BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy 2022 (Deadline 12th May 2022) Page 2

Just five days left to enter this one. A tip from me if you've not entered before, if you are entering on the final day, as I usually do for most comps make sure you are registered first, as from memory it's a fiddly process. You can't enter without being a Rocliffe member, it's free but obligatory so don't chance getting your script in at 4.45 (closes 5pm) not having registered, you'll be very lucky to get it all done in time.

And it's probably too late for punters who didn't know but this comp is also for comedy sketch series, not just sitcoms, and I believe there are a few sketch writers on here so here's a rare opportunity for you. Good luck as long as you don't win (joking), right I've got 5 days to find my password...

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 7th May 2022, 10:56 AM

Just five days left to enter this one. A tip from me if you've not entered before, if you are entering on the final day, as I usually do for most comps make sure you are registered first, as from memory it's a fiddly process. You can't enter without being a Rocliffe member, it's free but obligatory so don't chance getting your script in at 4.45 (closes 5pm) not having registered, you'll be very lucky to get it all done in time.

And it's probably too late for punters who didn't know but this comp is also for comedy sketch series, not just sitcoms, and I believe there are a few sketch writers on here so here's a rare opportunity for you. Good luck as long as you don't win (joking), right I've got 5 days to find my password...

Yep, already signed up from when I was going to enter previously, checked a few weeks back to make sure account is still working (it is, yay!)

I should be entering, as long as I don't chicken out!

Quote: Crindy @ 7th April 2022, 11:54 AM

My point was that if you're trying to write really great scripts, sitcom or otherwise, then passing the 'first ten page' test is a key part of it. That's where a script stands or falls. It's got to be interesting, funny and engaging from minute one,

Then send your first ten pages if you're happy with them. Hopefully they'll give added weight to the fact you've done this, and they'll find this out in the supporting materials.

Quote: Feeoree @ 7th May 2022, 9:35 PM

as long as I don't chicken out!

There's no point whatsoever in that. (As long as you can afford the fee.) You may not get selected like most others, but you'll still get valuable feedback you couldn't have got any cheaper anywhere else. The worst thing with doing that is though, the 'what ifs' and the effect it may have on you continuing the project.

And just getting something in is good practice (in all senses) for any aspiring writer.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 8th May 2022, 11:10 AM

And just getting something in is good practice (in all senses) for any aspiring writer.

100% this.

I think its a shame that they keep the low paid out, just because we're skint it doesn't mean our writing is not as good as anyone else's. Forty six quid may not be a lot to some and good luck to them. But for people like me its like a sign on the door that says 'F**k Off you're poor' and sadly these doors are everywhere.

They don't Teddy, they have a bursary for those on low pay and/or benefits but I believe the deadline for that may have gone.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 5th April 2022, 10:18 AM

they've introduced a bursary scheme for those who can't afford the £46 entry fee, only gone up a quid since last comp two years ago so it's very fair.

I've checked and it closed on the 2nd unfortunately. Ten days before the deadline. It says they offer a limited number of free entries for those who can't afford the entry fee through their bursary. They've been doing it for some years now.

Thanks Alfred I didn't know . its just a shame I can't go in this one. I'm not starving but I don't have the money this one costs so I'll keep my eye out. There's also a part of me that hates the idea of people having to pay at all.
To be honest I am growing further and further away from writing anyway as I have lost my mojo having sent unsolicited pitch on top or unsolicited pitch and got nowhere. When I did get a sit down with BBC producer she sent me a grand and told me that my plates would be spinning then dropped me like a brick because I couldn't create 'Agency' for the mother in the sitcom .
In my plot she dreamed of one day owning a caravan seeing that she worked as well as running a house . But she wanted her to do night classes to get a degree? I said that would be like Shirley Valentine, but I didn't even get a reply to that.
Anyway thanks for that if I ever do get my mojo back I'd look into that.
I have also written a 4 hour 3 night thriller with no comedy at all but the cost of having someone edit that and give me advice was way over the top. I'm good but I need professional help to have my stuff made more presentable as I don't even have a script writing programs. So I suppose this was more of a gripe than anything else .

