Cardiff Sitcom Trials - report and videos

The inaugural Cardiff Sitcom Trials took place on July 28th 2015 and was a resounding success, as you'll see from the highlights video (here and above) and full clips below.

Just some of the Cardiff Sitcom Trials cast and writers (sorry everyone else. Next time eh?)

The sitcoms showcased were:

Mentalectro by Timothy Collins (Full Video)
Goosey: Scott Suter
Jamie: Dan Mitchell
Gray: Dai Hill
Various: Rachel Helena Walsh
 
Bring in the Sheep by Terry Milligan (Full Video) 
Frank: Charlie Smith
Mr Singh: Dai Hill
Bert: Paul Gingell
Joe: Dan Kiss
Cyril: Scott Suter
 
My Boss was in an Indie Band by Mark Hibbett (Full Video) 
Susan: Rachel Helena Walsh
Marla: Chantal Erraoui
The old guy: Dai Hill
Matt Lee
Sarah Breese
Dan Kiss
 
Matchmakers by Cameron Loxdale & Mat Troy (Full Video)
Nathan: Matt Lee
Hannah: Chantal Erraoui
Mr. Priam: Alex Nagle
Brendan Rand: Dan Kiss
 
Agent of LOVCRAFT by Paul H Hunt & Mat Troy (Full video)
Vaughan Wylliams: Paul Gingell
Rick Dedalus: Denis Lennon
Bev: Chantal Erraoui
Cliff: Alex Nagle

And the winner was...



...Agent of LOVCRAFT, (full video here) by quite a wide margin, though every script was well received and brilliantly performed by an outstanding cast in a very impressive venue (the studio at St Davids Hall, Cardiff). Especial thanks to producers Dan Mitchell and Charlie Smith. (Not, as he's credited on the video, Charlie Porter. Because we do our regular shows at Porters, that's his name in my phone, and it was getting late as I edited that bit of video. Sorry).

Next Sitcom Trials: Glasgow October 8th, Manchester October 25th. 

Cardiff Sitcom Trials July 28th - line up

The first Cardiff Sitcom Trials takes place at St Davids Hall Cardiff on Tuesday July 28th - tickets on sale now.

The selected scripts to be performed on 28th are:

Agent Lovecraft
My Boss was in an Indie Band
Mentalectro
Bring in the Sheep
The Matchmakers

Level One, St David's Hall

The ultimate competitive comedy writing showcase comes to Cardiff for the first time, with Dan Mitchell and the BoxFull of Comedy team presenting a night of new sitcoms.

Box Office
029 2087 8444
www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk

Rosie Holt - Trials Winner Interview

From http://www.tvbomb.co.uk/2015/06/interview-rosie-holt/http://www.tvbomb.co.uk/2015/06/interview-rosie-holt/

Interview: Rosie Holt

The Fringe sometimes feels like a sea of talented people trying to get noticed, and making a dent in today’s super-competitive industry seems massively daunting. But many well-known comedians still cut their teeth at the festival, so how do they do it? We catch up with comedian and writer Rosie Holt, winner of The Sitcom Trials 2013, and find out about what it takes.

Tell us about your new Fringe show…
It is my first solo stand up show! We often hear from male comics about the dark underbelly of sex, but not enough from the females, which is a shame as I think women are gloriously insane. My show covers the anxieties of sex with the help of some very silly songs (you can find my ‘UnSafe Sex Song’ on YouTube) I think the ukulele lends itself nobly to very dirty lyrics.

How did you start out in comedy acting and writing?
I trained as a ‘serious’ actor at LAMDA and never considered comedy or writing as a career at all. Then a year or so after graduating I had a bad one night stand and wrote a sketch about it to cheer me up. I was working at an Orwellian reception with a lovely man called Clayton and he read it and suggested we make it and put it on YouTube – so we did and people responded well and I thought I’d carry on with it. Now I can’t imagine not doing comedy, I love it.

How long have you been coming to the Fringe and how have your shows changed?
The first time I came to the Fringe was when I was 18, doing Shakespeare at midnight (not an easy sell) but I fell in love with the whole festival and it remains one of my favourite places on the planet. I have been up many times since (sometimes doing very dodgy plays indeed), but last year was the first time I went up with my own show and as a result it was a much more exciting (and terrifying) experience.

Tell me about the Sitcom Trials. What sorts of things has it led to?
The Sitcom Trials was great. We had to write a short sitcom episode and perform it on stage, and then had to pass through various nerve-wracking rounds in front of a live audience. Winning it scored me my own show at The Gilded Balloon last year and various acting and writing opportunities. It also gave me the necessary confidence boost to plug on with my comedy.

