Blog: My Boss Is On Stage (once)

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I haven't been banging on about THE WRITING much just lately because there hasn't been much of interest to report. I mean, things are HAPPENING - I'm busily writing all SORTS of things and seem to have more ADMIN to do than I ever did when I had an Actual Job - but nothing as FASCINATING as all the various gigs, shows and wotnots I've had to tell you about of late.

However, something rather jolly IS happening this week - my sitcom pilot "My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once" (wherever did I come up with the title?) is through to the LIVE FINAL of the Birmingham branch of The Sitcom Trials. It's a show where they perform the first ten minutes of five sitcom scripts, the audience votes for which they like best, and then they do the last five minutes (they're short scripts!) of the top two to see which is the winner. It's all happening at The Old Joint Stock pub/theatre in Brum this Friday, and I plan to be there to see it!

The script I sent was based on one I wrote a couple of years ago on my MA course. I had to do some "research" for a MODULE so I thought I'd "research" ("watch") some sitcoms. The tutor thought maybe some ACTUAL research might be needed, so I ended up reading a book on How To Write A Sitcom In A Month to see if it would work, then ended up ALSO writing an essay anyway. The book was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest - a bit of theory at the start, some highly dubious examples, and then it said things like "Day 14: Keep Going!" to pad it out.

ANYWAY I applied their rules, wrote a script, and then forgot about it until this competition came along, at which point I dug it up, LARFED (i am a GRATE fan of my own jokes), then did a HEFTY re-write to make it a) funnier b) fit the requirements of the competition c) work on stage. I was, I must admit, quite pleased with how it turned out, and VERY happy that it got through to the finals.

It's ABOUT (spoilers) a bloke who used to be in an indie band who bumps into his old songwriting partner thanks to the interference of the people he works with and then, obviously, hilarity ensues - or so I hope. I guess I'll find out on Friday!

posted 30/6/2015 by MJ Hibbett

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