Approaching deadlines: Sitcom Mission and Sitcom Trials 2013
Here's a quick reminder that the entry deadline for two of the UK's top comedy writing contests is fast approaching.
You've only got till the end of the month (31st March 2013) to finish polishing your script and enter it into The Sitcom Mission and The Sitcom Trials contests.
Here's more info on each of the contests...
The Sitcom Mission
With an emphasis firmly on the script development process, The Sitcom Mission uses actors to showcase 15-minute sitcom scripts at The New Diorama Theatre in London.
The competition, which is overseen by producers Declan Hill and Simon Wright, has been running since 2010. Across the last three years the final sitcoms have been seen by comedy commissioners from pretty much every TV station, plus BBC radio too. Hat Trick has commissioned a number of the finalists.
It costs £10 to enter your script (or £40 to get feedback). Your script must be a sitcom (the format suits gag-heavy sitcoms aimed at a studio audience), and it must play out at exactly 15 minutes long. There is lots of information and guidance on the Sitcom Mission website...
See also: Sitcom Mission forum thread
The Sitcom Trials
The Sitcom Trials has been running for 14 years now and, for a period in 2003, was even an ITV show.
Notably, the first Sitcom Trials show at the Edinburgh Fringe 2001 starred Miranda Hart in a self-penned sitcom set in a joke shop, with a little blonde-haired sidekick and a fanciable chap in the café next door.
The last couple of years have been fairly quiet for the contest, but it is now returning in force, having teamed up with the UK's longest running new stand-up talent competition, So You Think You're Funny?
The Sitcom Trials - So You Think You Write Funny is open to writers and writer-performers whose comedy writing has never before been broadcast on national TV or radio. It is free to enter.
Writers are asked to submit a 10-minute sitcom script that meets the guidelines on the competition's website. The shortlisted scripts will be staged live, with the five scripts that prove most popular in the heats going on to be performed in the grand final at the Edinburgh Fringe, where one sitcom will win a cash prize and a development deal with Gilded Balloon Productions.
See also: Sitcom Trials forum thread
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