By Dan Page

Okay, clickbait alert! I haven’t personally become a BBC accredited supplier because, well, people can’t. But companies that people set up can. And – spoiler alert – I just stubbed my toe. Wait, that’s not how that works…the point is, I’ve set up my own company and as of January 2020 I’ve been able to formally pitch ideas to the BBC through it.

Some of you out there may be asking what the fuss is all about. I mean, anyone can pitch ideas to the BBC, right?

The answer is yes…and no. It’s yes in the sense that anyone can email a BBC Producer with an idea and ask them if they want to commission it. It’s no in that the likelihood of this succeeding is about as high as me suddenly understanding Quantum Mechanics and unifying it with the theory of General Relativity (although I do have some very promising ideas involving penguins and the old packets of mints you sometimes find in your coat).

It’s also no in that official BBC policy is that they won’t accept programme ideas from individuals unattached to a production company and that to formally pitch you have to register as a supplier. 

What’s interesting though is that in the last 18 months or so, the BBC have relaxed the rules as to who can become registered.  

Previously to become a supplier you had to have experience in delivering programmes to network radio (e.g. the BBC Radio), or have access to people with that experience. Which is pretty much the ultimate chicken and egg situation, in that how can you gain experience delivering programmes to the BBC if you’re not allowed to deliver without experience?

The standard get-out clause was to form a company with an ex-BBC producer (hence why so many independent Production Companies have ex-BBC producers on their boards).

But recently the BBC added a clause to their requirements that allowed podcast production companies with at least 2 active podcast feeds to register.

And this was HUGE. Because it meant that:

1. The BBC recognises the importance of podcasting to the audio landscape
2. The BBC is keen to encourage new suppliers
3. My company could register

Because, being the smart, sophisticated* producer that I was, I’d realised that the second podcast that we’d produced – The Engineering Edge – was going live in November, whilst our first show – The DesignSpark Podcast – was still very much live, thus meaning we’d meet that all-important criteria.

BUT before everyone with two podcast feeds reading this article race towards the BBC website and click the ‘sign me up you gorgeous gorgeous people’ button, there’s also the…small matter…of all the other things you need to demonstrate you’re fit to spend public money.

Like a Limited Company registered at Companies house.

Which means a business bank account. And an accountant. And money to pay for them.

And being willing to follow 7 sets of BBC policies and guidelines and 65 pages of BBC Terms of Trade. 

And committing to complying with BBC audio quality standards.

And being registered under the Data Protection Act.

And having Business Continuity, Data Protection, Health and Safety, Equal Opportunity and Diversity and Inclusion policies…alongside an employee code of conduct.

Which unless you’re a smart, sophisticated** producer like me, is a LOT of paperwork. And even if you are, it’s still a LOT of paperwork.

So what’s the moral of the story? Being good at paperwork can help in surprising places. Although being able to come up with original ideas for podcasts is still the most important thing. Well, after being able to unify General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics that is…

Tickets to the live recording of Series 3 of the iTunes Top 10 rated sci-tech-comedy show The DesignSpark Podcast are available now from the box-office at Etcetera Theatre.

* really anal

** really really anal

By Daniel Page

I’ve previously talked about the importance of learning and mastering the basics of comedy writing and how it can help you move up the ‘ladder’ of opportunity and get noticed by producers.  Below are ten ways you can go about this… I recommend you try as many as possible!

1. Go on a comedy course. You wouldn’t try baking a cake without a recipe, so why try to write comedy without understanding how it works? They’d both just be a big floury mess. There are lots of courses to choose from, both academic institutions and industry writers/performers. Have a good look at the course description and tutor bio to find something that matches your comfort level and budget. The chance to ask questions of an experienced tutor and bounce ideas off fellow writers can make a real difference to your learning. Whilst some courses focus on sitcom (e.g. http://bit.ly/1Uc9JCg), others look at sketch (http://bit.ly/1VZbj9N) or more general techniques (http://bit.ly/1U8pKDM). Check out our courses page if you want to learn the basics of writing comedy.

