Blog: Half Term Homework

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It's "Reading Week" (AKA "Half Term") on my course this week, so being KING MISTER SUPER SWOT like what I am I thought I would Use The Time Well be getting ahead on some work that's coming later in the term.

I know. I have become everything I used to hate - i AM a Mature Student! HOWEVER, in my defence, a big chunk of this particular homework does involve WATCHING TELLY, for LO! we have to do a Research Project next term and I have chosen SITCOMS!

To be more specific I'm having a go at writing a 15 minute sitcom pilot that I can submit to the Sitcom Mission competition, using their own BOOK as guidance. The idea is that I CRITIQUE their method, do a bit of research into the HISTORY of sitcoms, and do the WRITING too. And, of course, at the end of it submit the sitcom and earn POUND$!

It's all jolly good fun so far - I bought the aforesaid book, Your Sitcom Mission... Should You Choose To Accept It for my kindle and I'm following it's 15 daily exercises that, in theory, will lead to a sitcom. I've so far done the first four days, which have been dead interesting. Lots of it is just FORCING you to write characters because, as it says, sitcoms are all about characters, rather than situations. It's got lots of NUGGETS like that, mostly dead good, though I did think it a bit ODD when it claimed that successful sitcoms feature YOUNG people, as a) they're sexy b) they WANT stuff, which old people don't. It suggested thinking of your favourite sitcoms for examples, which I did... Dad's Army, Father Ted and Frasier sprang immediately to mind, and there's also stuff like Only Fools And Horses, One Foot In The Grave, Mrs Brown's Boys etc etc. The only GOOD sitcoms I could think of WITH young sexy people were Friends and, arguably, Miranda. Or am I missing something?

Anyway, apart from that it's all very interesting, although it does seem at present to be leading me in the direction of a ROMANCE between The Angriest Florist In The World and The Most Over-Sensitive Funeral Director... EVER! Look out for it (DOUBTLESS) on Channel 4 next year!

posted 22/2/2013 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

How about The Young Ones? (And I confess, I've just started to write a sitcom)
posted 3/3/2013 by Charlie

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