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Tom Neenan: How do you put together a joke?
Tom Neenan, who is currently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, has written us a great article on jokes. He says "I firmly believe a one liner, a sketch and a story require all the same disciplines to work, and if you can do one well you can absolutely nail the rest." Read |
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How we made Borderline
Chris Gau, the co-creator of Channel 5's Borderline, explains how improvisation was used in the creation of the sitcom. Read |
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5 lessons for aspiring improvisers
Graham Dickson from improv collective The Free Association offers up 5 lessons for aspiring improvisers. Read |
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Andrew Ellard's advice
Top writer and script editor Andrew Ellard shares the best piece of advice he has ever received about writing. Read |
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The Latitude Attitude: juggling 14 stages
This one may be of interest to comedians who perform at festivals. Latitude arts curator Tania Harrison talks about the complexities of scheduling comedy acts at multi-stage events. Read |
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How I came to write Expenses Only
Writer/Performer Alex Lynch explains how he got his recent BBC Radio 4 comedy about work experience commissioned... whilst on work experience. Read |
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CTBF Writing Competition
The inaugural Betty Box and Peter Rogers Comedy Writing Programme from the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund is open for entries (deadline is the 26th August). Four emerging writers will each get £10,000! Details |
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Sitcom Geeks James Cary and Dave Cohen continue their podcast series focused on comedy writing. There's now 30 episodes packed with insight and advice available to download or listen to online. Listen |
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The Comedian's Comedian Podcast Stuart Goldsmith has interviewed over 170 comedians for his podcast interview series now. You can find them all via BCG: Listen You might also like this video, in which he explains how to get into podcasting: YouTube |
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James Cary blog James Cary has been busy answering readers questions on his blog this month. He addresses such topics as 'How do you make sure you don't give all the punchlines to the same character?'. Read |
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BBC Staff Comedy Writer job BBC Radio Comedy is advertising for a Staff Comedy Writer. The deadline is the 24th August, so if this sounds like your dream job, you best get that application in quick! Job Details |
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Comedy Central jobs Comedy Central are looking to hire some freelance digital writers, to create content for their website. Job Details |
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Comedy International Conference This October in London is the 7th annual Comedy International Conference, which primarily focuses on the stand-up scene. It's only really for agents, promoters, and venue owners, but if that describes you... Details |
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New Diorama Theatre programme for comedy groups The New Diorama Theatre has launched a development programme to support sketch groups. They say: "We are looking for four brilliant groups who specalise in narrative, sketch or group comedy." Details |
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Video: Working in TV comedy The speakers at a Royal Television Society event share some tips on how to get into working in comedy production. Watch |
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Shane Allen's tips We recently interviewed BBC comedy commissioner Shane Allen about the corporation's forthcoming Sitcom Season. At the bottom of the interview he offers some advice for those looking to get 'in' with the BBC: Read |
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Writing Dead Ringers The most recent series of Radio 4's Dead Ringers was broadcast during that turbulent Brexit period of politics. In this interesting blog post, producer Bill Dare and script editor Laurence Howarth talk about how they made the shows at the last minute. Read |
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Edinburgh Fringe Just a reminder that, if you're at the Edinburgh Festival, BCG has a mini-site (that is actually a big site) packed full of listings, features and review links: View Abigoliah Schamaun has published some video interviews trying to answer topics like how to market your Fringe show: Watch And if you are staying in Edinburgh, before you leave your rented place, do drop off whatever is left in your cupboards to the food bank at The Free Sisters on the 29th: Details on Facebook |
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BBC Writersroom opportunities list Don't forget to check the BBC Writersroom opportunities page. Some of the competitions they list are more suitable for drama writers, but you can often submit a comic script anyway. View |
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British Comedy Guide forums Our message board has had a makeover, and is now the same modern mobile-friendly design as the rest of the BCG website. We've also added a couple of extra sections. The six 'Make It' forums are now: Opportunities Writers' Discussion Performance Discussion Looking for Collaborators Showcase Critique |
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FlipYou Sketch Show Mike Yeoman posted on our message board to say "Just want to showcase my labour of love - comedy sketch show FlipYou. It's made in conjunction with some very talented filmmakers, actors and writers in Leicester." Sketches include a well realised Bear Grylls spoof and a sketch about a mayor who needs a SWAT team. Watch |
British Comedy Guide
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