Has winning the Sitcom Trials made coming to the Fringe any easier?
I don’t know yet! Last year I had written a comedy show with four other actors in it and this year it’s just me, so that brings new challenges.

How have you found developing a one-woman show in comparison to the four-strong act?
It’s definitely a very different beast but I am loving it. When you are acting with other people you can bounce off them and there is a wonderful camaraderie, but it is nice only being responsible for myself as I am rather neurotic by nature so would worry terribly if an actor was unhappy or something. Also there is something thrilling about it just being you and the audience. I’ve done a few solo gigs now and it’s always exciting.

What do you think are the most important factors in developing a comedy performance/writing career today and how big a role has the Fringe played in it for you?
Persistence and getting yourself out there as much as possible. There are so many opportunities to get into comedy now – open mike nights, competitions, YouTube, Twitter. Explore them all! I love that this is an industry that favours those who put the hours in. Also I think you shouldn’t be afraid of trying and erm…dying. It happens to the best of us.

Like many performers, you were caught up in venue problems with the Free Fringe – what happened there?
Oh golly, whenever I try to explain it to people I go cross-eyed. Very public disagreement on who had the licence for the venues all played out over social media. So we were told we’d lost our venues, then we hadn’t, then we had again. Now I am at a new venue and a new slot and it is not what is advertised in the brochure. I am planning to sing rude songs on the ukulele on the Royal Mile so that my lost audience follow me like the pied piper to Frankenstein (where I am performing).

Your characters can be pretty hapless – what’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you at Edinburgh?
I once was in an abysmal play which we were so embarrassed by that we would experience intense guilt whenever we fliered someone who then came. One night we had four audience members and two walkouts.

Have you got any advice for developing comedy writers thinking of coming to the Fringe?
Do it! See everything! And make sure you eat something green!

And lastly, will you have time to see any shows yourself and is there anything you’ve particularly got your eye on?
I adore Tim Key, I want to marry him. He is doing a work in progress tour and I will be there on the front row looking manic (in a good way obviously)

Rosie Holt: (No) Strings Attached is @ Frankenstein Pub from Fri 7 Aug 2015 @ 17:30

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.

Sitcom Trials Manchester video + results

The Sitcom Trials in Manchester held their first Sitcom Trials of 2015 on Sunday night, at marvellous new venue The Kings Arms in Salford. Click on the video to see highlights.

 They performed 4 scripts - The New 20 by Mark Green, Ann Dram by Daniel Page, Thrift by Ashley Frieze, and The Magic Men by Tom Smith. And the winner was...?

(Spoiler alert - go on watch the video)

The winner of the audience vote was The New 20 by Mark Green. The next Sitcom Trials is in Birmingham on Friday July 3rd, see you all there.

UPDATE: Here are the full clips for:
Ann Dram
Thrift (a tiny part thereof, sadly)
The Magic Men

Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham Sitcom Trials updates

Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham Sitcom Trials updates

On Tuesday night the Cardiff Sitcom Trials team, aka Dan Mitchell and A Boxfull of Comedy, had a reading of some of the scripts that have been shortlisted for their forthcoming show. They also gave a brief reading to the script which ranked lowest in the online poll, the results of which you can see in the video above.

(This script, I have subsequently learned, was a deliberate exercise in writing the most offensive piece possible. Elliot and his co-writers will be delighted to learn they've succeeded).

The Boxfulls read some of the most popular scripts from the online shortlist, including a couple of their inhouse creations and have three scripts still to read at another meeting before they make the decision as to which scripts they'll do on July 28th.

Two of the favourite scripts, Agent of LOVCRAFT and Matchmakers, are written by Cardiff writers, one by a member of the cast, so they look most likely to make the final show, and went very well in the reading.

Other scripts read on Tuesday were My Boss Was In An Indie Band, The Magic Men, and Bringing In The Sheep.



The Manchester team have expressed an interest in performing:
The Magic Men
Ann Dram
The New 20
and Thrift
- in their show on June 21st. A final announcement will be made soon.

Birmingham's team, aka Aaron Twitchen and Foghorn Improv, have drawn up a shortlist of the favourites from the scripts that were sent directly to them (they didn't do an online vote). They are:
Both Sides Now - Rachel Sambrooks
My Boss was in an Indie Band - Mark Hibbett ***
Mary Godmother - Dan Sweryt
Friday Nights - Arthur Burke
The Cleaners - Richard Constable & Roger Sanders
Thrift - Ashley Freize  ***

(The asterisks show scripts that are also being done by Cardiff or Manchester). Aaron will be announcing the final line-up for Birmingham's July 3rd show shortly.