2. Listen to Newsjack.  BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Newsjack (http://bbc.in/O7dyIz) is a great example of how new writers should write topical sketches and one-liners.  Listen carefully to an episode (sticking a pencil behind your ear might help) and try to unpick the structure and rhythm of the material.  They all follow a very similar formula and they ALL generate laughs (and the occasional groan) from audience.  It’s a simple but effective style recognised across the comedy writing industry.  Plus the producers are really great guys.  Like super great.  Top top people.  Like THE best (no really).  Any jobs guys…?  No?

3. Read a book.  There are many books on writing comedy, so why not invest a few pounds in what amounts to a masterclass from a professional.  To get ahead of the pack, I recommend investing the time putting into practice the words on the page (and you thought you’d escaped homework…).  I found The Serious Guide to Joke Writing by Sally Holloway (http://amzn.to/1PtGXFJ) to be a fantastic foundation into the basics which you can dip into time and again.  For a more detailed inspection of humour the The Cheeky Monkey by Tim Ferguson (http://amzn.to/1XphPb8) is pretty much the mother-lode, but be prepared to sink hours into that bad boy and James Carey’s thorough, charming and honest Writing that Sitcom (http://amzn.to/1Uju8Co) gets my vote for all aspiring sitcom writers (plus it’s a Kindle book, which makes you look cooler when you read it…right?)

4. Read writer’s blogs.  James Cary keeps a really good blog (http://bit.ly/28Scl7W) about the art of sitcom writing, PLUS does a free podcast.  He’s basically a very nice man sharing some very useful information.  I’d also recommend David Salisbury’s archive (http://bit.ly/28QKAYa), Ian Tiller’s site (http://bit.ly/290DnWa) and of course my site (http://bit.ly/28VHvtd).

5. Read some scripts.  Studying scripts that Producers have bought can provide a great insight into what ‘good’ looks like.  Try breaking down and understanding how the script was put together and what makes it strong.  Is is the characters?  The pithiness of the dialogue?  The surprising jokes?  Or that hilarious custard pie fight on page 7? (Idea for sitcom – two sexually repressed clowns head to Vegas where HILARIOUS antics ensue).  The BBC Writersroom (http://bbc.in/28JFcb1) is a great place to find sample UK scripts and this site (http://bit.ly/28JL8zA) is amazing for US shows.  Newsjack host a nice sketch from Sarah Campbell (http://bbc.in/17golt9) and Tom Neenan has written a brilliant introspective (http://bbc.in/28Jco0A) that is a must read.  Both Sarah and Tom are ex-BBC Bursary Writers, the ‘gold standard’ of comedy writing placements to aspire to!  I’d also recommend any time you meet a writer to ask if you can swap scripts – that way you’ll see what the ‘competition’ is up to, get a feel for different writing styles and maybe spot some techniques you can add to your repertoire.  Don’t forget, this deal only works if you have something for them to read as well. 

6. Watch some sketches online.  Try looking at sketches from the perspective of a writer.  Once you feel you’ve understand the basics, looking for the theory action can be a brilliant way of mastering your craft (and is a great excuse to sit on YouTube for a couple of hours).  Look for common structure, rhythms and mechanics.  Do they follow what you’ve learnt or break the rules in a knowing way?  If you think they’re rubbish can you work out why they didn’t work?  Mitchell and Webb sketches (e.g. http://bit.ly/1dMYla0, http://bit.ly/1T6enLT & http://bit.ly/2fzUlhj) can be a great place to start.

7. Collaborate.  Writer can be a lonely art…but it doesn’t have to be.  Bouncing ideas and gags off other writers and performers can help you quickly learn what works and what doesn’t and fellow writers will be facing the same challenges as you. Some may even have found solutions. Places like the Comedy Crowd Writers and Actors group, or the British Comedy Guide’s collaboration forum are a great way to find someone to work with.  Why not try teaming up with that writer you just met the other day who you got on really well with?  When you find someone good, learn from them.  When you just don’t click with someone, don’t be afraid to move on.

8. Go see live comedy.  It doesn’t matter if it’s stand-up or live sketch, there’s little substitute for seeing first hand what makes an audience laugh.  Again put on your writer’s hat (unless it blocks the view of the people behind you) and get a feel for why something is or isn’t working.  In particular, spot the moments that build the ‘energy’ in the room and help the audience find their way into a routine.  NewsRevue for me was a revelation – bad writing had nowhere to hide but good writing…that got the room in stitches and a round of applause.  If it’s your words that do this then the feeling is incredible.

