Working on a sketch and need some help - who do people think is the most famous historian? I've Googled and looked through the TV guide and still got nothing
Newsjack - Series 6 Page 64
David Starkey. Good distinctive voice as well, which helps. And he's a massive twat.
thanks badge - very helpful
I'm just written two sketches which are miles better than any that I've previously submitted to Newsjack.
I'm now on the look-out for a third story to cover.
Quote: Mr Writer Like In The Song @ March 23 2012, 9:01 PM GMTWhat do people think the advantages are of an open door non-topical over a topical, or vice versa?
One reason I guess for why the topical endures as a testing ground for new writers is that the brief is clear, and an ability to deliver it consistently and innovate within it marks you out clearly as a writer of promise.
Interesting question.
Things I love about topical:
Fast turnaround You can write something on Monday, be recorded on Wednesday, broadcast on Thursday and be out of date by the weekend. There's no waiting for weeks to see what happens to it.
You can write about things that annoy you. Budget got under your skin? Write about why.
The audience turns up knowing what to expect. They know the subject matter, they know the stories they want to be made fun off and they start in the mood to laugh at recent events.
Things I love about non-topical:
Chance to craft, hone and re-write. Can put something aside and come back to it fresh later and see what needs doing to it much better.
Less constraint on what to write about. That sometimes can be a bad thing but you don't have to read the papers to be struck by ideas just things that interest you.
Less likely 500 people will be writing a sketch on the same subject matter.
One thing about non-topical shows is they rarely have the variety of formats of things like Newsjack. For example - regular sketches, From the Archive, one-liners, And Finally. If there were a non-topical show I'd like to see a few regular sections and the equivalent of one-liners.
One sketch off. Damn it's getting tough.
Also it's on the Cruddas story which is moving so fast my angle's probably going to seem old hat by wednesday. Still, had to be done.
Apropos of nothing much, people at the Noozejack drinks were talking about a sitcom competition. I may have missed the deadline but can someone tell me which thread relates to it? There are quite a few sitcom competition threads. Ta
Quote: Frantically @ March 26 2012, 9:44 AM BSTOne sketch off. Damn it's getting tough.
Also it's on the Cruddas story which is moving so fast my angle's probably going to seem old hat by wednesday. Still, had to be done.
Yeah, I found it tough this weekend. The news really drags you down, don't it?
I suspect the Cruddas thing will get the "Tuesday treatment", not least because there is bound to be some massive unexpected twist that happens at 12:01pm!
Quote: Burnt Out Hack @ March 26 2012, 9:56 AM BSTApropos of nothing much, people at the Noozejack drinks were talking about a sitcom competition. I may have missed the deadline but can someone tell me which thread relates to it? There are quite a few sitcom competition threads. Ta
I suspect they were probably talking about 'Laugh Track', if it's the BBC competition they were referring to? Entry date was last Wednesday though!
Other ones to keep an eye on are Sitcom Mission (once a year around end of Jan) and Sitcom Trials (regularly around the year, different locations and entry dates).
Nothing's 'live' at the moment, you've only just missed the deadline on all three really!
Dan
Quote: swerytd @ March 26 2012, 10:00 AM BSTYeah, I found it tough this weekend. The news really drags you down, don't it?
I suspect the Cruddas thing will get the "Tuesday treatment", not least because there is bound to be some massive unexpected twist that happens at 12:01pm!
I suspect they were probably talking about 'Laugh Track', if it's the BBC competition they were referring to? Entry date was last Wednesday though!
Other ones to keep an eye on are Sitcom Mission (once a year around end of Jan) and Sitcom Trials (regularly around the year, different locations and entry dates).
Nothing's 'live' at the moment, you've only just missed the deadline on all three really!
Dan
Okay, cool. Bit stupid as I had one ready in "the drawer". Ta.
Quote: swerytd @ March 26 2012, 10:00 AM BSTYeah, I found it tough this weekend. The news really drags you down, don't it?
I suspect the Cruddas thing will get the "Tuesday treatment", not least because there is bound to be some massive unexpected twist that happens at 12:01pm!
Definitely. There's been some very bleak and harrowing news over the past month!
Yeah, I thought they'd probably do Cruddas in-house and leave it till the absolute last minute.
Quote: Frantically @ March 26 2012, 10:48 AM BSTDefinitely. There's been some very bleak and harrowing news over the past month!
Indeed. I just focused on fluff and things that happened a hundred years ago.
And there it is. The last sketch auto-reply of the series.
It's not just that the news was bleak it's that there wasn't much of it. I watched the Sunday and Saturday BBC 10 o'clock news back to back yesterday and the top 2 stories were the same on both days!
Thank goodness for Theresa May is all I can say, she's been on fine form this weekend.
I submitted two sketches yesterday evening.
Now for one last push on the one-liners.
I also found it difficult - my motivation was waning. I started a third on the Cruddas (a newsjack shop thing) but decided it wasn't good enough. I did do a sketch on Syria - on Mrs Assad being hit with sanctions, and one on the Kazakhstan shooting championship having the Borat anthem played 
I did it as an in the archives from good ole' 96.
I'm not sure the quality (seeing as my best sketches didn't get on), but I found them funny. I sent them at 11:59 today and they could still could have done with a few re-writes. Oh well...
I managed two: one on Cruddas (I was quite pleased with that one, but, as others have said, events will probably mean they end up doing it inhouse and even if they do use a non-comm submission, they'll almost certainly have so many good ones to choose from that I won't stand a chance) and one on nursery workers having poor basic skills (not so happy with that one, but thought I'd give it a punt).