Newsjack - Series 11 Page 13

Quote: Bonzo @ 6th October 2014, 8:57 PM BST

maximum number of writers per sketch?

Probably time to stop adding more writers when the names in the header take up 90% of the page or the mean contribution of each writer drops to less than a sentence.

Good to see the collaborative spirit come out in Ep3, amazing what a bit of rejection can do for us. ;)

I can definitely recommend writing collaboratively and indeed am doing so for Series 11 having done so previously on 3 other series of NJ. (Actually having said that I've a 0% hit rate for collaboratively written sketches so maybe it's not the way to go!).

I've no idea on how the BBC views things but I know writing pairs have been invited in on Tuesday but never seen a writing trio or above invited in. But that might just be because no-one's done it before! (Although would you rather listen to a So Solid Crew single or a Lennon & McCartney one?)

And in terms of how many sketches to send I've always taken the view the partnership can only send the usual 2 sketches + a quickie. Might be a bit cheeky to send 2+1 from Lennon & McCartney and 2+1 from McCartney & Lennon.

Fair points! :)

Got my one-liners in with 56 mins to spare.

Quote: Bonzo @ 7th October 2014, 11:16 AM BST

Got my one-liners in with 56 mins to spare.

That's just showing off. I went for the usual 5-6 mins to spare.

As ever hoping the news story with a ready-made killer gag will break at 11:53.

I got a slightly topical one in - Michael Phelps.

Collaboration is good.
I thought we were all going to throw in ideas and come out with one uber-sketch that they simply couldn't refuse.
It would never work I suppose - everyone wants a credit.

Mike.

I just realised I'm opening the .rft file / template but after I write in the sketch I'm saving it as a .doc out of habit and attaching it in the email as a word document saved from windows, laptop.

Do this matter? Anyone else doing this?

Quote: some yoke @ 8th October 2014, 2:39 PM BST

I just realised I'm opening the .rft file / template but after I write in the sketch I'm saving it as a .doc out of habit and attaching it in the email as a word document saved from windows, laptop.

Do this matter? Anyone else doing this?

My guess would be that they're opening/editing the docs in word or something that happily reads word files so it probably doesn't matter that much. I suspect that the adherence to their templates and RTF is to:

1 - Standardise entries as much as possible. In the past they've had all sorts of things sent, including people just sticking submissions in the body of the email. It must be a pain in the backside to edit 101 different formats and file types so that they look like the standard recording script.

2 - It may be a simple idiot/instruction-following test to help weed out the people that don't bother reading a brief (and send their Eastern European novel in).

As it is, I know that there are some issues on RTF formatting from my Mac compared to windows, so I replicated the templates in open document format (.ODT) and then save them as Word Doc and RTF and send both incase the RTF is bolloxed. I suspect that that is overkill though, but I'd rather send 2 identical texts in different file formats than it turn out the file is garbled when they open it.

Addendum: I wish they'd go back to Word Documents...

Yeah I'm not a fan of this format either. I got used to the old format and could tell if my pacing or length was going to be off much quicker than with this style.

Also glad to see so many folks respond to the collaborating thing. I'm up for collaborating with whomever. Does anyone own a hat? Put all our names in and draw us out in pairs in a really drawn out process like the Champions League draw please. It could be fun to write with a new person each episode until the end of the series.

Also, good luck all on what I'm calling thalidomide thursday. We've all chanced our arms for a bit of light relief. Now let us prepare for disappointment.

Well the Ep 3 tweet has gone out. Any joy or are we under-represented again this episode?

(Nothing here btw)

Ah, I got something recorded but it didnt make the final cut. They didnt tell me what it was but it's a step in the right direction at least.

Quote: Otterfox @ 9th October 2014, 5:10 PM BST

Ah, I got something recorded but it didnt make the final cut. They didnt tell me what it was but it's a step in the right direction at least.

Well done Otterfox!

Nothing for me. Never mind. Still 3 weeks to go.... Oh no!... only 3 weeks to go!!!

Quote: Bonzo @ 9th October 2014, 5:16 PM BST

Well done Otterfox!

Nothing for me. Never mind. Still 3 weeks to go.... Oh no!... only 3 weeks to go!!!

Thanks Bonzo, I think if we give it one big push for next week some of us will definitely get something on!

I see DeathByMonkey got a credit so well done him and well done Otterfox for getting close.

Slightly surprising there's so few credits (1) for the last 2 episodes amongst us. Curse these new up and coming writers!