom Trials?

Read the scripts in the Files here:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SitsVac/files/Sitcom%20Trials%20SF%20Special%202012/

And post your votes either in the Sits Vac Forum or in the BCG Forum.

Monday 5 November 2012

Halloween Bristol - 5 videos. Count em, Dracula.

From the recent Halloween Sitcom Trials in Bristol, Vince and the team are proud to present not one, not two, not three, not four, but five full videos of the sitcoms in contention. Check em out.



Far from the tiny snippets I've uploaded from previous shows (for fear you couldn't stand any more), Vince with the assistance of Matt Gillett and Kev Page have put all five competing sitcoms up in their entirety. They are:

The Brides Of Pete-Enstein
Here Comes The Science Part
The Princess Of Darkness Wants A Tan
Mid Afternoon of the Dead
Three In Tow (above)

Do please enjoy, and share. And while you're feeling so involved, please vote in the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials. Cheers.


Sunday 4 November 2012

Entries are in*, time to vote



So, the scripts are in* for the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials and it's time to read, review, and vote on them all.

"The scripts are in?*" you cry? "Then why is there a suspicious asterisk beside the phrase 'the scripts are in'* every time you mention it?"

Well spotted. There's an asterisk beside the phrase "the scripts are in*" because someone, mentioning no names, made a cock-up when he, or she, announced the deadline for the script entries. I, or rather he, announced the deadline as midnight Saturday 4th November. I know.


On the subject of Sci Fi comedy, check out our sister show The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's 2013 calendar. 13 brand new images of the Socks in sci fi settings, the ideal gift from Christmas.

So, though I clearly intended the deadline to be Saturday 3rd November, I wrote what I wrote and we have to stick with it. So I realise there may be more scripts still to come in. But for the time being there are 31 entries in the Files, and I urge you all to begin the process of reading, reviewing and voting on them. Here are the 31 entries that came in by the intended / stroke / phoney deadline:

51 Roswell Rd  - David Tellett
A Womb With A View - Andrew Blair
Alice & The Genie  - Neil Tollfree
Aliens - Jim Spiers
Apocalypse - Pollard & Blair
Apocalypse Cake Sale - Vic Gore
Area 47a - David Hawke
Burrax - anon
Chaos = Noel Mulcahy
Chimps - Eoin Carney
Clarice - Jonathan Kirby
Country Rock - Neil Tollfree
Dome Sweet Dome - Tom Pinnock
Event Horizon Crescent - Jeremy Limb
Face-Time - Brian Teles
Great Space - Robin Wiggs
Hey Human Get Out Of My Wife - Elliot Loon
King Chicken & The Ning Nings - Kev Page
Men In Brown - Andrew Tucker
Not From Round Here - anon
Our Mutual Friend - Alan O'Brien
SU - Thomas Smith
Space Vets - Jonathan Clark
Stanburg - Pollard & Blair
Starship Impossible - Myles McLeod
The Crew - Kieron Moore
The Princess of Darkness Wants A Tan - Oliver Ley
The Time Travels of Dr Choo - anon
Them & Us - Adrian Maitra
Time Travel Tours - Carter John
Where No MAN Has Gone Before -  Robin Brown

And my award for best titles go to Hey Human Get Out Of My Wife and King Chicken & The Ning Nings. Let's hope the scripts are as good as their titles. I look forward to reading these, and to seeing what else comes in by tonight's "as announced" deadline.

Happy reading everyone.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Sci Fi Sitcom Trials script entries


How to vote

Friday 2 November 2012

Your new favourite Sci Fi Sitcom - Outland

It's always a treat to discover a new sitcom. Sometimes you stumble across them on TV, sometime they're recommended to you by a friend, and sometimes, very rarely, the creator of the show sends you, out of the blue, a DVD of it. All the way from Australia. Then, as if that weren't enough, you realise you know someone who's in it. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to your new favourite sitcom, Outland.



