Hello and welcome to sitcom geeks. I'm James Caring and I'm Dave Cohen and you are listening to episode 196 of sitcom geeks and today we are going to be thinking about one of our great loves in a way it's kind of why we're doing this whole thing I think in you know to begin with audience studio sitcom and should you write an audience studio sitcom is the question that we're asking and Long time sitcom geeks follow a day from London from crowd gender. I think right. I'm currently writing something I'm hoping that will be an audience sitcom still not sure if it's an audience sitcom enough What should I do?
Well, there's no point me asking you that Dave because you're the one who asked that question. Oh, That's a twist. It was him all along. It was him all along Comedy reveal.
Yeah, so you know, you've got some you've already had some sort of you know, you've talked yourself in and out of it So, you know, why would you continue down this road? Yeah given you know, there aren't many of them up out Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, there's the kind of you know, there are the various arguments for against them Whatever else I'll start with the four arguments and the first one is that Commissioners still seem to be saying what they are saying. Yes, we do want audience sitcoms.
Please send us your audience sitcoms they say that they're always saying that and You know, and they always say I know we haven't made any for 30 years or whatever. They don't quite say that But we sort of mentioned that they say no, no, no, no, you know, it is we really do want them and you know to be fair to ITV they made an audience sitcom a couple of years ago and It's um, you know, they hadn't made one for years and years BBC one still has audience sitcoms. So they are they still want them So commissioners say they want something You know, I mean, yes, right right what you want to write of course But then yeah, you know, you're mad not to kind of at least give some thoughts to when a commissioner says that and I think you know If you're a commissioner or if you're just even much lower down the chain and somebody hands you a script and it's they say This is a script for an audience sitcom. That's gonna be the first audience sitcom that you've that you've read, you know In the youngs and yonks so you will at least go.
Oh, right. Okay. I'm I'm not this isn't up against the 30 other scripts I've already read this week that are setting a Village in middle England or a pub in north London or you know, whatever the current, you know, a kind of hip Start-up place in Shordich or whatever. It's a oh, it's actually and it's set in two or three rooms And it's got audience laughter on it and well, I mean, you know, that might be a big pro but so you know They don't get that many is the second reason then and then yeah, the other thing to say is they are still massively popular Whatever you think about mrs.
Brown's voice It still gets the best viewing numbers of any comedy show when it's on a new episode and you know BBC to invariably the number I think it's I think it's last of the summer wine at the moment for years It was dad's army you know the most popular comedy show on BBC to whatever showing and whether there's a new Steve Cougens show or a Alan Davis sitcom or something, you know, it's still dad's army and last of the summer wine that get the audiences Channel for every morning they're showing friends Frasier father Ted, you know, these are all but they're not just showing them just to use up the time space They show something else more popular if there was something so yeah You know, that's yeah, it's really important to to own that and know that people still like those shows and they still watch them now And it's not entirely they're not watching them because they remind them of their childhood They're watching them in vast numbers because they're still funny and so that plus big bang theory and a whole lot of other, you know How I met your mother? You know the whole genre of studio sitcom is still very much a contemporary one And I think you know, I think that your reasons to persevere with it I think it's really good because they do still want them. I would say it's still mainly Mainstream channels so BBC one is I would say five times more likely to commission one than BBC two or BBC three or Booxie four doesn't do any more comedy anymore, but and that will be the I don't know what ITV would do But you get a sense of channel for aren't terribly interested in studio sitcoms Well, and apparently sky aren't either But if you come with the right project, you know, if Miranda decided she wanted to do a whole different sitcom studio sitcom and they took it to sky What do you think sky would say it's like well? Yeah, sure, you know, of course they would and so it very much depends on the product and what's involved Doesn't it?
