wow that is useful info Symon, thanks

Quote: Symon @ April 22 2008, 5:28 PM BST

I wouldn't worry too much about the premise of your show. I've had the luck to speak to a few comedy bigwigs this year and what they universally say is that what really puts them off is not familiar situations, but over-familiar character types. One producer complained of 'biscuit-cutter replicas of David Brent, Basil Fawlty and Edmund Blackadder', in almost every script he'd read (and binned).

In my case, I have a breathtakingly unoriginal concept for my show, but deliberately tried to avoid the standard comedy archetypes - the cynical funny one, the simpleton, the sensible one (who is almost invariably a woman). Instead all the characters were based on people I know. Who now hate me. However, the feedback from producers is that it is the characters that sell them on the script.

So from what little experience I have, I'd say it is far more important to focus on the authenticity of the characters and the believability of the way they relate to each other. And not worry too much about coming up with the wacky situation (a hilarious submarine! a zany gulag! an amusing orphanage!)

I hope that helps but please bear in mind I am frequently 100% wrong.

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Sweet mother of god, I've failed before I've even started. Back to the drawing board for me then.

Have you written about Basil Fawlty working in a zany orphanage?

Don't say that! I could be wrong, I tells ya!

That's the thing about writing - you come up with rules, then someone breaks them and is still a success. Imagine a show based around the lives of an everyday family, which features a simpleton, a cynical funny one and a sensible woman? Cliched, right? Obvious, right? Been done to death, right??

Wrong. It's The Simpsons. So please, take my advice with a pinch of salt (low-sodium though - I wouldn't want you getting high blood pressure).

Quote: zooo @ April 22 2008, 5:37 PM BST

Have you written about Basil Fawlty working in a zany orphanage?

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No but it could've been. I'm f**ked. And not in a good way.

Quote: Symon @ April 22 2008, 5:39 PM BST

Don't say that! I could be wrong, I tells ya!

That's the thing about writing - you come up with rules, then someone breaks them and is still a success. Imagine a show based around the lives of an everyday family, which features a simpleton, a cynical funny one and a sensible woman? Cliched, right? Obvious, right? Been done to death, right??

Wrong. It's The Simpsons. So please, take my advice with a pinch of salt (low-sodium though - I wouldn't want you getting high blood pressure).

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