Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
The Sitcom Trials
The 16 winners have been chosen and informed... which means I can't be one of them. I'm absolutely gutted. With feedback like this:
Loved it. Thank you.
and this
Re: The Museum.
I really love your dialogue, I think it's original and inventive. I feel though that you're shooting yourself in the foot by limiting yourself to only 2 performers and was aching for you to bring some more characters onstage. You create wonderful characters; let's see 5 or 6 of them onstage at the same time. The more characters, the more scope for conflict, surely? And the more conflict, the more comedy.
Please don't be offended by this, I'm writing it because what you've given us so far made me laugh out loud (and ploughing through 300 scripts that's been a rare, rare thing). I just think you've got more in you. TV sitcoms tend to have a core of 5 or 6 recurring characters. Let's see yours all at once.
Simon
for
Every 1's a Critic
I don't think it was unreasonable of me to think I had a really good chance. I know my stuff is good, I know I can get somewhere with it... but not this way. I'm going to have a rewrite and enter some more things... but first I need to give myself time to feel gutted and shocked. Well, actually I only have about 10 more mins to do that because I have to go back to work. I feel like sitting in the rain and crying. I know I'm taking this way harder than I should be, but I am just bitterly dissapointed. Maybe after looking at houses and cycling and shopping and all the million and one things I have to do this weekend I can get back on the horse and get writing again.
Loved it. Thank you.
and this
Re: The Museum.
I really love your dialogue, I think it's original and inventive. I feel though that you're shooting yourself in the foot by limiting yourself to only 2 performers and was aching for you to bring some more characters onstage. You create wonderful characters; let's see 5 or 6 of them onstage at the same time. The more characters, the more scope for conflict, surely? And the more conflict, the more comedy.
Please don't be offended by this, I'm writing it because what you've given us so far made me laugh out loud (and ploughing through 300 scripts that's been a rare, rare thing). I just think you've got more in you. TV sitcoms tend to have a core of 5 or 6 recurring characters. Let's see yours all at once.
Simon
for
Every 1's a Critic
I don't think it was unreasonable of me to think I had a really good chance. I know my stuff is good, I know I can get somewhere with it... but not this way. I'm going to have a rewrite and enter some more things... but first I need to give myself time to feel gutted and shocked. Well, actually I only have about 10 more mins to do that because I have to go back to work. I feel like sitting in the rain and crying. I know I'm taking this way harder than I should be, but I am just bitterly dissapointed. Maybe after looking at houses and cycling and shopping and all the million and one things I have to do this weekend I can get back on the horse and get writing again.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
waiting, waiting, waiting...
..until the producer has time to get back to me... until any of my friends have time to give me feedback... until Friday when it's the deadline and I'll finally know if I've got in. I hate waiting. I also hate disappointment, I really thought Bex and I had a chance with the last comp we entered, but we didn't get anywhere. I feel a lot more strongly about this one, partly because of the producer's feedback, but also because I have such a huge emotional involvement in The Museum. I've started talking about it as though it's a real place and the characters are real people.
It's hard with this, or any of my other comic ventures, to get feedback from friends. People are too busy with the real world to spend time in my fantasy one. It does make me sad though. But then people like my husband or my dad take the time to get involved and show they understand how much this means to me, and that really helps.
I might get in, I might not. I'll be crushed if I don't... but maybe that will give me the impetus to try and get my scripts out there to production companies myself. It's not over yet, it's hardly even begun.
It's hard with this, or any of my other comic ventures, to get feedback from friends. People are too busy with the real world to spend time in my fantasy one. It does make me sad though. But then people like my husband or my dad take the time to get involved and show they understand how much this means to me, and that really helps.
I might get in, I might not. I'll be crushed if I don't... but maybe that will give me the impetus to try and get my scripts out there to production companies myself. It's not over yet, it's hardly even begun.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Almost a year..
Hello!
Well it's been almost a year since I posted, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening..
Some of the things I learned since my last post: how to fly (a bit), how to ride a bike, how to spin poi badly, that geophysics is ok really, that being a grown up is hard, that friends are worth the effort, how to be happily married, how to make kartofflegratin, how to be nice to people and accet that they aren't like me, how to stay relaxed, how to cope with illness, how to do downward facing dog and most importantly how to go with the flow.
I am now living in Egham in a real house. It has walls and everything. The job is going ok, I've learned a lot, although apparently my lack of passion lets me down....
...so onto something I am passionate about. Comedy:
The Museum. I think I have a good chance of getting a place in this competition. I just have to make something good brilliant. In 6 days. It's very, very hard to write a good 15 min script. You have to develop characters people actually care about, set up some conflict and resolve it... and make it funny. It's a big ask. But I'm so excited about the prospect. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I'm going to be crushed if I don't get in.
Sometimes I don't think about The Museum for a few weeks, then I'll hear Rocket Man and start grinning like an idiot. I love my Rocket Man ending!
The Deviant Attack. This is a sketch project I've been working on with Bex Moran, after she contacted me through chortle. We have some good stuff, and you can eve get us in the iStore... swish! Have a look here.
Can't hang around... I've got a script to edit. Must put the kettle on...
Well it's been almost a year since I posted, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening..