Congratulations to all the writers who've entered scripts, and thanks to the team leaders and performers in Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham for the sterling work they've done so far.

A reminder that scripts are still wanted for the Glasgow Sitcom Trials, details here, deadline August 8th.

Kev F Sutherland
Executive Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Sitcom Trials online script voting - the results

Thankyou to everyone who read, reviewed and voted on the scripts in the online script selection for the forthcoming Sitcom Trials in Cardiff and Manchester. Here are the results, totalled and checked by Judgement Dave. Every YES vote scored 2 points, a MAYBE vote scored 1 point, and a NO vote scored minus 1 point. This table shows the results when writers votes for their own scripts are discounted:

Rank	Score	Title
1	25	Agent of LOVCRAFT
2	18	My Boss Was in an Indie Band
3	14	The Magic Men
4	11	The Matchmakers
5	9	Ann Dram
6	7	The New 20
6	7	Thrift
8	6	POPSCENE!
9	5	Blue Door
9	5	Bringing in the Sheep
9	5	Serenity House
12	3	Yesterdays News
13	2	Jehovah the Hill
13	2	Malibu Crush
15	-1	Secret Agents
16	-2	Mentalectro
17	-3	Death Runs a Cornershop
18	-4	Their Majesties' Secret Services
19	-5	Boys in the Band
20	-6	NEGATIVE
20	-6	Reis & Paul
22	-9	Ruther Edge
23	-15	A Different Band of Brothers
24	-16	What was your porn name Darling?

The votes, including votes for the writers own script, are at the foot of this post. I propose the selection for the shows be made on the table above, and not the one including writers votes for themselves.

I shall now be talking to the Manchester and Cardiff teams about which scripts they would like to showcase from the favoured top end of the chart. We will report back as soon as we can as to which scripts are to be performed where.

Birmingham's script were sent directly to producer Aaron Twitchen , who will be making the decision on which scripts they will be showcasing. Stay tuned for details.

All the best, and thanks again everyone.

Kev F Sutherland
Executive Producer
The Sitcom Trials

The votes, including votes for the writers own script, look like this:

Rank	Score	Title
1	25	Agent of LOVCRAFT
2	18	My Boss Was in an Indie Band
3	16	The Magic Men
4	13	The Matchmakers
5	9	Ann Dram
6	8	POPSCENE!
7	7	Blue Door
7	7	Serenity House
7	7	The New 20
7	7	Thrift
11	5	Bringing in the Sheep
11	5	Yesterdays News
13	4	Jehovah the Hill
13	4	Malibu Crush
15	-1	Secret Agents
16	-2	Mentalectro
16	-2	Their Majesties' Secret Services
18	-3	Death Runs a Cornershop
19	-4	NEGATIVE
19	-4	Reis & Paul
21	-5	Boys in the Band
22	-9	Ruther Edge
23	-15	A Different Band of Brothers
24	-16	What was your porn name Darling?

Announcing the first Glasgow Sitcom Trials

 

Are you a budding sitcom writer in Scotland?

We are delighted to announce that Glasgow based comedy team Beyond A Joke will be hosting The Sitcom Trials' inaugural Glasgow show* at YesBar on September 8th 2015.

We are currently doing an open call for scripts and Glasgow's head honcho Colin McQuaid has taken on the onerous task of receiving all your scripts. So please read the submission details below, and send them to the address shown. The deadline for scripts is Saturday August 8th.

Full details below:

 

Interested? Take a look at the brief:

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

Your script must have no more than four main characters and a first 'half' of less than ten minutes. This first half should ideally end in a cliffhanger, or something that leaves the audience wanting more. It must then have a second 'half' of no more than five minutes long; after the audience have voted, the top two favourites will battle it out and perform their second 'half!'

Scripts will be performed by the regular team of Beyond A Joke comedy, and a selection of other local professional actors. 
Entries are also welcomed from writer-performers, ie people who wish to perform their own scripts. In this case, could you include Youtube clips of you in action so we know what to expect.

Please put your name, email address, and the title of your sitcom on the first page of your script, and send it as a PDF or Word file. Entries must be submitted to beyondajokelive@gmail.com by midnight Saturday 8th August 2015.


Have we found the new Still Game? The new Rab C Nesbitt? The new Gary Tank Commander? You decide.

*PS: In fact this is the second Sitcom Trials to take place in Glasgow. The Trials touring show came to Glasgow on March 12th 2005, hosting a Sitcom Masterclass and a show at The 13th Note featuring special guest Janey Godley (here's a blog about how it went). It'll be good to be back.

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.