The way it happened was, before we announced the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials, the Scottish Falsetto Socks had decided their next show will be a Sci Fi themed show and put out the call for subject matter they should tackle. Many films & TV shows were suggested, a dozen of which have made it into the Socks 2013 Calender (order it now, ideal for Christmas). And one suggestion came up that I hadn't heard of, namely Outland.

And no sooner had I said "I don't know what that is" on Facebook, then up popped none other than the co-author himself, John Richards, who offered, totally unbidden, to send me a DVD. From Australia. Which he then did, and which I just received. I'm only one episode in and it's already got me.

It's a sitcom about a bunch of geeks who are fans of sci fi shows, in particular Doctor Who. And they're Australian. And gay. Is there any part of it not to like yet? And it gets better. Because I realised from the cover that the co-star and co-author Adam Richard was in The Sitcom Trials, back in 2002. Only briefly but, by golly, he was, making him an official Sitcom Trials alumnus. (The tale of the legendary 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Sitcom Trials is a tale for another day, but don't worry, it will be told.)

So, your new favourite Sci Fi Sitcom is Outland, okay?



And, while we're on the subject, on Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.



As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London

Great Sci Fi Sitcoms: Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Time: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy



As Wikipedia, very much the Hitchhiker's Guide of today, so kindly explains:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams (with some material in the first series provided by John Lloyd).[1] It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.[2]

Which is a perfect way of making a great comedy sound really boring. Possibly the most influential science fiction comedy, its fingerprints can be seen in the work of Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, Alan Moore, Terry Pratchett and most university comedy since. Had Douglas Adams lived, he'd probably be close to almost nearly just about finishing another volume, if you just give him a bit longer.

And, while we're on the subject, on Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.



As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London

Thursday 1 November 2012

Sci Fi Sitcom Trials deadline approaches

Entries are coming in to the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials, I hope we're all remembering the deadline's on Nov 4th at midnight?


The Sci Fi Sitcom Trials - The Camden Head, London Nov 28th 2012.



A top tip everyone, when you're uploading your scripts, don't bother clicking the button which notifies the rest of the egroup that a script has been uploaded. It just means people getting sent the same message over and over. And with 17 scripts currently entered, I'm expecting a deluge in the next three days.

If you want, why not start reading and reviewing the scripts that are already up there? You can't vote yet, not until they're all up and the deadline's passed. But you could break the back of the script reading and get a head start on the process.

Remember, we're asking you to Read, Review & Vote on as many scripts as you can (and I'd certainly think we could all manage those first 17 entries). If you can, please post a Twitter length review for each script (to prove you've read it and to benefit the writers) and give it a Yes, Maybe or No vote as to whether it should be showcased in The Sitcom Trials.


The Sci Fi Sitcom Trials Files - here be scripts.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

BBC Salford Sitcom Showcase

Via Chortle

BBC tests out six new sitcoms

...including one from Mark Watson

BBC tests out six new sitcoms
The BBC is to pilot six new sitcoms – including a show written by stand-up Mark Watson.

Each will be presented to a live audience at the Salford Sitcom Showcase next month in a bid to find the next sitcom hits. Last year’s showcase spawned Citizen Khan for BBC One and Hebburn for BBC Two.

Watson’s show, 1987, is set in South Wales and is being tested for a possible BBC One slot.

Also being pilot for the channel is a British version of the American sitcom It Takes A Village, about a teenage maths prodigy being brought up by his gay dad and his new boyfriend.

The idea was piloted for ABC in 2010 but was not picked up for a series. Nevertheless, Richard Hurst, who contributed material to Miranda Hart’s sitcom, is adapting it for the UK – in a rare example of a comedy idea travelling east across the Atlantic.

Two further shows are being developed for BBC Two.

The first is Just Us, a family comedy starring Peter Davison, Samantha Bond and Tessa Peake-Jones. Davidson and Bond previously played a married couple in the 2005 ITV comedy-drama Distant Shores.

The second is called The Gatekeeper and stars Adrian Scarborough, best known for playing Julia Davis’s husband in Gavin & Stacey.

