May Contains Nuts on ITV!

This week a dream came true when I was watching Benidorm (that wasn’t my dream) and during the adverts I finally got to hear ITV promote May Contain Nuts, the show I created and co-wrote. It was jubilation in my living room, only slightly soured by the fact that this wasn’t actually the same May Contain Nuts that I created and co-wrote.

It was a comedy-drama that had nothing to do with me, but I’m probably just being pandantic. The celebrations continue. I’m now writing my new sketch show called The News at Ten. I can almost hear it now…

Don’t take that tone…

OK, I seem to be finding as many new tricks to hinder my writing as to improving it. This is a first: I’ve planned out all my characters and got a good plot for the first episode of a sitcom idea I really like. I’ve even got a theme to it.

What’s stopping me go any further is I’m struggling to get the tone right. If that’s even the right word. Hell, I can’t even get the problem names right!

I’ve got two other pilots at various ages of development and I had no problem finding the style of comedy (is that the word?) that I wanted. The theme came after at least one draft. One of them is quick-paced, reality based, ensemble humour, another is medium-paced, reality-mixed with farce. Yeah, I’ve gone cross-eyed too.

I haven’t planned this enough have I? Bollocks, ignore this post…

Slog Line

The latest news on the sketch show ‘Contains Nuts’ is that another production company who liked the YouTube sketches (http://www.youtube.com/user/containsnutstv) are also interested in the show and we’ve submitted a pilot script to them.

These are still early stages, mind you, and we aren’t expecting any more news from them for a couple of weeks. Overall, the feedback has been great, especially from writers and actors alike (one of whom I won’t embarrass by naming but is a top TV comedy actor).

Anyway, I’ve been moving on with other projects. Everyone wants sitcoms at the moment so I won’t cream my pants over a bit of interest I’ve received in a few pilots I’m working on.

The BBC have also, kindly, alerted me to a new sketch show called Newsjack that they want writers for. Its going to be open submission anyway but I need something to cream my pants about.

There is no doubt about it, you do get better the more you write and I am finding that out to my benefit at the moment. Although the thing about doors is that they close as well as open. How do you stay in the room? Its there a studio flat layout somewhere?

There is a pilot on the plane

So today, I’ve hit that wall where I can no longer blog what I wish to as I know people read this who know people who would be mentioned. My secret identity is about as secret as Clark Kent’s thanks to the sketches which are online and doing very well – feedbackwise.

What can I say? A production company want to make a pilot episode to pitch to the networks. But there are conditions. That’s all I can say.

We’ll probably be changing the name ‘Contains Nuts’ as I don’t like the idea that because I blog/post under that title people might think this show is all about me. It certainly isn’t and can’t be all about me, I’ve just always liked the name hence… you get the idea.

Sketches Online!

Ok so we’re rolling out some edits of our sketch show on Funny or Die and already the good people there have featured one of them as their clip of the day.

http://www.funnyordie.co.uk/

However, we are a bit suspicious as we were 80% funny for most of the day until a flurry of DIES in about half an hour evened us out abit. hmmm… Also the feedback from the forums were very positive about the clips so I don’t know what to make of it. So see what you make of it and click FUNNY… please.

http://www.funnyordie.co.uk/containsnuts

Overall, given the fact it was my debut as director and editor without any training, I’m pleased with the outcome although I know what I can and will do a lot better in the future. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to do more and a production company are following this all closely. Our best sketches are still to come!

Back Once Again

Haha! I’ve got no reason for starting this post like that or what indeed I’m going write about after that, I just feel I should write something. There you go, honesty and salesmanship working in perfect opposites.

Recently my writing life has been all about sketches. Writing topical ones for Watson’s Wind-up, editing the sketches we filmed last November and submitting samples to various opportunities that I don’t want to mention so that when I get rejected no one will be the wiser. Ah…

The good news is that the editing of sketches, whilst hard and time-consuming, went very well and the feedback from my producer was excellent. I’ve just got to fine-tune two of them before releasing them into the world (YouTube). I’m not excited as everyone else about this though. Having written most of them, directed them and edited them I’ve probably seem them all more times than anyone should. And, thus, don’t find them as funny as I would like. Everyone else that’s seen them seems to genuinely love them, however, these are all close friends of the crew so they’re not exactly Simon Cowell.