Some of the things I learned since my last post: how to fly (a bit), how to ride a bike, how to spin poi badly, that geophysics is ok really, that being a grown up is hard, that friends are worth the effort, how to be happily married, how to make kartofflegratin, how to be nice to people and accet that they aren't like me, how to stay relaxed, how to cope with illness, how to do downward facing dog and most importantly how to go with the flow.
I am now living in Egham in a real house. It has walls and everything. The job is going ok, I've learned a lot, although apparently my lack of passion lets me down....
...so onto something I am passionate about. Comedy:
The Museum. I think I have a good chance of getting a place in this competition. I just have to make something good brilliant. In 6 days. It's very, very hard to write a good 15 min script. You have to develop characters people actually care about, set up some conflict and resolve it... and make it funny. It's a big ask. But I'm so excited about the prospect. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I'm going to be crushed if I don't get in.
Sometimes I don't think about The Museum for a few weeks, then I'll hear Rocket Man and start grinning like an idiot. I love my Rocket Man ending!
The Deviant Attack. This is a sketch project I've been working on with Bex Moran, after she contacted me through chortle. We have some good stuff, and you can eve get us in the iStore... swish! Have a look here.
Can't hang around... I've got a script to edit. Must put the kettle on...
Saturday, October 06, 2007
father time, put down your scythe.
On the way home from egham I chose to voluntarily listen to the bbc orchestra playing a medley of gilbert o'sullivan hits rather than the essential session on radio one because the mindless dance music was boring the shit out of me. I even found myself singing along.
ffs, what happened to me? :P
I'm happy though. My brief comedy experience has given me massive highs and lows, from being crushed with embarassement and crying to singing to the traffic and shouting yes. Adrenalin, after glow, fear and doubt. Massive highs and lows. That's what comedy is all about, fuck it.. that's what LIFE is about. When you feel joy and pain to that extent you really know you are alive.
You have to keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself and doing things that are a little scary. I hope I have a lifetime of new experiences and joy ahead of me, stuff to share with my hubby, but if I died tomorrow I'd have no regrets, I'd just be pissed off... I've done some cool stuff :).
I'm off to Houston to learn about wiggles. And to see my hubby, dive in a tank full of sharks, fly a plane, watch an ice hockey match, drive on the wrong side of the road, see some old friends, visit new orleans, make some new friends, eat steak and drink a few beers. After living out of a suitcase in a tent smaller than my unfeasibly small car I think it will be a blast.
ffs, what happened to me? :P
I'm happy though. My brief comedy experience has given me massive highs and lows, from being crushed with embarassement and crying to singing to the traffic and shouting yes. Adrenalin, after glow, fear and doubt. Massive highs and lows. That's what comedy is all about, fuck it.. that's what LIFE is about. When you feel joy and pain to that extent you really know you are alive.
You have to keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself and doing things that are a little scary. I hope I have a lifetime of new experiences and joy ahead of me, stuff to share with my hubby, but if I died tomorrow I'd have no regrets, I'd just be pissed off... I've done some cool stuff :).
I'm off to Houston to learn about wiggles. And to see my hubby, dive in a tank full of sharks, fly a plane, watch an ice hockey match, drive on the wrong side of the road, see some old friends, visit new orleans, make some new friends, eat steak and drink a few beers. After living out of a suitcase in a tent smaller than my unfeasibly small car I think it will be a blast.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
duck...
...real life is fast approaching and it's going to hurt. I have to go to bed, I'm exhausted, but 'blog' is on my to-do list and it must be obeyed.
I start my new job on monday, so that's me with a desk, computer, blouse that makes me look like a square slab of womaliness and a slightly glazed expression. Well, I have to work. How else am I going to pay 40 quid a night for a b&b. 40 quid!!! In Staines of all places, a place whose name makes everyone shudder in disgust. Actually, I've packed the tent. I might camp for a week or two and save myself a few hundred quid.
I miss Andy. It's a little depressing to get married and then have no idea when you will next see your other half, but I suppose some would argue it's a recipe for a happy marriage.
I did my first stand up gig. Five mins of stomach scraping horror. I think it actually went reasonably well. Oh if only someone would pay me to do it... I might internally hemorrhage, but I'd be happy.
Sorry, this is coming out really dull. I'm off to sleep on the futon with the cat hairs for the last time in the foreseeable future :(
nighty night x
I start my new job on monday, so that's me with a desk, computer, blouse that makes me look like a square slab of womaliness and a slightly glazed expression. Well, I have to work. How else am I going to pay 40 quid a night for a b&b. 40 quid!!! In Staines of all places, a place whose name makes everyone shudder in disgust. Actually, I've packed the tent. I might camp for a week or two and save myself a few hundred quid.
I miss Andy. It's a little depressing to get married and then have no idea when you will next see your other half, but I suppose some would argue it's a recipe for a happy marriage.
I did my first stand up gig. Five mins of stomach scraping horror. I think it actually went reasonably well. Oh if only someone would pay me to do it... I might internally hemorrhage, but I'd be happy.
Sorry, this is coming out really dull. I'm off to sleep on the futon with the cat hairs for the last time in the foreseeable future :(
nighty night x
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