Yeah, I mean, she's leaving now Fiona Mertz, head of channel four comedy But she was one of the people that I was in a virtual meeting with them as are you still interested in audience sitcoms? And she said yes channel for are still interested in audience sitcoms You know a lot a lot can change in a year with a new commissioner whatever and if channel for even still exists a year from now Who knows but but current stated moment channel for saying yes, we want them and hardly surprising They got so much, you know, they get so many so much audience and presumably advertising via friends and Frazier and father ten They get they get more viewing figures. They do better people at home prefer them They you know historically this has been the case for decades is that single camera shows tend to not get such good ratings as studio sitcoms And I don't fully understand why that is but I think it's people at home enjoy the sound of human laughter Rather than despising but let's be honest if channel four were offered a star vehicle for Matt Lucas Who's done really well coming back on to the bake off for example? They'd really think about it, you know, this wouldn't be if Matt Berry said I'm going to do a studio sitcom, you know Then they would they go.
Oh, okay, mate, you know, we'll look at it So I don't think it's and if you know Matt Berry and you've got a great vehicle for him or you know So I just think it's not the genre or the format necessarily that's gone It's just it just has to have a really good reason to not be One of them one of the regular kind of single camera shows But you're absolutely right that if you've written something that is obviously sick off It goes on to a separate much shorter pile and I think will you know, possibly be read and taken more seriously, but Yeah, it's not it's not a magic wand by any mean so should we go we'll go on to the reasons to not write it now Yes, so so you've you've sold it to me great. I'm writing if I actually got one at the moment I am developing hold your horses James, but so hang on. I was just about to start the ring right now What why should I stop? I just hold your horses James.
That sounds like a good audience at subtitle there Home James and don't spare the horses Yeah, well, no that was up the elephant around the castle. I think who James was one of he didn't follow up to that He did yes, you're right. Yeah, a limo drive or something. Yeah, so why shouldn't you write them?
Okay, so they are incredibly high-risk shows so Commissioners may well say they do want to write them, but you know and they may even Look at scripts from me and James or James and I even Because they haven't least heard of us and they might just see a name and think well I don't know that person unless I've even heard of the writer. I'm not even gonna think about it So there is that that element and it is true you would you would need to have a production company batting very much On your behalf or and you know And or you would want Macberry or Matt Lucas or anyone Yes, Sarah Milliken or something like that. You would want a central performer with with a following and much, you know A bit of a national treasure already. Yeah, so you do need so so so those are things to think about Yeah, so just from a commissioner's point from your own point of view as a writer and I think James you probably agree with me here in In terms of they are probably the hardest that the hardest things in comedy writing to write would you say I mean so compared to well Of course I would You know, I've done I've done episodes of my hero my family citizen Khan and for the radio I've done plenty of studios sitcom 33 think I've written an awful lot of it so of course of course I would say wow what I've done is way harder than the rest of that I think what you're getting at and it made me think of this with your first point under the arguments against was the studio sitcom When it's good, it's very very good and when it's bad It's horrid and so therefore I think you know It is really hard to get right and there is a little bit of magic dust on top of the high level of of skill that you would need to carry Off and you've got to have an awful lot of jokes that will make a studio audience laugh out loud, you know several times per minute Yeah per minute, you know, you can't you know, your joke rate needs to be pretty high So it's brutal and for me.
That's why I like it It's because it gives you the discipline of going is this gonna make someone laugh? And we applied that to bluestone 4 to which was a single camera show because you struggled to film an Afghanistan bomb disposal team In a studio, but we tried to have a studio discipline about what we were writing But yeah, I think I think it is really really hard to write to take up your point there about you know When it's good, it's very good and when it's bad It's bad as opposed to a non-audience sitcom which is when it's good is very very good when it's bad Yes, it might well be very bad But nobody really cares much but but it only takes one thing to be slightly off kilter for an audience sitcom and yeah, you know And interestingly I'm thinking about the people we've interviewed and as you as you know regular listeners will know we do like to talk to massively successful writers about their flops and Danny Peake talking about big top that Stephen Moffat talking about chalk Graham Linhant talking about Paris It's like probably to a lesser extent, but certainly Stephen and Danny their experiences of writing shows that did not succeed They showed didn't just not succeed. They were vilified and you know, these guys were hated more than Vladimir Putin You know daring to write a sitcom that an audience in a studio is laughing at but I'm sitting here with my arms folded in the living room Thinking what are these bloody? Oh, they added a laughter track which of course they have Allow they would happily put them in stocks in front of broadcasting house in order to have things thrown at them Yeah, I think that's partly a British thing I think we really do because we love them so much and we still watch the old ones when somebody comes along with one that isn't What we wanted it's infuriating and enraging rather than just sad and I think going back to what you're saying, you know When a when a sitcom is good.
