Sitcom Trials - writers and actors wanted

kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

Announcing the Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special

Ever wanted to write the great new science fiction sitcom? Now's your chance. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.

As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner. Script entry is free.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Oct 19 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Bristol
Oct 20 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Manchester
Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, London
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Funrunner · Joined: 03 Sep 2012 Posts: 27

If you have found the new 'My Hero', you can bloody well keep it!

kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

Wishus · Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 224 Location: Northampton

Hi Kev,

Would you like me to promote this on the British Science Fiction Association site and Facebook?

email me at awards@bsfa.co.uk

Donna

PhilfyPhil · Joined: 12 Jul 2012 Posts: 59

If anybody's after a SciFi sitcom scenario to work with, I've got what I think is a decent situation for comedy, the scientific backup to give it an appropriate foundation but no talent for writing the dialog at all (at least, none that I've discovered so far).. would be open to a collaboration if anyone wants to drop me a PM.

elliot stewart · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 346

kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Times: Metal Mickey

See full blog with links here.

Metal Mickey was a robot first and a sitcom second. Invented by model-maker Jonathan Edward, he was spotted on Jim'll Fix It by TV producer Humphrey Barclay who commissioned former Monkee Mickey Dolenz to produce and direct a comedy series starring the robot and some kids, made by Southern TV from 1980 to 83. At its peak Metal Mickey got 12 million viewers a week. No-one has been found who remembers it being in the least bit funny, though you have to admit its CV is the sort of thing you'd struggle to invent.

So, could you create the great new science fiction sitcom, and make it even more memorable than Metal Mickey? Here's your chance to find out. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.

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kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

Sitcom Trials meeting, Bristol Sunday, actors wanted: http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bristol-trials-meeting-sun-30-actors.html Spread the word.
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kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

The Sitcom Trials presents Great Sci Fi Sitcoms of Our Times: Come Back Mrs Noah.

According to Wikipedia, Come Back Mrs. Noah is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1977 to 1978. Starring Mollie Sugden and Ian Lavender, it was written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, who had also written Are You Being Served?, which had also starred Mollie Sugden. Joke banter was recycled from other series, and outrageously strange props were used. Come Back Mrs Noah was not a success, with some regarding it as one of the worst British sitcoms ever made.

So, could you do better? Well, now's your chance to find out. On Weds Nov 28th The Sitcom Trials presents a Sci Fi Special at the Camden Head in London, and you are invited to submit a script now.

As always scripts are invited to the Sitcom Trials format of a 10 minute opening act ending in a cliffhanger with a short payoff scene. We then perform the sitcoms up to the cliffhanger, the audience votes for their favourite and only sees the ending of the winner.

With this being a Science Fiction Special, we will be taking advantage of our "radio style" presentation, encouraging writers to tailor their sitcom entries for radio production. This enables you to include any special effect you can imagine, as long as they can be incorporated into the dialogue or very simple sound effects.

Writers are invited to upload their scripts to the SitsVac Files, where you will also find the guidelines regarding style, cast numbers etc. The deadline for uploading scripts is midnight Sat Nov 4th.

These scripts will then be voted on online by anyone who wishes to participate. The deadline for voting is Sat Nov 17th. The London team will then choose two or three of the most popular scripts to perform as part of the show, the other items in the show being created in house.

So if you want to have your sci-fi sitcom tested in front of a live paying audience, get on board now and enter The Sitcom Trials. Any questions, please ask at the Sits Vac Forum, or the British Comedy Guide Forum, or the Sitcom Trials Facebook page.

Kev F Sutherland
Producer
The Sitcom Trials

Oct 19 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol
Oct 20 - Halloween Sitcom Trials, Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 28 - Sitcom Trials Sci Fi Special, Camden Head, London
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kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

Manchester Sitcom Trials team, Oct 2012 (l-r) Kate Collins, Bex Harrison, Michelle Ashton, Jamie Fillery, Phil Chadwick & (front) Sean Mason

The Halloween Sitcom Trials took place in Bristol & Manchester on Oct 19th & 20th respectively, showcasing 10 sitcoms in competition over two nights, with the audience voting for, and only seeing the ending of, the winner each time.

The Bristol line-up was
The Brides of Pete-enstein by Iain Keiller
Here Comes The Science by Stephen Keyworth
Three in Tow by Eoin Carney
Mid Afternoon of the Dead by Kev Page
The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan by Oliver Ley

And the winner was Three in Tow by Eoin Carney

The Manchester line-up was
Separate Parents by Dan Sweryt & Jim Spiers
Grimm's Law by Sean Mason
Draszic's Lot by Diehard123 / Kiera
Wink Murder by Michelle Ashton
Randolph Carter's Casefile by Judgement Dave

And the winner was Randolph Carter's Casefile by Judgement Dave

Videos are still to come. And the best Pitch Fest entry? Well, I can only speak for Manchester's winning entry (The Pitch Fest being the audience's ideas, did I ever mention this happens every show?). Check this winning dollop of genius from "Chris"...

Title: 30 Something Wrestling Obsessive
One line pitch: Buying Rustler's Hotdog, 12 pack of Disco's crisps & 6 Walls Cornetto ice creams in Iceland, "Gotta make Sunday Dinner",......... (sic) At the checkout, "What's this?!!?, who put cock in my basket?!?" ....Impersonating the undertaker and throwing boxed spotted dick across store.
Chris

The next Sitcom Trials is the Sci Fi Sitcom Trials in London on Nov 28th. You can enter a script by Nov 4th, you can then join in the voting, and be at the show. Why wait?