9. Practice.  You wouldn’t enter a tennis tournament without having a few practice matches first, would you?  Actually you might, but chances are you’d crash and burn.  Write some jokes.  Write some more.  Create some sketches.  Bin them and try again.  They say it’s 10,000 hours to master something and whilst you might not agree with the exact number, hopefully you will agree that someone who’s been writing for a year probably has the edge on someone who’s been writing for a week.  That’s unless you don’t bother doing 10.

10. Ask for feedback.  I can’t understate the importance of this one.  If you’ve written 1,000 jokes but not shown them to anyone then I’m afraid you’ve not understood what it is to be a comedy writer.  Feedback allows you to test some material before it’s put in front of an audience.  It’s VERY painful when no-one laughs at your material, so why not test it first by sharing your work in a safer environment? Free options include friends and family, creative contacts you get on well with or, if you’re feeling a little braver, you can try the critique forum at the British Comedy Guide.  In terms of paid options the Comedy Crowd Writersrooms give you feedback from a select group of fellow writers and an experienced script editor. It’s vital that you embrace negative feedback as this is nature’s way of telling you where something isn’t working and allows you to try and fix it. It’s worth double any positive feedback you may receive, so be brave and share. It will make you a better writer.  

You’ll note that none of the above include ‘send stuff off to a producer’ or send ideas into a competition.  That’s because I’d only recommend doing so after you’ve built your technique, rather than as a way of building your technique.  For more ways on doing this, check out my blog either directly or via the Comedy Crowd.

Daniel is a freelance script-editor, writer and producer of comedy shorts, sketch, sitcom and one-liners with credits on NewsRevue, Newsjack and The Sitcom Trials. For bespoke advice on your script visit www.coiledslinky.strikingly.com. Comedy Crowd members get a 10% discount on some services.

By Daniel Page.

So you wanna be a boxer comedy writer?  Congratulations that’s great news!  But where should you start?

There’s over 30 different aspects I could share with you, covering everything from punchlines to sound effects to the correct density of custard pies, but it’s probably best that I start you off with the basics.  If you can master these fundamental building blocks of writing comedy then you’ll stand a good chance of kick-starting your journey towards stardom, or at the very least a meagre weekly paycheck.

So what are these ‘basics’ I speak of?  Well, I’m not talking about words, although to be fair they are fairly important…

And I mean, obviously you’ll need a pen and paper.

And like a desk or something to lean on.

A chair helps too.  Also some tea….

Okay, enough distraction.  Consider this – just WHY do people laugh at jokes?  There are lots of theories out there, including this one from the excellent Tim Ferguson, but quite frankly you’re reading my article right now and I’m gambling you’re too lazy relaxed to look elsewhere.

Still here?  Good.

From personal experience there are a whole raft of factors that contribute to make something funny.  Creativity, ingenuity, personality, character, energy, conflict, confinement, dialogue, language, timing (more so for performance than writing) and rhythm are all important.

But for me the most vital elements of good comedy writing are CONTEXT and SURPRISE.  Let’s talk about each of these respectively.

SURPRISE

See what I did there?  Surprise is leading the audience one way and then doing something they weren’t expecting…. but CRUCIALLY is in CONTEXT.  This last bit is so important I did two of the words in capitals.  We’ll come back to this in a bit.  Context that is, not my penchant for capitalisation.

Let’s break down this ‘surprise’ thing a little.  Have a quick watch of the first 40 seconds of this classic sketch.

When the brain is expecting something but doesn’t get it (e.g. a surprise), I suggest two things happen over the course of a few seconds:

1. It gets startled, enters fight or flight mode and reflexively reacts.  This could be a yelp of fear, paralysis or perhaps, if it’s a joke or sketch, an unforced guffaw.   

2. Next it tries to solve the puzzle before it.  Is there danger or is everything actually okay?  Is it actually quite happy at solving the puzzle?  If the answer to both is ‘yes’ because you’ve written a joke (good) and not a death threat (bad) then it will react with relief and satisfaction.  A letting out of tension.  Perhaps a sigh, ‘aaaahh’, or if we’re really lucky, a laugh.

