By Eleni Young. Using social media when you’re posting to your friends and family is easy, you already have an audience who’s interested in you and you don’t have to think too much about what or when you post. But when you’re posting for an audience who doesn’t know who you are, social media can be a bit more tricky, just because Auntie Sue and Dave think your hilarious on your personal account doesn’t mean you’re going to get the same reaction on your Facebook or Instagram comedy accounts.

Identifying your audience

That’s easy isn’t it, it’s people who like comedy, d’uh! Yes, but there are billions of people out there who like comedy and there are hundreds of different types of comedy, so we have to be more specific. You know what you like, but do you really know what your audience likes? Targeting your audience to get those all important likes and follows isn’t just about throwing your content out there and hoping for the best, you need to be specific about who you want to reach and who is going to keep coming back for more. Here’s a few questions to get you started:

● Who are they? Is your comedy aimed at more men or women or both? How old are they? Where do they live? Peep Show is a great comedy, but dry humour tends to work better in the UK than it is in the US.

● What types/style of comedy does your audience like? If your comedy is similar to or has the same traits as other comedians or shows, target those audiences. If you ever do advertising on Facebook, it will ask you about audience likes and interests.

● Which comedy/TV personalities do they follow? Have a look at those pages/profiles to see what type of content they’re putting out. Are they always just posting their own content or are they doing live videos (Facebook Live or IGTV)? What hashtags are they using that could also tie in with your content? You don’t have to use everything they are doing (be smart with your content and ensure yours is still original) but you’ll be able to see from the level of engagement how their audience (your target audience) is reacting and if it’s something you could incorporate in your content.

● When is your audience online? This is a key question to ask yourself. There’s no point marketing yourself at 8am on Saturday if your audience don’t bother logging on until 1pm on Monday. If you have a Facebook page or business Instagram account, check your analytics and look for times and days for when your audience is interacting or viewing your content.

One of the best things about identifying your audience is that unless you diversify your content drastically you don’t have to do it again. Having said that, put 10 mins aside once a week to go through your analytics to check you’re still getting the right audience and getting the engagement you want.

If you decide to advertise online, you’ll be asked all these questions and more and it’s easier to work this out now than when you want to post an ad and have a ton of questions screaming at you on your screen.

Now don’t worry, it may seem like a mammoth task, but it’s really not. Grab a pen and paper and start scribbling who your ideal audience is, you’ll find that you already know these answers, it’s just that you’ve never had to write it down before. So, what are you waiting for?

If you want to find out a bit more about Digital Marketing I’m hosting ‘An Introduction to Digital Marketing’ on Thursday 22 October at 10:30am (BST) online, tickets are normally £15 but for Comedy Crowders use code IntroFr33 to get yours for free!

Writer and journalist Joanna Tilley has launched a script companion service that focuses on female characters. Here she tells The Comedy Crowd the reasoning behind the new Pay What You Can service and what it can offer comedy writers.

In 2018, The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain found that only 11% of comedy episodes on TV were written by women. The findings came just months after 76 female writers signed an open letter accusing drama bosses of not giving them primetime opportunities.

To its credit, the industry has been quick to respond with a raft of comedy and drama commissions driven by women. Pure, the brilliant Back to Life, the even more brilliant I May Destroy You, are just a few of the female-led shows to hit our screens. Former ITV comedy commissioner Saskia Schuster continues her excellent initiative Comedy 50:50, which aims to achieve parity for female writers by holding events, workshops and offering paid TV opportunities.

However, despite these positive steps, comedy still skews male and almost without exception male-written scripts are dominated by male characters.

After watching a number of male-scribed comedies recently, I believe there is still a long way to go when it comes to female representation. Sitcoms written by men usually feature male leads (Code 404, The Young Offenders, Man Like Mobeen, Dave, Sliced) or a male majority cast (People Just Do Nothing, Plebs, Norsemen, The First Team). Even two of my favourite programmes, Brooklyn 99 and What We Do In The Shadows, over-represent men.

Perhaps it is unsurprising that men like to write men, but as a viewer I find it frustrating when time and time again I am following a male protagonist, or when I see these amazing female actors in the bittiest of parts.

For me, the issue of female representation is not just about getting more women to write comedy (although this is crucial), it is about improving the way men create and develop their female creations in the first place. Because until we reach that pivotal place of 50:50, male writers are still predominantly responsible for ensuring women are represented and their voices and issues heard.

Sadly, the situation at the grassroots feels no different from the top. In fact, without the layer of producers and commissioners checking work, it can be worse.