BBC Three is looking at the final two pilots: Chain Gang (which we assume is not related to Chain Gang by Harris & Blakewill from the 2009 Sitcom Trials), based in a Bristol coffee shop, and Homeboys (not to be confused with this Homeboys sitcom), about two twentysomething brothers still living with their parents.

The BBC North director Peter Salmon, said: ‘The first Salford Sitcom Showcase was so successful, we couldn't resist another one.

‘This place is teeming with naturally funny performers, writers and entertainers so this event is one of the highlights this autumn and hopefully will result in some new commissions.’

Monday 29 October 2012

Halloween Sitcom Trials video Manchester 2012

At last, the video from the Manchester Halloween Sitcom Trials is online, giving a taste of all the competing sitcoms and the winner. Enjoy.



Read the full reports, with results and photos, from the Halloween Sitcom Trials in Bristol and Manchester.

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Congratulations again to everyone who took part. Our next show is the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials in London on Nov 28th. The deadline for script entries is Nov 4th and entry is free. Do please join in.

Great Sci Fi Sitcoms: Mork and Mindy

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Times: Mork and Mindy



Mork and Mindy, starring Robin Williams and..? And...? Come on, who played Mindy? That's right, Pam Dawber, how could you forget?

Mork & Mindy, starring with equal billing Robin Williams and Pam Dawber, ran from 1978 to 1982 and is possibly remembered as a bland US sitcom, shown on kids TV in the UK. But parts of it are particularly sharp, inventive and satirical, due largely to Robin Williams coke-fired improvisation, much of which ended up on the cutting room floor. As Wikipedia records, it was one of many TV shows whose initial success was flushed down the toilet by the interference of moronic TV executives.

Could you create the next Mork & Mindy? Here's your chance to find out. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.



As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London

Friday 26 October 2012

Great Sci Fi Sitcoms: The Strangerers

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Times: The Strangerers



One of the great lost sitcoms of TV history, The Strangerers by Rob Grant came about from one of those bursts of ambitious comedy production that Sky goes through every decade, this one in spring 2000.



Featuring a ridiculously starry cast including Mark Williams, Jack Docherty, Sarah Alexander, Mark Heap, Milton Jones, Morwenna Banks, David Walliams, and Paul Darrow out of Blakes 7, it ended on a cliffhanger which is yet to be resolved a decade later. If you can find it on cable or DVD then good luck, it really is worth tracking down.

In its absence, could you create the next great sci fi sitcom? This is your chance to find out. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.



As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Oct 19 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol
Oct 20 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London

Thursday 25 October 2012

That Halloween video and why it's not appeared yet

If you're wondering why there's no video up from the Manchester Halloween Sitcom Trials, we've had some entertaining technical difficulties...



Normal service will be resumed as soon as we get another cable. Bear with...

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Sitcom Trials Flyer 2001

A blast from the past, from this time 11 years ago, the flyer for the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Sitcom Trials.



Here you see the front and the back of the DL flyer and, disappointingly, the only copy I seem to have in my files is over-stickered with the details of a post-Edinburgh show we did in London in November that year. We went on to tour the show in spring 2002, using more of the same leftover flyers. Sure I had plenty leftover then, but since have clearly had a thorough chuckout of them. So if you have one in your collection, it's probably starting to be worth something.

On the back you see our fondly remembered cast: Miranda Hart & Charity Trimm, who starred in a sitcom set in a joke shop; Gez Foster who played the owner of the cafe next door and Dan Clegg who played the camp one. Can't imagine what become of that sitcom idea, it showed such promise. Also on the flyer you see 5th cast member Dominic Frisby, and myself, Kev F, the host. Ah, memories. Okay, onwards and upwards.

The next Sitcom Trials is a Sci Fi Special on Nov 28th, deadline for scripts is Nov 4th.

