College of Comedy update
Well, it's Friday afternoon, and a dozen entries to the college are now with senior comedy colleagues for their opinion, and to help decide which applicants we'll be inviting in for a chat. I have e-mailed the 12, and over the next week I will be e-mailing the people who nearly made it to the shortlist.
This year we received 650 entries - oddly, exactly half last year's number - explained I think by the enhanced criteria for submission. A few people with no CVs to speak of tried their luck, but the vast majority were extremely qualified, a few rather over-qualified, and the selection process has been difficult, particularly in getting down to a dozen. Five of us were involved in that process, and the final winnowing will be done by nine people and me.
In a way this is a very exciting time, and in another it's a bit miserable, because while I'm looking forward to working with six new writers, I'm very conscious that there will be 644 others who are going to be frustrated and disappointed. Telling people that not being accepted for the scheme isn't a comment on their talent or their writing isn't much consolation, but since nearly everyone who applied has a career already, they should take comfort from that. Proud as I am of the scheme, it's not the be-all and end-all and, as Jeremy Dyson pointed out in Leeds on Wednesday night, a lot of a writer's life is rejection. Though being the rejector is never enjoyable.
Jeremy and I were on a panel with Phil Mealey and Kate Rowland doing a q&a as part of the Northern Laughs scheme, an excellent project involving writers from across the north of England being mentored by Jeremy, Phil and Craig Cash, and Ian La Frenais.
Not surprisingly, the college came up, and I was asked what my criteria were, and whether the fact that I run the scheme didn't mean that the writers all conformed to my taste. I think with a number of people involved in the selection process, there's no danger of it being a solo list, and as for criteria, I think we all apply the same - is it funny, is it original, am I immediately involved? And when you've got a bunch of scripts and sketches which meet those criteria, it's then a matter of who is funniest, who is most original, and whose work is the most involving?
When we have done the interviews I'll post names and short biogs of the six, so the next blog will be at the beginning of next month.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~12~RS~)
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Congratulations to the final 12, and thanks to Micheal for keeping us all updated.
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Hi Micheal,
Yes, it is certainly disappointing to not be in the final 12, but I would like to thank you and the BBC for giving us writers the opportunity to improve ourselves in your program.
Though I didn't make the cut this year, I will be working on my portfolio and applying again next year. Your program gives us another motivator to keep writing, keep striving, and keep improving. It also lets us point out to our parents that the BBC clearly believes there's a future in comedy, so oughtn't they think so as well? :)
Thanks again for your time and your desire to help writers.
Have a wonderful weekend and see you next year! lol.
Barry Price
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Michael,
I have submitted a sitcom script to the writers room and just wondered if the whole college of comedy process will have slowed down the response time. Obviously with a lot of writers involved in shortlisting for the college I should imagine my script has not come any closer to being read for the last month or so. Is it still realistic to expect a response within 4 months? - My script was received early February.
Oh and well done to everyone who has been shortlisted. The competition must have been really tough so fair play.
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Hey Handsome. (ahem)
The College of Comedy reading process is separate to our unsolicited reading process; one won't slow the other down.
So you should still expect a response within four months.
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A bitter-sweet moment to be in the top 30, but ultimately encouraging in terms of belief in my writing and a determination to finish my sitcom. Thanks to COC (0h!)
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Well done notStoppard, I think that's quite the achievement really... I'm hoping for a similar validation- that there's 'something' in my work, having found out that I'm clearly not in the chosen 12.
I wonder, have all the emails to the 'nearly' people been sent out? I hope not, or else I guess I'll have to accept a body blow and keep on trucking...
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@OneLegMeg
I'm afraid it's the trucking solution. Sorry.
@notStoppard
Well done. The choices were really tough this time.
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Congrats to those shortlisted, then.
Hey Miceal, the next best thing to actually getting in would be to receive any honest feedback about where my material/application fell short.
That way I can keep improving. Sometimes rejection is a great learning experience.
Could anyone there give me feedback so I can improve for next year's try? It would certainly help make up for not making it into the program.
Thanks,
Barry Price, barry@sillyplatypus.com
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Unfortunately the rules specify that feedback won't be given, purely because it's just me who would be giving it, and I can't enter into 600-odd debates.
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No problem, Micheal. I appreciate you taking a moment to respond.
Have a great weekend.
Barry
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"Unfortunately the rules specify that feedback won't be given, purely because it's just me who would be giving it, and I can't enter into 600-odd debates."
Lightweight. ;)
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@Aspie
Indeed.
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This has been a very mixed day of telling people that we'd like to meet them (happiness) or that they just missed out (sadness). Though one of the good news group hadn't been answering his phone because his wife had been having a baby, so that felt extremely good.
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I'd rather give birth to triplets three times a day than receive a rejection
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Can someone shed some light on a curiosity my co-writer and I have?
Last year we submitted a contemporary piece to the college and although we missed out on an interview we received a close but no cigar email, which was nice. This year we chose a different tact and submitted a genre piece; again we were unfortunately unsuccessful but this year also missed out the email.
As were of the opinion that both pieces are of the same standard in quality (were admittedly a little biased in that but still), please could you enlighten us as to what factors we should consider when choosing our next submission, other than just whether something is funny? For example do the subject matter, setting and styling of a submission predispose it to be considered more kindly or is the material considered as a whole?
We understand that there are certain criteria all potential employers have when recruiting staff, but I suppose what were looking for is a confirmation that the material is judged on its own merits as opposed to being held up to a checklist of what is considered de rigeur by some focus group at the time of reading.
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@Al_Debron
I'm sorry you didn't get an encouraging email this time. The material is considered as a whole,on its merits, and the shortlist encompasses a variety of styles, as was the case with the successful writers last year. There is no check list, and no focus group. The criteria are: is it funny, is it exciting, and does it speak with an original voice?
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No apology needed Michael, we just wanted to be sure that our submission wasnt shortlisted due to the merits (or lack thereof) in the material itself and that those reading it used their own preferences when judging the piece rather than a checklist handed to them by a shadowy smoking man.
Essentially were realists trying to keep our cynicism in check for when we set to work on next years entry.
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