The h2g2 Comedy Workshop
Created | Updated May 3, 2002
What Is The Comedy Workshop About?
Hopefully, contributions should be a mix of people serious about writing comedy and people just out to have a laugh at seeing their purple prose in metaphorical lights.
With the thousands of people present here, surely we have the sheer numbers to become the new Footlights, The Fringe, 80’s New Wave, The Goons, and Saturday Night Live all rolled into one...!!!
Remember: One of the most successful comedies written in British Broadcasting - Blackadder, was written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis via e-mail.
Activities
- People should leave their details below if they are looking to collaborate with someone, stating their interests and goals.
- We could make a collective effort to come up with an item every week for the H2G2 post. It would help people come to terms with meeting deadlines, drafting their comedy through to the final edit process, working through ideas with others and generally learning the craft by doing it. Hopefully, people will see whether this is something they ultimately want to do or not (... hopefully avoiding some unneeded rejection slips along the way).
- How about some constructive criticism on items people have written? We could all use feedback - remember that it's just as important to say what works and why as what doesn't.
- Some of you might be interested in contributing some comedy articles.
Recommended viewing
The Monday Weekly on until the end of February 2001 at 19:30 at the Canal Café theatre, Maida Vale, London.It's a two-man hour of comedy (of course) featuring h2g2's very own John F.
Some Helpful External Links
BBC-ComedyZone: A run-down of helpful tips to tailor your work to BBC requirements. Includes information on how to get started, addresses, and script template downloads.Sitcom Format 101: A distillation of helpful industry-type tips for breaking into the business in America.
StoryMind: A complete on-line dramatic writing guide, although it is rather heavy going.
Software
Free downloads and information on writing for film, radio and tv:
Reel Help: Specifically oriented toward the film-writer.
Writing for Performance: Robin Kelly's multi-media site.
Some Work The Authors Would Like Critiqued
WARNING:
Please remember that everything you place on h2g2 is automatically jointly-copyrighted to the BBC. This was in the 'Terms and Conditions' that you agreed to when joining. To check this out, click here. So if you want to put stuff up for comments, please bear this is mind. It applies to anything put on the site, even if you take it off afterwards; so if you can't live with this, put your work offsite.
- So Long And Thanks For Laughing (The h2g2 Joke Archive)
- Dealing With Hecklers...
- Or peruse the pages of H2G2 Fiction...