It's a notoriously hard profession to break into, and a hobby or pastime that tests the best of us, but I've come to believe that more than half of it is not giving up. Hope you're able to get back on it soon, cheers.

Nice swan Alfred , I am trying to get my head back into my serious one as comedy has changed so much that I think its left me behind. I can't grasp all the social messaging thats needed. What they want is so inclusive that its hard to put comedy into it. But thats what they want and if I can't provide it its my fault not theirs.

Got mine in yesterday. Ahead of schedule :O Not expecting anything apart from hopefully some workable feedback notes. Hopefully.

Just an extra warning for anyone leaving it to the last second today to submit, it took me a couple of tries to get the submission/payment system to work on the BAFTA site, so the cost/benefit of doing your 47th sense check at 4.55pm today might be a little too high. :)

This was me after I'd had my usual cockups such as deleting part of my treatment then having to redo it. Then sending the wrong file for the script extract, as I had so many of them by then. Still, it allowed me to enter and upload my things at ten to six! And I have email receipts, so they are not as ruthless as all that, after all thank god.

Alfred after reading what you said , my lad sent me a link to this as he knows the BBC shot knocked me for six.
Anyway I told him I knew about , as always he offered to pay it for me . Normally I give him my 'If they want your money, its all they want from you" approach and thank him.
But I said yes for once and it will be my Fathers Day gift. I was up till 3 last night . So even if its the last I hear from them its put me back on my horse.
I'm knocking comedy in the head and I'm working on thriller thats been on my canvas for years but its a story that never dates.
So thanks for your post and few replies from others on here made me think that this one is at least worth a punt and its got to be better than socks.

I dunno about that, you could buy a lot of socks for 46 quid and mine keep running away. But you'll be happy for getting something in, for certain. I've always hated the feeling of having missed some comp op or pulling out of entering. I sent a rushed looking supporting mats file but hopefully a spotless script file, so I'm hoping they focus on that one, gulp. Anyway, if feedback's all we get, it's still useful to have.

My mate and I somehow won this back in 2019. It's a complete game-changer so if you forgot to enter this time around I'd definitely recommend it for next time. Appreciate it's a lot of money but there is a bursary available and of the different competitions we've entered this seemed to have the prize in that you get to see your show acted out by professional actors (we had Charly Clive, Greg McHugh and others) and a proper director (Ella Jones) overseeing it all! Then you get the chance to meet producers both on the night and long after the event has ended.

For those who have entered, good luck! From our experience we heard after around a month if we'd been shortlisted and then 3 weeks after that we found out we'd won. So you should know in about 2 months if you're a winner or not!

Cheers!

Quote: Steve Whyley @ 16th May 2022, 3:34 PM

My mate and I somehow won this back in 2019. It's a complete game-changer so if you forgot to enter this time around I'd definitely recommend it for next time. Appreciate it's a lot of money but there is a bursary available and of the different competitions we've entered this seemed to have the prize in that you get to see your show acted out by professional actors (we had Charly Clive, Greg McHugh and others) and a proper director (Ella Jones) overseeing it all! Then you get the chance to meet producers both on the night and long after the event has ended.

For those who have entered, good luck! From our experience we heard after around a month if we'd been shortlisted and then 3 weeks after that we found out we'd won. So you should know in about 2 months if you're a winner or not!

Cheers!

Nice! Well done! (For 2019)

I didn't enter in the end. Not the aforementioned chickening out, it was just that on review, I felt mine wasn't quite as strong as I want it to be for submitting to something like BAFTA.

All the supporting materials are done and as I said before I like to let myself run away with it and plan a whole bloody series and show and imagine where my characters end, so I now have two shows with plans. And whenever the Galton/Simpson Bursary may come back and Future Rocliffes, I may have 2 different projects in good shape. And then decide which one to put out in the world haha.