Over the last decade, I have regularly attended London Comedy Writers, a group where sitcoms are read out by actors every two weeks. I have read and listened to many scripts and while there’s some brilliant work on show, the way male writers represent women is hit and miss. In a room mostly filled with men, the script feedback frequently returns to the lack, or weakness of, female characters. Even when writers start with an equal gender split, it is usually the male characters that deliver the action and excitement.

male writer: people complain when I write female characters, then they complain when I don't write female characters!!! there is no possible solution to this

— Ken Cheng (@kenchengcomedy) September 25, 2020

In the aftermath of #MeToo and Time’s Up, I wonder if it has ever been more difficult to write female characters and storylines. With gender and sexual politics in the spotlight, the audience are ready to jump on anything that doesn’t feel authentic or socially responsible. It has never been so easy to offend, and whether that is right or wrong, it is where we are at.

However, the worst thing that could happen is for men to just stop writing female characters and for them to leave it to female writers. Instead, men should be working that extra bit harder to ensure their female characters are credible enough to weather any controversy. Going forward, we need an abundance of strong female character, not safe ones.

This is why I have launched a script companion service that focuses on the development of authentic female characters. Whether it is at the start or final draft stage of a project, I want to keep an eye out for areas where men can slip up – and provide a sounding board for people to bounce off their ideas. You can find out more about my Pay What You Can service here.

The scenes from The Inbetweeners that most likely to come to mind are its gross out moments, such as Simon’s testicle doing the catwalk or Neil casually punching a fish to death. But it is not these moments that really define the show and in fact, as argued in this excellent video from ‘Full Fat Videos’, the puerile moments are only funny because of subtle character development throughout the series.

On the face of it ‘The Inbetweeners’ characters are all stereotypes but in certain understated, perfectly executed moments they are shown to be real people, not caricatures. It is these scenes that facilitate much of the comedy in the series. They provide a crucial authenticity – as viewers we believe they are all friends, and we believe and can relate to their relationships with each other.

As creators, if we can establish this authenticity, then the scope and effectiveness of comedic moments in our shows will be enhanced markedly.

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

There are amazing opportunities for those interested in writing for children’s TV, but what puts many off is the perception that they would have to dumb down or simplify their writing.

Increasingly kids TV has moved away from the fairytale Disney story and character tropes towards a more nuanced style that blurs the line between children and adults. The standout example of a show that does this well is SpongeBob Squarepants. SpongeBob is a show that combines narrative styles in a fashion that delivers some of the moral messages you would traditionally expect, but does it with more than a nod to an adult audience too.

This Wisecrack video explores this idea further and could provide some inspiration as to how you could  write for children’s TV without compromising your style.

For more insights on writing for Children’s TV check out our recent Q+A with ‘Horrible Histories’ writer Dave Cohen on Comedy Crowd TV (access for a whole year currently costs only £12)

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

It’s incredible to think that something as consistently good as South Park has less than a week turnaround on each of it’s episodes, especially when the industry standard for animation is around 8 months! This video by ‘Nerdstalgic’ looks at why the creators put this constraint on themselves, stating that some of the benefits are:

• Authenticity
• Relevance
• Combatting Censorship
• Freshness
• Innovation

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Sven Pape’s ‘This Guy Edits’ Youtube channel is a fantastic resource for editors, regardless of their level of experience. This video is aimed at those who are new at the craft, listing 7 tips that will have a huge impact on the quality of your work, including:

• How to keep a scene tight (but also when you should consider a long setup)
• How to use editing to guide your audience
• How to use misdirection
• The importance of blinking
• Trusting your gut

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

‘More to That’ is a blog by Lawrence Yeo that uses simple, distinctive illustrations to craft thoughtful posts. Yeo describes himself as a visual storyteller, and in this post he explains how he takes an idea and creates a narrative journey in which visuals play a vital role. There are some brilliant insights in this guide including:

• How to get creative at the intersection of your personal interests and landscape of ideas
• Where epiphanies come from
• How to create a visceral journey for your audience
• What makes a great reveal
• How and when to use visuals to maximum effect

It’s a long piece but its packed with insight and inspiration for your next comedy project. Read it here.

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Pixar have a rigid 22 rules of story telling that they apply to every project. In this video Youtuber KaptainKristian looks at one in particular:

‘Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.’

He argues that it is this rule that makes Pixar stories so deeply relatable. It is the driving force behind Pixar’s rich layered characters, particularly compared to some of their less nuanced Disney equivalents.