In the video clip Ronnie B builds the tension with Ronnie C – something is clearly wrong, but what it is?  When Barker then says “fork handles” around 0:21 there’s a nervous ‘it must be a joke so I’ll laugh’ reaction.  But when he then gives the true punchline and explains the joke “handles for forks”, the puzzle and there’s a huge wall of laughter (and relief).

So now we’ve identified that surprise is key and we’ve got a few ways to set our audiences to ‘laugh mode’ (not forgetting to spin their left nipple nuts anti-clockwise if they’re a 4000 series mechanoid), then presumably we’re ready to write some JOKES?

CONTEXT

Q.  What’s brown and sticky?

A.  SAUSAGES!

Our first joke using surprise, yay!  Except… it was pretty rubbish.  Which is odd as it was REALLY surprising.  So what went wrong?

The thing about surprise is that if it’s too surprising, it won’t fully work.  You may get the beginnings of a smile or giggle as the brain is startled, but as it rapidly considers what you’ve just said it’ll follow through with a confusion.  Because what you’ve said doesn’t really make any sense.

Instead we want the brain to feel relief that what you’ve said won’t hurt it and happiness that it’s solved the riddle you’ve posed it.  This means we need to make the joke friendly and solvable.  Things that make sense are friendly and solvable.  So we want a surprise that makes sense.  Or, to use the words of my fellow comedy writer David Salisbury:

“Comedy is confounding expectations in a way that makes sense.”

Memorise this phrase.  Write it down.  Get it tattooed on your arm.  This is the single most important piece of advice I’ve ever seen in comedy.  Do this and your jokes will be funny (or at least stand a chance of being funny).  It’s possible of course to go too far the other way.  Try this one out loud:

Q.  What’s brown and sticky?

A.  POO!

Yes!  Poo is very brown and very sticky (if yours isn’t consult your nearest poo doctor immediately) so the punchline makes total sense in the context of the question.  But it’s still not working as a joke as we’ve lost our element of surprise (although I did get you to shout the word ‘poo’).

So we’re looking for a level of surprise that we really weren’t expecting, but really does make sense in the CONTEXT of the riddle we’ve set them.  Because it turns out that most jokes are actually riddles dressed up in fancy clothes.

What might a middle ground look like?  Let’s finish up here and apply our new found skills to our stock joke:

Q.  What’s brown and sticky?

A.  A stick!

Hooray, a functioning joke!  The author has given us some surprise by interpreting ‘sticky’ as ‘like a stick’, which in the context of the riddle, is nicely satisfying.

Okay so it’s probably not the funniest joke out there, but then again we’re somewhat limited with our subject matter of… well…sticks.  I’ll talk more about the importance of finding good subjects and ‘angles’ another time.

In my next article I’ll look at how we can use context and surprise to build and structure jokes. For the time being, why not start having a play yourself and see what happens?  You might be surprised…

Daniel is a freelance script-editor, writer and producer of comedy shorts, sketch, sitcom and one-liners with credits on Newsjack, NewsRevue and the Sitcom Trials.  For bespoke advice on your script visit www.coiledslinky.strikingly.com. Comedy Crowd members get a 10% discount on some services!

(C) Daniel Page, 2016

All Rights Reserved

Daniel Page is a freelance script-editor, writer and producer with credits on Newsjack, NewsRevue, 12 sketches in a London Shed and The Sitcom Trials.  In this article, the first in a series aimed at helping aspiring comedy writers, Daniel talks about the many opportunities that exist for those willing to embrace the realities of writing comedy.

Your mum laughs at your jokes.  Your friends tell you you’re funny.  That thing you do with a box of paper clips is HILARIOUS to your cat (at least you assume that’s why he took a shit in your shoe). 

The trouble is, Twitter rarely retweets your jokes, the BBC won’t touch your sketches and Baby Cow won’t read your sitcom.  You’re finding it hard to get noticed, find and take opportunities and generally make progress.  Also, it burns when you pee, but I’m sadly not going to cover that here.

For me the reason you’re struggling comes down to this – writing comedy is hard.  REALLY hard.  But here’s the rub… knowing this could make you a stronger writer.

After a few years researching the landscape I’ve found four things that help me improve my writing, challenge my own material and target the best opportunities.  I hope this article helps you do the same.