Kev F Sutherland
Creator & Producer
The Sitcom Trials
http://sitcomtrials.blogspot.co.uk
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kevf · Joined: 14 Mar 2002 Posts: 1616

Bristol Sitcom Trials team Oct 2012

Hello!

The Sitcom Trials returned to Bristol's Wardrobe Theatre on Friday 19th October for a special "week-and-a-bit-before-Halloween" show, which once again sold-out.

The evening's splendid host was Becky Brunning, a member of the Bristol team and a terrific stand-up. Becky made sure the audience was in a Halloweeny kind of mood by regularly encouraging everyone to give their very best spooky noises and evil laughs, and she had a special repartee going with a vocal audience member named Boycie ("You're absolutely in the right place," quipped Becky), and had great fun with the Pitch Fests by asking the audience whether pitches should be placed in her "pocket of opportunity", or discarded to the "floor of regret".

First out of the gate was "The Brides of Pete-Enstein" by Iain Kellier. This was one of the more Halloween-y of the sitcoms (featuring a mad scientist and a stitched-together re-animated corpse during a thunderstorm) and was attacked with real energy by the cast. It's a strange law of the Sitcom Trials that the first sitcom of the show is always the most difficult for an audience to get into, though "Pete-Enstein's" cracking (and very funny) cliffhanger was one of the best of the night. Incidentally, we didn't notice this until late into the rehearsal process, but a fair few of the sitcoms made reference to Einstein - and this was the first, with the theoretical physicist being evaluated on his shagability*.

CALLY - Janet Adams
KEREN - Anna Gallager
LISA - Louisa Smith
PETE - Troy Hewitt

"Three in Tow" by Ioin Carney was up next - a more sedate and character-driven piece about ghosts, and probably the most traditional of the sitcoms. The audience seemed to get this one immediately - proving once again that a simple plot, strong characters and a high gag-rate is always going to play well in a live environment. The core Bristol team are a competitive bunch, and actor/writer Lewis Cook has pointed out that he's now been in all three winning sitcoms staged in Bristol this year. Next time we'll cast him in all five, to give all the sitcoms an even chance. A line of dialogue from "Three in Tow" - "We buried your lifeless corpse, so call me Einstein" - was the second reference to the Nobel Prize winning father of modern physics.

RUTH - Naomi Carter
PETER - Lewis Cook
SANDRA - Janet Adams
ROGER - John Lomas

Sitcom number three was "The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan" by Oliver Ley, an almost pantomime excursion into a fairy tale land populated by evil princesses, put-upon handmaidens, vampires and werewolves. This had the largest cast (who all raided the costume box) and some complicated staging - especially regarding the werewolf. And just as with "Se7en", David Fincher's block-buster serial killer movie, it seems an audience will always love a shock revelation about a severed head in a bag/box.

MORTITIA/SERENITY - Naomi Carter
CINDERELLA - Anna Gallagher
VLAD - Lewis Cook
LUCIEN - Troy Hewitt
QUEEN - Janet Adams
KING - John Lomas

After the intermission, Becky read out more Pitch Fests, a few of which were amusingly based around cheese or cattle (there may have been dairy workers in the audience), plus a near-the knuckle Jimmy Savile themed pitch that immediately hit the floor of regret.

"Mid-Afternoon of the Dead" by Kev Page kicked off the second half of sitcoms with aplomb - this one has some nifty ideas and a quirky perspective on the zombie holocaust sub-genre. A malfunctioning prop aside (actor Troy Hewitt's look of surprise was one of my favorite things of the evening), this went swimmingly from the get-go. Our third Einstein reference here was a visual gag (supported by dialogue) which had the brains-hungry undead menace distracted by a photo of Bert, the guy who did that e=mc2 thing. Kev Page was in the audience, with a friend named Matt who very kindly filmed the show; hopefully very soon we'll be able to upload the footage.

GEMMA - Louisa Smith
JULES - Naomi Carter
PROFESSOR - Janet Adams
OFFICER HARRIS - Troy Hewitt

"Here Comes The Science" by Stephen Keyworth was the last sitcom of the night, and the one that didn't feel like a pilot episode; with minimal exposition we were immediately into a developing plot featuring strong characters . In rehearsal, this very British sitcom suddenly became very American, which seemed to work perfectly. Oddly, despite being a sitcom about scientists, this didn't have an Einstein reference.

FIELDS - Troy Hewitt
YORNING - Louisa Smith
BARK - John Lomas

As the voting took place, the winning Pitch Fest was chosen retro-stylee, with a member of the audience invited on stage to catch slips of paper as they were thrown in the air, with the rest of the audience joining Becky in singing the theme tune to "The Crystal Maze". (Incidentally, the winner never made himself known to me, so please do drop me a line if you're reading this!)

The votes were close - closer, I think, than in any previous show at the Wardrobe.

"Three in Tow" = 14
"The Princess of Darkness Wants a Tan" = 13
"Here Comes the Science" = 12
"Mid Afternoon of the Dead" = 11
"The Brides of Pete-Enstein" = 8

Congrats to Eoin Carney, who sadly couldn't be with us because he lives several thousand miles away in a completely different time zone.

A huge thank you to all the writers; and to the brilliant cast (especially Louisa who gamely battled with a cold so that the show could go on); to Becky Brunning, our marvelous compere for the night; and to our talented director Alistair Hedderman; and to Kev F, as always; and to the Wardrobe Theatre who are a complete delight to work with.

Our next show will be on Friday Feb 22nd - stay tuned for details.

--Vince Stadon

* I've just remembered that we had an Einstein reference in one of the sitcoms in the first Bristol show back in March, so clearly, for reasons beyond my comprehension, this is now developing into some kind of weird in-joke.
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