This Country Page 4

I feel your pain.
Like a lot of modern comedy, the series was born out of some YouTube clips.
Created, written by, starring... etc etc
Most commissioners can't read scripts - so when they get them they send them to a reader who just cuts'n' pastes things out of "how to" books.
It's all very dreary.

Quote: Lazzard @ 17th June 2021, 2:29 PM

I feel your pain.
Like a lot of modern comedy, the series was born out of some YouTube clips.
Created, written by, starring... etc etc
Most commissioners can't read scripts - so when they get them they send them to a reader who just cuts'n' pastes things out of "how to" books.
It's all very dreary.

I'd argue the process worked, though, and in This Country produced a very good comedy. And if YouTube or Tik Tok or wherever is the way forward for getting commissions, then writers should be adapting to that world.

Quote: chipolata @ 17th June 2021, 6:37 PM

I'd argue the process worked, though, and in This Country produced a very good comedy. And if YouTube or Tik Tok or wherever is the way forward for getting commissions, then writers should be adapting to that world.

No - I think it works.
But it effectively means writers who aren't performers are often side-lined by the process.

It may work in getting new shows on TV but it takes us more and more away from the old or trad script led studio sitcom model, which I personally see as the gold standard format for sitcoms.

Also traditionally writers and actors are known as different breeds. Asking dreamers to shine in front of an audience is effing ridiculous, just as expecting natural performers to go into their shell for days on end conjuring up characters, story lines and dialogue is (I know there are very successful exceptions who can do both, but they are exceptions).

This show, like Warren and others which have got commissioned via YouTube clips and the like don't get made without professional co-writers doing a lot of the leg work. And just like I do with most team written sitcoms, I always see the dodgy joins and gaps. So why can't broadcasters go back to searching for writers who can deliver the whole package and are happy leave the performing to professional actors? Pirate

Quote: Lazzard @ 17th June 2021, 6:50 PM

But it effectively means writers who aren't performers are often side-lined by the process.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 17th June 2021, 8:57 PM

It may work in getting new shows on TV but it takes us more and more away from the old or trad script led studio sitcom model, which I personally see as the gold standard format for sitcoms.

Also traditionally writers and actors are known as different breeds. Asking dreamers to shine in front of an audience is effing ridiculous, just as expecting natural performers to go into their shell for days on end conjuring up characters, story lines and dialogue is (I know there are very successful exceptions who can do both, but they are exceptions).

This show, like Warren and others which have got commissioned via YouTube clips and the like don't get made without professional co-writers doing a lot of the leg work. And just like I do with most team written sitcoms, I always see the dodgy joins and gaps. So why can't broadcasters go back to searching for writers who can deliver the whole package and are happy leave the performing to professional actors? Pirate

The traditional studio audience sitcom is for the most part dead and buried and not coming back anytime soon. For better or worse it belongs to a bygone age. And yes, it would be nice if writers were developed and nurtured by broadcasters, but that's not going to happen either.

On the plus side, This Country is still very good.

Hmm, if they are dead and buried, then a lot of zombies are earning some wise TV channels a good living.

It's purely down to new generation TV commissioners and executives toadying up to stand up stars, younger people who now consume entertainment via computers and phones, the PC police; wanting to be known for bringing in a new form of sitcom despite it usually failing on most fronts, and also of course not knowing what the f**k they are doing - Oxbridge grads with no grasp or experience of the creative arts, other than probably being gay. Pirate