Monday 22 October 2012

Shortlist's shortlist

Courtesy of Shortlist, their latest results

Sitcom search: the final 40

Back in August, we launched our Sitcom Search competition to award one writer or writing team a £5,000 development deal with Big Talk Productions and Comedy Central UK.
The quality and quantity of entries was ludicrously high – so high, in fact, that we had to delay this announcement by two weeks – but after reading 2,136 scripts, our judging panel has made its decision. Here are the 40 finalists. Drum roll, please…
2:2 by Lewis Elliot, Josh Mellor, Sid Sagar and Toby Shevlane
The 7.52 by Christopher Glasson
A Month Of Sundays by Daniel Hobden
All The Fun Of The Fair by Alan O’Brien and Dominic Murphy
Beneficiary by Rupert Apsden
Bobby by Juliet Valdez
Craig by Steve Nelson
Date Me by Ziella Bryars
Digs by Alasdair Morrison
Diminishing Returns by Mohammed Mahbood Khan
Dirty Barry by Paul Hinnrichs
Drone by Ian Gordon
Dumped by Laura Fountain
Four’s Company by Mark Pinshon
Funny Girls by Julie Currie and Paula Currie
Hated by Nathan Thomas
Intelligence by Louisa Fielden
Keep Off The Grass by Sarah Christou
Last Days Of Home by Rachel Aroesti
Laundry Service by James Chapman
Mascots by Neil Bennett
Memo by Peter Brownlow
The Motherhood by Abby Woolf
Multiplex by Simon Craig
The Neighbours From Hell by John Rooney, Stephen McCole and Paul McCole
Off The Road by Matt Plass and Kai Merriott
Roadies by David Nicholds
Rosencrantz by Francis Blagburn and Angus Harrison
Siblings by Martin Holmes
Specials by Mark Clompus and Stephen Keyworth
Status by Hannah George and James Whitehouse
Summertime by John Hart;
The Support by Lyndsey Honou
Three’s A Tribe by Pete Barnes
Tight Five by Matthew Stott
Twenties-Thirties by Tim Sewell
Under Exposed by Matt Oakley
Uncle Richard by Ben Cottram
Vargon Lives! by Christopher Stanners
The Wonderkid by Ed Palmer
Congratulations if your name is among them. And make sure you pick up next week’s issue, where we will whittle that list down from 40 to just four…

Tags: Comedy


The next Sitcom Trials is a Sci Fi Special on Nov 28th, deadline for scripts is Nov 4th.

Halloween Bonus - London table read


London Sitcom Trials meeting Oct 21 2012, including directors Sarit Wilson Chen (left), Nick Ewans (2nd left), and Louisa Gummer (out of shot).

Having showcased 10 Halloween-themed sitcoms in the Sitcom Trials in Manchester & Bristol this weekend, it was frustrating that for various reasons we were unable to hold a matching show in London. We did however hold a small meeting in Greenwich on Sunday at which, as well as discussing future shows, we gave a table reading to four sitcoms that had been entered in the Halloween Sitcom Trials. They were:

13 Gormley Street by Chris Dennis
Country Rock by Neil Tollfree
Separate Parents by Dan Sweryt & Jim Spiers
Three In Tow by Eoin Carney

Having read these, we discussed them and voted on which were our favourites. Given that there were only eight of us, this is slightly less an example of representative democracy, however it was unanimous that the script we liked the best was.

Country Rock by Neil Tollfree.

This script, which didn't make the cut for either the Bristol or Manchester shows, having lurked just inside the Top Ten in the online voting, impressed us with its clear characterisation and well-written fast-moving storyline which made near-perfect use of its ten minutes of performance time. I would like to suggest that that script be re-entered into the Sci-Fi Sitcom Trials, into which category it does also fit, and that Neil could take the advantage of this to tweak or rewrite it if he saw fit. Certainly the actors gave it a big thumbs up, and I'd like to give it another chance with the online voters.

The London team's second favourite was Three In Tow by Eoin Carney, which had strong characters and some very good dialogue. Criticism from the group included the suggestion that, by the halfway point, this script runs out of steam and that its over-long second half doesn't deliver on the promise of the first half. It is still a good premise, with very good dialogue that we could see actors getting good mileage from (as was obviously demonstrated in Friday's Bristol Trials where it won the day).