It's very very good when it's bad. It's horrid. I would say when a single camera show It's good. It's pretty good, but when it's bad.
It's just boring. Yeah, isn't it? It's just like you sort of wonder why you're watching it, but you're probably not curled up in a ball thinking please make it Stop. It's like all yeah It looks like all the other things that you've watched on telly that are a bit mediocre like some documentary or drama or Yeah, continuing drama that's sort of you know, that's not not particularly innovative or you know It's sort of a bit soapy or something.
So yeah, I think but so but I think in a way It's the studio sitcom gives you the higher highs and the lower lows, doesn't it? Yeah, I think also in terms of being a writer and I think there's a lot of things that we don't write so much now that You know new writers used to do up and coming writers used to maybe they maybe it will happen more if there's more sketch groups And people are writing more for live kind of sketch things But the kind of skills that you need like to have like a elaborate Visual gags that can be done live, you know I mean, there's a lot of shows that do sort of you know the kind of visuals that that take a you know, very very technical and But you know to actually have good live visual gags is quite hard And and also, you know kind of being broad you have to be to get those big laughs You do have to be a kind of broader We'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute But but yeah, the skills that you need I think to write audience at kind not you're not using them as much in your kind of everyday Writing you know if you're writing topical jokes or something one liners that are getting you noticed? You know they rarely are kind of character or visual sort of jokes. So so those are good reasons.
I think to to not Well, yeah, and just to add to it and I see you've written it here in the notes and this is your point rather than mine You know big big stars will get your show on but are you gonna get a big star to be in your sitcom? Why why would they do that? You know why would they want? So why would say you know, I've made I said earlier if you got Michael McIntyre to be in your sitcom Then great, you would feel like he would have to go write it, but why would he do that?
You know, he can if you can feel Wembley Arena or the O2 and you know have his nice game show on the telly and all that kind of stuff and then what's in it for him? You've got to really want to do it Yeah, to which I would say if it's seriously if you're in a position to talk to these people because that is what they say And you say to them well, you know, look at Lee Mac, Lee Mac doesn't have to do audience sitcom He can just he gets all the exposure He needs and all the kind of publicity and everything that he needs from 12 nights a year of just turning up and doing what I like to you with absolutely minimum amount of work I know you know from writing or not going out the amount of work that goes into that and Compared with what he was the reward in terms of remuneration or whatever But he's doing it because he just loves the form and he wants to keep that form alive And you know, that's a if you're anyone in comedy if you're a big name in comedy that surely that's got to be a very noble thing to do I mean certainly Lee doesn't need you know his life would be a lot simpler if he didn't do not going out and it wouldn't He would not change at all. Yeah, but otherwise, you know, if you can imagine someone some famous British movie star You know wouldn't it be great if this person was in that show if Paul Bettany, I mean he'd be amazing in a British sitcom Wouldn't he Paul Bettany? He's one of our great British actors, you know, hey, do you want to be in a sitcom Paul?
You know, no, well, he says need a guy in one division Think he is it's he yeah, yeah, that's like a Disney plus that's not that's not a real studio sick No, but it's interesting. It's yeah, those the scenes that they do that are sitcom scenes are you know, you know, they do would not look out of place in a Sick, but it's but it's entirely an interface and it's you know, it's it's a different yeah, you know, I mean It's not it's not a studio sitcom It's not like being in a BBC one half-hour show where he plays a long-suffering dad, you know Or you know the worst boss in the world or something so yeah There's just there's nothing in it for you Where if it's a multi-million pound, you know experimental strange Disney plus comedy that you think it's gonna be one thing it turns out to be another thing well, that's Yeah, that's different So so we're quite a yes So I'm kind of on balance now. I'm still I'm still reasonably confident to kind of go ahead and picture this as an audience sitcom Okay, but so let's talk a little bit about what what in 2022 as opposed to 1972 what makes a successful audience Sick on so I mean I'll start by asking you that James having On one of the most successful sitcoms of the last 15 years obviously Miranda So what made obviously hindsight, but you know what made Miranda such a hit well, I mean to be fair I'm gonna say Credit these needs to go not only to Miranda but to Joe Sargent and people who fought to get the show on BBC to Commissioned at 8 30. I mean that there's it was an amazing desire to get that show on But bear in mind that she'd already been in two series of hyperdrive By Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil and had been very funny in not going out for a series or two as a cleaning lady who kind of had lots and lots of Joe for serious actually I think okay, is that right?