I’ve also booked my accomodation for the Screewriters Festival in Cheltenham. TravelLodge have been selling rooms on the cheap and so I snapped up a decent deal, although I’ll have to check-out and check-in again on one of the days. I’m not sure how I’ll go about that without turning up to the seminars with my special teddy and sex doll.

Now, with a whole shit load of work out the way, I’m concentrating on finishing off my sitcom/comedy drafts. I’ve put the comedy drama on the back-burner as it was buggung me a lot and I suddenly realised its probably because the story didn’t mean anything to me. I had literally thought ‘what would THEY want to see’. None of its me, so that will either show in the script or it’ll work and I’ll have to write more of the bastard.

No Idea

Don’t you just hate it when you come up with an original, ground breaking sitcom idea and then someone else brings out trailers for exactly the same idea a few months later (touting  it as ground breaking and original)?

That’s what happened to me when I decided to watch trailers for BBC2’s Krod Mandoon. A sitcom set in a fantasy reality. I didn’t know what the show was about so I clicked play and found my heart at the bottom of my slippers by the end of it. Worst of all it looked quite good.

My premise is still different enough but sitcoms cast long shadows. How many successful comedies have been made in Hotels after Fawlty, student digs after Young Ones or space after Red Dwarf?

[insert appropriate swear word]!

Things that happened while I was away

So while I was away in New York and the East Coast I managed to do the following:

1) Watch three films on the plane out to JFK:
Slumdog Millionaire – as good as everyone says
Rachel Getting Married – great performance from Anna Hathaway, but otherwise a bit meh!
Burn After Reading – a good laugh, better than I was expecting after some bad reviews

2) Get another sketch into the Treason Show. Well the email confirming that it was performed, I wrote it a week before leaving. That’s two out of two for 2009. Don’t tell them but both were written as samples for other writing teams. At least they got used.

3) I got an email from the BBC telling me that my sample sketches ’stood out’ and wanting me to submit more for a topical news radio show in April.

4) Ran up the ‘Rocky‘ steps and did the celebration at the top, in Philadelphia. Which, by the way, isn’t called Philadelphia – its Philly. You only make that mistake once.

5) Watched classic Ice Hockey movie Slap Shot with an Ice Hockey fan. Which, by the way, isn’t called Ice Hockey – its called hockey, as according to American’s “where else would you play hockey?” I didn’t explain.

6) I watched just one movie on the flight from JFK to Heathrow due to the shit not on-demand system the 777 has. I watched Doubt. Didn’t do it for me. I wanted to watch Vicky Cristina Barcelona that was after it but Doubt put me to sleep. Bastards.

7) I didn’t meet the legend Phillip ‘the legend’ Barron in New York even though I just found out he was over there at the same time. Woody Allen was there too. What’s wrong with these people? So unsociable. I’m glad I didn’t watch Vicky Cristina now.

Oh yeah, this blog

Sorry, I haven’t updated this recently. I’ve just got a job writing for 30 Rock in New York and I’m off on Thursday! OK, that’s what I wish was the reason for my slackness. The truth is I’ve working on various writing and non-writing projects and just generally wasting a lot of time.

Some part of my lie is true as I’m off to New York on Thursday and I am working for 30 Rock. OK, ok, the 30 Rock bit IS a lie. I will watch it daily and maybe stalk Tina Fey while I’m there, but nothing weird.

I have been writing for Watson’s Wind-up and getting stuff broadcast which is nice and I’ve also bought a new mini laptop, which isn’t called a mini laptop – its called a notebook (basically, a mini laptop):

This is actually life-size. Its tiny. But should be enough to carry on writing when I’m in the States.

So there!

Another treason to be pleased

These title puns are getting lame – I’ll keep them coming.  I’ve just found out that the last two sketches I’ve sent the Treason Show have got performed, its just a shame I’ve only sent them two in the last six months. I’m not massively into writing topical sketches but with the BBC opening doors in this area I’m seeing the value of doing them more often. I am in it for the love of writing, honest.

In other news (oh shit, you can tell I’ve been watching it), I’m outlining a pilot episode of one sitcom, whilst reading the comedy script first draft I finished in January. You never know, I might actually send something out soon.

My age also increased by one at the weekend and by twenty years on the Wii Fit yesterday. Bastards! (in the direction of life and Nintendo Entertainment Systems).

And finally (sport?), I’ve got my tickets for the Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival in October so I look forward to seeing some of my fellow bloggers. I hope my extremely low expectations of them will be met. Where to stay though? Hotel, B&B, Guest House or skip?