Could someone tell Jim Spiers he's in the Manchester Sitcom Trials?

His email is bouncing, so if anyone is in touch with him by Facebook or whatever, do please let him know he's in tomorrow's show, and there;s a freebie seat if he wants it.

Haha! Thanks Kev - got the word. Unfortunately I can't make tomorrow as I'm working. Wish you all the best for a great night and hope the attendees and performers have fun!

Sorry about the email bouncing - I've got a reject rule on any mail that doesn't even pretend to want to enlarge my penis.

At 63 feet, you'd have thought he'd be happy by now, but no.

Dan

I shall be there. Lookin forward to it.

As I mentioned earlier I can't attend, but I'll be there in spirit! (Gin and tonic, most likely!)

Good luck to all concerned and have a great evening!

I can't be there either but have a great evening guys.

Thankyou to everyone who came to the sellout Sitcom Trials at the Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester tonight.

Tomorrow I'll be able to give you the full cast list and running order, which I've left in the car, but for now I can tell you the thing you've been waiting to read, the winner. Which was...

Checkpoint Dave by Vince Stadon.

Congratulations Vince. The show was videod so, hopefully, clips from it will be online as soon as I get the time to put it together. Stay tuned.

Kev F
Sitcom Trials http://sitcomtrials.co.uk

Congrats Vince. Fully deserved win.

And well done, the whole team for putting it on.

Dan

Well done Vince - a pretty unanimous choice for winner.

Yes, thanks and congratulations to Kev, the other producers and performers.

Quote: Frantically @ July 3 2011, 7:39 AM BST

Well done Vince - a pretty unanimous choice for winner.

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Well, I have here in my camera bag, the pile of voting slips that were returned to me. There might be some missing, so this might not be totally accurate, but going by these votes, the scores went:

Bipolar 2
Shock Treatment 7
Theatre of Dreams 8
Outgoings 3
Checkpoint Dave 9

Which shows it was much closer than you may have thought (and also suggests there were only 29 people in the room, which is quite a few short, so some people either didn't vote or their votes were lost after the count). Of course Philip Hepple and Vince Stadon were in the audience, it was good to meet you both, but I can confirm neither had brought a big posse with them and those votes reflect the mood of the room. Which is not to say that lower scoring sitcoms went in any way badly, when you see the video (which I won't get a chance to edit until at least tomorrow night) you should get a good idea of the laughter that was there throughout. An exceptionally good cast, I have to say. You just wait till you see them & their details (and can I just remind you I had no idea who was going to be in the show until I met them all yesterday afternoon).

Oh, and extra congratulations to the writers of four of the scripts who had managed, unnoticed by me until yesterday, to smuggle James Bond references into their scripts. Whose idea was that, and how did you manage it? When I read the pile of 43 scripts (actually I only read 30-odd didn't I?) I didn't spot this subterfuge. Very amusing (though I don't think the audience noticed, and I forgot to mention it from the stage).

Kev F

PS: The winning Pitch Fest entry was "Jehovah The Hill - An omnipotent, omnipresent & omniscient God tries to relax in semi-retirement but has to keep dealing with his stay-at-home son who hasn't had a job in 2000 years... with hilarious consequences". Well done DJB (he won a pen).

PPS: And just to show how opinions vary, I've had a look at my original votes from when I read (almost) all of the competing scripts. I gave Outgoings a Maybe, Shock Treatment a No, Yesses to Checkpoint Dave & Theatre Of Dreams, and I didn't get to read Bi-Polar. Aren't you glad we have a democratic system for choosing scripts?

Congrats to Vince! Well done!

I'm glad that the evening went well and I'm looking forward to seeing the videos.

Looks like it was a close run thing between three of the scripts so I think the voting system has been vindicated (if it needed to be). If I remember correctly I gave a "yes" to Checkpoint Dave and Theatre of Dreams.

Kev: you mentioned that someone from Baby Cow was attending. Was she there in the end?

Quote: evan rubivellian @ July 3 2011, 9:40 AM BST

Kev: you mentioned that someone from Baby Cow was attending. Was she there in the end?

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Yes, Gill Isles (check spelling later) from Baby Cow was there, and made herself known before the show. After the show I missed her but she spoke to the producer of Lassfest and said she loved the show and thinks The Sitcom Trials is a great format. I shall let you know how our discussions proceed.

Kev F

Just a suggestion, but do you think it'd possible to see if Gill would be prepared to read full-length (30 min) versions of these scripts?

Quote: Kev F @ July 3 2011, 8:54 AM BST

Well, I have here in my camera bag, the pile of voting slips that were returned to me. There might be some missing, so this might not be totally accurate, but going by these votes, the scores went:

Bipolar 2
Shock Treatment 7
Theatre of Dreams 8
Outgoings 3
Checkpoint Dave 9

Which shows it was much closer than you may have thought (and also suggests there were only 29 people in the room, which is quite a few short, so some people either didn't vote or their votes were lost after the count). Of course Philip Hepple and Vince Stadon were in the audience, it was good to meet you

Kev F

?

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Well, I voted 'yes' for three of the above, glad I still can discern a good script when I read one.

Quote: Frantically @ July 3 2011, 11:20 AM BST

Just a suggestion, but do you think it'd possible to see if Gill would be prepared to read full-length (30 min) versions of these scripts?

View original

Excellent idea! My full-length script is finished, and I imagine the other writers have full-length versions completed too so we could email them whenever she's ready.

And good news that she's interested in the sitcom trials format itself! Seems like a very productive competition all in all.

bushbaby: Did you manage to attend the final in the end?