You know she was a big she was a big part of that of that show so Yeah, it's um, it's a really Yeah, it needs a producer to really believe in it for a start because you as the writer can't can't do that You do need someone in your corner producer and exec producer again, Mrs. Brown That had a producer Stephen McCrum who totally believed in it who thought the whole thing was completely deranged and was prepared to take an enormous risk Because he had a lot of he had a lot of credit in the bank because he'd also done two points a log on a pack of the crystals Which was a huge tent pole show for BBC three for an entire channel And so therefore he you know, and he's a profoundly You know, he is not risk of us is that man and so therefore he just thought what the heck so he went all in on it And as you know, we would he was developing it as we were writing bluestone and he was describing Mrs. Brown to us We were just thinking what is this? You know, this could really this sounds like it's going to fall on its face But it didn't so I think on one level you do need someone who's gonna fight for it and get it on Um, so that really helps.
I would still ask in 2022 about Mrs. Brown's boys. What is this? What is this?
Yeah? I tell you what it is a lot of people would say what is this it's funny Um, but it had a producer prepared to get it on now the other thing, you know, um, so upstart Crow Is a BBC two studio sitcom? How did that get on despite being a historical show and we tend to tell people don't even bother trying to write historical show In order to get a studio historical show on mainstream television on the BBC two it took Not only the co-writer of black outta ben elson. I would argue we'd also took a shakespeare anniversary So that show was commissioned for I think the 400th anniversary of the death of shakespeare, right?
And then it was like, oh, we could do another series of this but without that anniversary Yeah, I genuinely don't think that bbc2 would have done it. That's a that's a really good point actually Um, I mean to get just a mention not going out there I think I've sort of answered the question about, you know, why how that managed to come about and that and that really was you know, Lee was a big enough name and Avalon were big enough as well to to sort of push with it, but he was you know, he wanted to have a Mainstream or he wanted he wanted to be a kind of uh, so he wanted like an everyone loves Raymond and he wanted to be Raymond You know, he wanted to be that character. Uh, yeah, obviously it moved on a lot from that but it but it is essence of it's it's the Lee Mac show starring Lee Mac, you know, and uh, it's like like in the 70s, you know, the big variety shows the more come on why show You know, it's it's not a sitcom like um, uh, Heidi Hye or whatever, but it's that so so there was that reason And also it was quite good Um, by which I mean there was another show that could have been not going out which was the Frank Skinner sitcom Uh, Shane, I think it was oh, yeah, yeah, yeah And uh, it was another you know, who could be more famous as a comedian than Frank Skinner, but he really wanted to do a sitcom And it just didn't work because it just wasn't wasn't quite set up right wasn't that good So you know, you do need that script as well to get it over the line Um, and it's only really Frank Skinner who could have gotten that show on Yeah, I think that was sort of that though with the dying days of it doing probably more studio sitcom than before But having someone in your corner, I think I sort of forgotten about that that is a much neglected thing Even I managed to get nearly get a studio sitcom on itv Even though, you know, and we realized it was still just not going to do one but it was Avalon that did it and go back and listen to our episode with Jimmy Malville Which is only a few episodes ago If you can convince him that your studio sitcom used to be on tv He's real fight for it, you know, he will do all kinds of things to get that show on tv You know, just listen to that interview and you'll discover What a powerful ally as well as what a ferocious and fearsome enemy Jimmy Malville would be so I think you know, you do need to convince someone to go into bat for you So yeah, I'm making the same point again, but I think in this episode. I'm realizing quite important that is And also in we've got an episode coming up with um Danny Snack and Tim Clark Which they talk about, you know, keeping networking and keeping up with producers and things Um, just another thing to say about Mrs Brown's boys and upstart Crow Um, is that what they are also one of the reasons I think they're successful And one of the reasons why I'm kind of persevering with mine is because the shows are they On they are theatrical experiences the show is a theatrical experience by which I mean, you know, Mrs Brown's boys is not trying to be like 2.4 children or my family or something, you know, it's a family sitcom But it's not it's a pantomime really and that's and it's it's unashamedly that and you know, good good It's a live it's a live show and that it's it has a story, you know, and it has jokes and whatever But it's it's not, you know, it's it's set up It's like you're it's like you've gone to the theatre to watch it and then similarly with with upstart Crow You know, it is it's like going to see Shakespeare Only kind of updated, you know, David Mitchell and all those other It's like a Shakespeare and Blackadder.