So we now all look forward to the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials in November. After the script deadline on Nov 4th and the voting deadline on Nov 17th, we will be having a team meeting and table reading on Nov 18th at which we will choose the sitcoms that get performed on Nov 28th. Get those entries in now, we can't wait.



Sunday 21 October 2012

Bristol Halloween Sitcom Trials report


Bristol Sitcom Trials team Oct 2012

UPDATE: See videos of all 5 sitcoms

Hello!

The Sitcom Trials returned to Bristol's Wardrobe Theatre on Friday 19th October for a special "week-and-a-bit-before-Halloween" show, which once again sold-out.  

The evening's splendid host was Becky Brunning, a member of the Bristol team and a terrific stand-up.  Becky made sure the audience was in a Halloweeny kind of mood by regularly encouraging everyone to give their very best spooky noises and evil laughs, and she had a special repartee going with a vocal audience member named Boycie ("You're absolutely in the right place," quipped Becky), and had great fun with the Pitch Fests by asking the audience whether pitches should be placed in her "pocket of opportunity", or discarded to the "floor of regret". 

First out of the gate was "The Brides of Pete-Enstein" by Iain Kellier.  This was one of the more Halloween-y of the sitcoms (featuring a mad scientist and a stitched-together re-animated corpse during a thunderstorm) and was attacked with real energy by the cast. It's a strange law of the Sitcom Trials that the first sitcom of the show  is always the most difficult for an audience to get into, though "Pete-Enstein's" cracking (and very funny) cliffhanger was one of the best of the night. Incidentally, we didn't notice this until late into the rehearsal process, but a fair few of the sitcoms made reference to Einstein - and this was the first, with the theoretical physicist being evaluated on his shagability*.

CALLY - Janet Adams
KEREN - Anna Gallager
LISA - Louisa Smith
PETE - Troy Hewitt


"Three in Tow" by Ioin Carney was up next - a more sedate and character-driven piece about ghosts, and probably the most traditional of the sitcoms.  The audience seemed to get this one immediately - proving once again that a simple plot, strong characters and a high gag-rate is always going to play well in a live environment.  The core Bristol team are a competitive bunch, and actor/writer Lewis Cook has pointed out that he's now been in all three winning sitcoms staged in Bristol this year.  Next time we'll cast him in all five, to give all the sitcoms an even chance.  A line of dialogue from "Three in Tow" -  "We buried your lifeless corpse, so call me Einstein" - was the second reference to the Nobel Prize winning father of modern physics.

RUTH - Naomi Carter
PETER - Lewis Cook
SANDRA - Janet Adams
ROGER - John Lomas

Sitcom number three was "The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan" by Oliver Ley, an almost pantomime excursion into a fairy tale land populated by evil princesses, put-upon handmaidens, vampires and werewolves. This had the largest cast (who all raided the costume box) and some complicated staging - especially regarding the werewolf.  And just as with "Se7en", David Fincher's block-buster serial killer movie, it seems an audience will always love a shock revelation about a severed head in a bag/box.

MORTITIA/SERENITY - Naomi Carter
CINDERELLA - Anna Gallagher
VLAD - Lewis Cook
LUCIEN - Troy Hewitt
QUEEN - Janet Adams
KING - John Lomas

After the intermission, Becky read out more Pitch Fests, a few of which were amusingly based around cheese or cattle (there may have been dairy workers in the audience), plus a near-the knuckle Jimmy Savile themed pitch that immediately hit the floor of regret. 

"Mid-Afternoon of the Dead" by Kev Page kicked off the second half of sitcoms with aplomb - this one has some nifty ideas and a quirky perspective on the zombie holocaust sub-genre.  A malfunctioning prop aside (actor Troy Hewitt's look of surprise was one of my favorite things of the evening), this went swimmingly from the get-go.  Our third Einstein reference here was a visual gag (supported by dialogue) which had the brains-hungry undead menace distracted by a photo of Bert, the guy who did that e=mc2 thing.  Kev Page was in the audience, with a friend named Matt who very kindly filmed the show; hopefully very soon we'll be able to upload the footage.


