Overcoming the 6 main problems facing comedy creators
Recently we ran a a survey to find out the main problems faced by our subscribers. Thank you to all those who participated – we had over 100 responses and we’ve listed the most common themes below, along with some of the things we’re working on to help. If you think something has been missed out let us know in the comments section.
Working with others
Just finding and connecting with like minded individuals.
The single most pressing issue facing comedy creators is finding people who they can work with. This was a problem for writers, stand-ups and filmmakers.
Lack of momentum and opportunities to meet and write with others
For some the struggle is to find the right person to write with. Having a co-writer enables you to develop and test ideas, but that person has to understand and share your style and be someone who you get on with. The good news is that technology now allows writers to work together from remote locations, but finding the right person remains a challenge.
In other cases the issue is more about needing to find people with the right skills to help take a project from script to screen. For many that was about attracting a production company, for others it was finding the right director, actors or editor for filming teasers of a script. Its also clear that there are freelance filmmakers out there looking for writers to work with.
We continue to run our social and open mic evenings where creators can meet, showcase and discuss projects. The next is on the 28th May – click here for more details. In addition the Comedy Crowd will soon be expanding onto a platform where members can easily upload their work in progress and find people with the skills they need – to stay updated on the latest on this exciting development make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter.
Getting people to read a script
Getting scripts in front of the right people. Basically getting past gate keepers.
Sending scripts to production companies or agents is one of the most frustrating exercises in the life of an aspiring comedy writer. In our survey creators repeatedly highlighted getting someone ‘to just read the damn script’ as their biggest problem. As aspiring writers we have to come to terms with a fundamental problem – agents and producers don’t have time to read scripts.
This isn’t a revelation, deep down all writers know this. We know because established writers, production companies and agents go to great lengths to reduce the number of script submissions they receive. Some will say they don’t accept unsolicited scripts, others don’t promise to get back to you if they do read them and others will offer to read the first ten pages but don’t promise it will happen anytime soon. We can’t blame them. The time required to separate the wheat from the chaff is considerable.
We believe it’s a system that’s broken, and if aspiring creators are to make an impact we have to do things differently. Unless you have a profile or track record, a script isn’t going to get the attention it needs to be appreciated. As an aspiring writer, sending a script to a production company is the equivalent of entering the Dragon’s Den (that’s Shark Tank for US subscribers), confidently placing a design plan for your singing lampshade on Deborah Meaden’s desk, standing back and silently waiting for her to make you an offer. It might just be the best singing lampshade that has ever been conceived but you’ve probably just wasted your train fare.
As writers we need to either demonstrate that the script can work by making it ourselves, use more engaging and imaginative tools to sell it, or develop a different relationship with production companies so that creators present more of what they want to make. These are much easier to do as part of a community and with our upcoming platform we are working on supporting you on all three.
Getting Feedback
Quality feedback. ‘Thank you, it’s not for us’ doesn’t really help a writer.
There are many reasons why getting feedback is difficult (we cover this in length here) and this was reflected in the survey responses. Sure it’s easy enough to ask for the opinion of family and friends, but is that feedback going to be impartial and valuable? It’s just as easy to get professional advice, but it will cost you so how do you make sure that you’re in a position to get the most value out of it?
The fact that there has been no easy mechanism to get good feedback during the creative process forces many creators to hold tightly to their content until they have refined it to the point that they are satisfied that feedback is worth paying for, or worse, never show it anybody.
We feel this isn’t a good approach, particularly for new creators, which is why we’ve launched our feedback panel. This enables creators to get feedback on any content (script, scenes, monologues) throughout the process from their peers, rather than spend a lot of time creating something that could have been improved much earlier.
Finding opportunities to write or perform
You only have to read our newsletter to see that there are lots of opportunities to get involved in comedy. The problem is that most of these exist in the form of competitions or open submissions where relatively few can be successful.
We particularly like to promote opportunities that not only have the prospect of comedy being produced or performed, but also provide learning for creators (see Dan Tambing’s sketch competition as an example). If our only aim in entering these competitions is to win, then we will likely fail, however, if each submission is a chance to develop and learn then the experience it can be really valuable.
We don’t think there are enough schemes that put an emphasis on this. There is too much of a ‘winner takes all’ outcome. The good news is that the Comedy Crowd is now large enough that we can run such schemes ourselves – and we are currently developing some exciting partnerships – so watch this space.
Time and Money
Finding opportunities to receive payment for my writing – I would love to dedicate more time to it but without the opportunity to earn money or progress in my career I can’t do as much as I would like.
Comedy is a passion, but let’s be frank, it is time consuming and not very well paid. This came across loud and clear on the survey.
It’s evident that nobody starts out in comedy expecting to become rich. What people can aim for, and what many would define as success, is earning incrementally more money to allow them to spend more time doing what they love.
As a part-time comedy creator its key that we make the most of the time we have. Here at the Comedy Crowd, we are continuing to work on ways to make use of our community to make each member more productive and effective.
Finding an audience for my comedy
The most commonly expressed problem amongst creators who had filmed a comedy show or sketch was the difficulty in finding an audience. With the growth of online platforms there are now many more ways for creators to get their content seen, but its also easy to get lost in the mass of material that’s out there.
The demographic and behaviour of an audience is different depending on the platform. The attention span of somebody watching on Youtube is much shorter than someone sat in front of the TV. This is something that needs to be factored in when creators decide how to structure and market their content. There is hope however, and in an upcoming blog we’ll be talking about a different way of thinking about building your online audience. Stay tuned to our newsletter.
If you liked this article you might find these blogs useful:
5 tips for writing alongside a full-time job
The 5 things we learnt about making your own comedy show
We are always looking at ways to support creators, and if you’ve got something which our community could help you with, don’t hesitate to email us – theccteam@thecomedycrowd.com.