So here’s what I’ve discovered:

• Writing isn’t performance
• Most (not all) of your stuff is rubbish
• Many writers are better than you
• There are opportunities out there begging to be won

Writing isn’t performance

The words you write on a page are not the performance an audience will see.  Skilled actors, directors, technicians and producers will turn it into a work of art through a combination of body language, pace, rhythm, emotion, intensity, spotlights, sound effects, timing, panache and biscuits.

Your job is to simply come up with some sure fire material for this group of people to perform.  People you’ve possibly never met and whose skills you don’t fully understand.

Somehow you’ve got to get past that and imagine how your words might play out.  You’ve got to write words that a bunch of strangers will use to get another even larger bunch of strangers to involuntarily expel air in a staccato manner.

This, is hard.

Witty won’t cut it.  Puns = groans.  Audiences reach punchlines to obvious jokes faster than then pound drops after a referendum.  You’re looking for those 20 words / 90 seconds of tight writing that neatly dissect their target with flow, rhythm and PUNCH.  The ones that force an audience spit their warm beer and overpriced cocktails onto their overpriced coats and warm crotches.  And not care that they’re doing so, because they’re too busy laughing.

Once you hear that ‘whoomph’ of laughter from a joke YOU wrote you won’t settle for anything less.  And nor will producers.  Why should they?

Knowing this hopefully tells you two things:

• You could really do with learning how to get there.  It’s hard to bake a good cake without having the right ingredients or knowing the recipe, so why do the same with writing?

• If it’s this hard to write to good material, many people will struggle.  So if you can consistently hit this standard, chances are you’ll eventually get noticed.

Most (not all) of your stuff is rubbish

A quick glance at my credits page shows I’ve written lots of comedy for lots of people, which suggests I might be good at it.  The trouble is you’re only seeing the stuff that made it.  The other 80% is basically garbage.  Even my joke about colonic irrigation I told them to shove up their arse didn’t work.

Just because I once wrote a gem that once got used on Newsjack doesn’t automatically mean my next piece is any good.

Writing a good joke, sketch or sitcom requires a goodly dollop of inspiration backed up by good execution.  Producers will sometimes take a well executed so-so idea, more often take (and re-write) a great idea that’s been badly executed, but will almost alway take a well executed great idea.  Does the piece you’ve just written have these qualities?

The trick is to learn to know when you got a gem or a turd on your hands (shoes, face, whatever gets you going really).  It’s far better you figuring this out than asking a producer to do so.  They get bored of receiving turds and you really want to be remembered as that writer who mainly sends in gems (I tried sending in some Jelly Babies once with my turds…didn’t work).

So try to be really honest with yourself about what you’ve written.  Or even better, ask someone else to take a look.  Then write another version.  Or better still, another sketch.  There’s a reason why writing teams start with 100 ideas, write 30 sketches and then record the best 12…

Many writers are better than you

There’s a huge and growing number of comedy writers out there and, quite frankly, many of them are better than me (and probably you).  Let’s consider the competition:

• In the UK alone there are easily 1,000s of beginners – writers who enjoy what they do, but lack experience and technique.  They may have the odd credit on a podcast or Newsjack, but struggle to regularly turn out quality work or get producers interested.  Even so, e-mail and social media makes it possible for them to sneak the odd gem through.

• Then there are the 100s of emerging writers who have mastered the basics and are capable of turning out a decent one-liner or sketch on a semi-regular basis.  They’ve got several credits under their belt and are using the power of the community to collaborate, make their good work and put it out there (check out the Kirrin Island Team http://bit.ly/1NWu1cz or the Wooden Overcoats bunch http://bit.ly/1OQptFH). Some of these writers are impressing producers enough to get invited to the Newsjack writers room or tryout slots on ‘The News Quiz’.

• That’s not even counting the slew of Competition Winners who’ve beaten thousands of others to win events like BBC Writersroom, or the Sitcom Mission or Class Dismissed.  Producers will definitely be in touch with these guys.

• Now we get to the hundred or so workhorse writers that producers rely on to churn out quality gags for the endless panel and topical news shows.  We’re talking established stand-ups, current and former BBC Comedy Bursary writers, New Comedy Award winners… people who know their stuff, are getting paid some money to write some comedy and are just getting better and better.