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

In this series Youtuber ‘Nerdstalgic’ picks out an episode of a renowned show that encapsulates what it does best. The Simpsons is a particularly interesting case study, having departed so far from what used to make it great. Simpsons fan or not there’s lots for creators to learn from this analysis of the episode ‘Marge Versus The Monorail’ including how it:

• Embraces the absurd and the limitless nature of animation
• Is densely packed with a variety of types of jokes, including ‘Homer’ humour, visual gags and satire
• Pins these jokes to an engaging narrative
• Deploys ‘parody with purpose’
• Involves all its key character in a meaningful way

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

This is a really interesting and thought provoking video about why certain comedy shows lose their appeal over time. In picking out examples the creator, Renegade Cut YouTube Channel, hasn’t exactly gone high-brow (Dumb and Dumber, The Mask and Austin Powers feature strongly) but nonetheless there are some really interesting principles highlighted.

Using specific cultural references is clearly a surefire way to ensure eventual irrelevance, but perhaps most interesting for creators to consider is the fact that jokes depend on the element of incongruence and woven into that is the need for the audience to be surprised. So creators of comedy who aspire to be original and remembered need to be constantly looking at novel ways of structuring, framing and delivering their funny scenes.

For more articles and videos like this that get your creative juices flowing, plus a round up of all the latest comedy opportunities subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

The Comedy Crowd TV 2020 Showcase, in association with BCG Pro, is our quest to find the best independent comedy to showcase at a special screening event the LOCO Comedy Film Festival at the BFI (initially scheduled for May but now postponed to Autumn). We were looking for submissions to fall into one of 4 categories – Music, Animation, ‘How to’ or Famous Faces.

We received a Comedy Crowd record 800 entries which were judged by a diverse panel of comedy fans drawn from our community. We’re delighted to announce the top 3 videos, which are available for you to watch now…

1st Place – Mini Cheddah

Scooping up the £250 prize and created by Laughing Stock, this is a brilliant musical sketch about the pitfalls of collaboration.

2nd Place – Chris Martin From Coldplay Heals The Sick

Ticking the boxes of music, animation, famous faces and then creating it’s own box that no-one has ever seen before. By Victor Hampson.

3rd Place – Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

So goes the infantile adaptation of a Christmas classic, but Batman isn’t getting the joke. By Christian Jegard.

So there you have it! We can’t wait to share with you some of the fantastic entries that made it onto the shortlist. Suffice to say that independent comedy is alive and well. As soon as we have a date for the screening we will let you know.

For this competition we were delighted to have the support of our friends at BCG Pro, the UK’s leading online platform for new, emerging and established comedy professionals. They provide tools and services for those looking to advance their career in comedy on stage, screen, radio or behind the scenes. Visit comedy.co.uk/pro and enter the unique discount code ‘ComedyCrowd’ on the join page to get £5 off your first year’s membership.

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Balancing Acts is our partner podcast, created and hosted by comedy writer, performer and director Steve Whiteley.

Each week Steve sits down with successful creatives to discuss their journey, explore how they find a sense of balance (or not) between their careers and everyday life and looks at strategies they use to unlock their creativity.

There is always someone who has been through what you’re going through now, and through this podcast you can learn so much from the experiences of other creatives. Here are our 3 favourite episodes (check out the full list here).

Mark O’Sullivan

Mark is an actor, writer, director, producer and co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ‘Lee and Dean’. In this episode you’ll learn:

• How ‘Lee and Dean’ was commissioned off the back of a failure
• How everything good that happened to him started on Twitter
• Why it can be better to enter comedy later in life
• How to get a creative team working effectively and overcome ‘Imposter Syndrome’
• How he balances marriage, kids and comedy

Zara Symes

Zara is an actress and writer. In this episode she talks in detail about her experience of hustling and pitching a script:

• How she got representation
• The experience of pitching before she was ready
• What happens in a script development meeting
• How she improved her writing (plus the best podcast for scriptwriting)
• How she structures her routine to maximise her creativity

Khyan Mansley

Khyan is an actor, writer and director who started his career as a Youtuber. He went on to create a short film called ‘The Ministry’ which led to a US sitcom script commission. In this episode he talks about:

• How he got started making Youtube videos
• The experience of pitching to US executives
• Breaking down a 2 year development process
• How agencies ‘package’ a script for pitching
• How he takes an analytical approach to maximising his productivity

Like content like this? To get a Monday update on the latest comedy opportunities, plus a weekly dose of creative inspiration sign up to our newsletter here