GEMMA - Louisa Smith
JULES - Naomi Carter
PROFESSOR - Janet Adams
OFFICER HARRIS - Troy Hewitt

"Here Comes The Science" by Stephen Keyworth was the last sitcom of the night, and the one that didn't feel like a pilot episode; with minimal exposition we were immediately into a developing plot featuring strong characters . In rehearsal, this very British sitcom suddenly became very American, which seemed to work perfectly. Oddly, despite being a sitcom about scientists, this didn't have an Einstein reference.

FIELDS - Troy Hewitt
YORNING - Louisa Smith
BARK - John Lomas

As the voting took place, the winning Pitch Fest was chosen retro-stylee, with a member of the audience invited on stage to catch  slips of paper as they were thrown in the air, with the rest of the audience joining Becky in singing the theme tune to "The Crystal Maze".   (Incidentally, the winner never made himself known to me, so please do drop me a line if you're reading this!)

The votes were close - closer, I think, than in any previous show at the Wardrobe.  

"Three in Tow" = 14
"The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan" = 13
"Here Comes the Science" = 12
"Mid Afternoon of the Dead" = 11
"The Brides of Pete-Enstein" = 8

Congrats to Eoin Carney, who sadly couldn't be with us because he lives several thousand miles away in a completely different time zone.

A huge thank you to all the writers; and to the brilliant cast (especially Louisa who gamely battled with a cold so that the show could go on); to Becky Brunning, our marvelous compere for the night; and to our talented director Alistair Hedderman; and to Kev F, as always; and to the Wardrobe Theatre who are a complete delight to work with.

Our next show will be on Friday Feb 22nd - stay tuned for details.


--Vince Stadon

* I've just remembered that we had an Einstein reference in one of the sitcoms in the first Bristol show back in March, so clearly, for reasons beyond my comprehension, this is now developing into some kind of weird in-joke.

Halloween Sitcom Trials photo and details


Manchester Sitcom Trials team, Oct 2012 (l-r) Kate Collins, Bex Harrison, Michelle Ashton, Jamie Fillery, Phil Chadwick & (front) Sean Mason

The Halloween Sitcom Trials took place in Bristol & Manchester on Oct 19th & 20th respectively, showcasing 10 sitcoms in competition over two nights, with the audience voting for, and only seeing the ending of, the winner each time.

The Bristol line-up was
The Brides of Pete-enstein by Iain Keiller
Here Comes The Science by Stephen Keyworth
Three in Tow by Eoin Carney
Mid Afternoon of the Dead by Kev Page
The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan by Oliver Ley

And the winner was Three in Tow by Eoin Carney


Bristol Sitcom Trials team Oct 2012

The Manchester line-up was
Separate Parents by Dan Sweryt & Jim Spiers
Grimm's Law by Sean Mason
Draszic's Lot by Diehard123 / Kiera
Wink Murder by Michelle Ashton
Randolph Carter's Casefile by Judgement Dave

And the winner was Randolph Carter's Casefile by Judgement Dave

Videos are still to come. And the best Pitch Fest entry? Well, I can only speak for Manchester's winning entry (The Pitch Fest being the audience's ideas, did I ever mention this happens every show?). Check this winning dollop of genius from "Chris"...

Title: 30 Something Wrestling Obsessive
One line pitch: Buying Rustler's Hotdog, 12 pack of Disco's crisps & 6 Walls Cornetto ice creams in Iceland, "Gotta make Sunday Dinner",......... (sic) At the checkout, "What's this?!!?, who put cock in my basket?!?" ....Impersonating the undertaker and throwing boxed spotted dick across store.
Chris


The next Sitcom Trials is the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials in London on Nov 28th. You can enter a script by Nov 4th, you can then join in the voting, and be at the show. Why wait?

Kev F Sutherland
Creator & Producer
The Sitcom Trials
http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk

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