• After this I’m guessing there are perhaps a few dozen top end UK writers who earn a reasonable living from writing by contributing to mainstream shows, create episodes of a long running sitcom or even writing their own series.  And they’re not going anywhere.  You need to become better, fresher and more relevant than these guys to lure producers away from them…

• …which is exactly what some writers are doing.  These shooting stars are bringing innovative, fresh, smack-between the eyes writing to the table that’s winning awards left right and centre (hi Phoebe Waller-Bridge).  Producers will grab onto them as they accelerate towards stardom.

• Mind you, even these writers are having to compete with the twenty or so super-talented, highly experienced industry legends with a rock-solid track record on shows such as ‘The Thick of It’ and ‘Peep Show’.  Mind you, even these guys will be pitching against and around the writing royalty whose pop-star reputation means they can probably get a meeting based on name alone.

Place yourself somewhere on the list.  Does it help explain why producers aren’t beating a path to your door?  But don’t give up just yet, because…

There are opportunities out there begging to be won

I used to think there weren’t enough opportunities for new writers, but I no longer think this is true.  If anything it’s the pros who have a legitimate reason to struggle to find work.

There are LOADS of places to submit your work – the industry needs a constant stream of funny material.  Shows like NewsRevue have a voracious demand for topical gags and right now Amazon, Netflix and others are battling it out to find great new content.

I’ve talked about the need to get good at making people laugh, the importance of evaluating your own work before you send it out and the need to recognise you’re competing with lots of other writers.  Get this right often enough and you’ll start getting noticed.  I mean sure, covering yourself in honey and miming Beatles songs will also get you noticed, but the former is better for your career (actually both are good, but I’m allergic to honey, so let’s just drop it okay?).

So armed with this information, you’re going to learn how to write good comedy, find people you trust to give you constructive feedback and find opportunities that play to your strengths and expose other writer’s weaknesses.

In later articles I’ll say a bit more about how and where to find and convert opportunities, but in the meantime here’s a generic worked example:

• Not all writers spot all opportunities.  Do you know about www.londonplaywrightsblog.com?  Are you signed up to BBC Writersroom Twitter feed or The Comedy Crowd weekly newsletter?  Congratulations.  Out of a thousand writers you’re now in the top 500 who’ve actually realised there’s a chance to submit something.

 

• Does the opportunity have a deadline?  Do you have the self-discipline to hit it?  Great!  You’re now in the top 200.

• Does your work meet basic entrance criteria such as the right length or vaguely on topic?  You HAVE sent in topical writing for a topical news show?  Well in that case Mr ‘I’ve read the instructions’, move on up to the top 150.

• Does your sketch look like a sketch?  As in they’ve asked for a sketch and you’ve given them something that follows the basic rules of sketch structure and progression?  Holy smokes Batman, you’re now in the top 100!

• Can you spell corroctly?  Is your script vaguely formatted?  Have you written in short sentences with clear and punchy dialogue?  Hurrah!  It’ll get more love when it’s read.  Moonwalk on to the top 75.

• Have you got any JOKES in there?  Like actual jokes that people will laugh at?  Yes?  Say  hello to the top 40 you sly bastard.

• Are these jokes focused around a good premise delivered by funny characters?  Does your sketch finish with a decent punchline?  Welcome to the top 20.  Help yourself to a cigar.

At this point it’s now down to the producer’s preference and little bit of luck, but you’re beaten 985 other writers and have a good chance at getting your work produced.

The numbers are somewhat estimated, but I firmly believe the trend is broadly correct.  Producers basically say as much in their blogs (e.g. http://bit.ly/290DAYG and http://bit.ly/298RtY8)  and I’ve script-edited shows that follow this pattern.   

(Subscribe to The Comedy Crowd weekly newsletter below to make sure you don’t miss out on any opportunities)

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In summary

• Learn and master the basics of writing comedy.

• Learn how to assess your writing with honesty and the help of others.

• Find and convert opportunities to get your work out there.

Over the coming months I’ll be publishing lots of articles on the above.  Clearly I won’t have all the answers, so I’d welcome your (constructive) comments, corrections and critique as we go on this journey.  And after all, the journey itself is just as fun as the destination, right?

Daniel has provided excellent script advice for a number of Comedy Crowd subscribers.  To see their testimonials and get advice on your script visit www.coiledslinky.strikingly.com. Comedy Crowd members get a 10% discount!

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