Yeah, and it's none the worst for me. No, exactly But it's so the point is though. It's a kind of It gets over the artificiality I think what has put people off in the last 10 20 years is that they're so used to we're so used to like the office and peep show and The american shows, you know, Brooklyn nine nine parks and rec and stuff that that we've lost our ability to kind of get past the artificiality of audience sitcom And the one of the ways around that is well, this is an artificial thing It's a pantomime. It's a Shakespeare play and again.
I mentioned one division one division where it is An audience sitcom, which it is quite a lot in the in the first two or three episodes You know, it's it's it's part of it's part of the artifice is built into it. So That's that is definitely something to think about. I think I think the days maybe of being able to kind of come up with a An audience sitcom like something like say Frasier, which is sort of very heavily, you know character character and story based Without having extra kind of artificial thing, even then it was a sort of it's a radio show I think if you did Frasier now, it would be the Frasier radio show almost with you know With with cutaways to you know backstage or whatever so and even that was fair in mind That was the show launched off the back of sick of cheers. Yeah, yeah one of the most successful sitcoms of all time So, you know, it's again that that they cheated Yeah, and basically my advice therefore is for heaven's sake cheat.
Yeah, and we mentioned that Shane the Frank Skinner sitcom that didn't succeed For whatever reasons are there was that one that was sort of Advocally successful the one that Ian and James did after my family with Nicholas Lindhurst Yes, after you've gone Moving back in or I think oh no no I've gone with Nicholas Lindhurst the one you're thinking of was called something else home again And that sort of kind of didn't I don't know that I think partly That that possibly felt like it was you know, it was too much like a normal Transition was happening at that point to the kind of artificial people were not so kind of taken by that artificial kind of thing But also they had that show because James and Ian had worked on my family and had run that for a few series And then given that the BBC BBC one still had my family Why did they want another show that was a family based studio sitcom? It may be they just felt like it was something that they already had and you know You can either have series eight of an established show with Robert Lind's own maker or you can have a second series of home again Or you can have both you can hand over my family to someone else and take your Successful proven writers and give them another show, which is how it is sort of used to work You know, you've had a success here try something else Which is kind of not necessarily the case nowadays Um, but to think of thinking about other recent shows And the most recent one I think of is the Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins sitcom Kate and coach the ITV sitcom that has run for a couple of series I think and I don't think it's coming back But I think past the problem with that was again, it was just it's a sitcom and it's set in a cafe Brenda Blevin is a big name, but she's not sort of you know, she's not an O2 filler. Yeah, and she wasn't in love island No Um, but um, you know big name character actors, maybe you know, they don't have quite that sort of star Attraction of the way, you know, Miranda and Lee McQueen. So so yes, I think the audience sitcom that tries to be Something that is and actually even thinking about, you know, the great Perion Croft and um, and Lloyd um sitcoms, you know in the 70s And they were you know, one set in a holiday camp ones set in the home guard, you know, there's there's an Artifice to those shows as well.
You know, are you being served? I said, you know, in the senses of kind of the department store is the sort of Is one of the stars of that show, isn't it? Yes, that's interesting. I hadn't really thought about that.
I remember Yeah, yeah, they all feel more like a night out at a play rather than Uh, you know a studio sitcom with you know with a family It feels like most studio sitcoms should be family sitcoms and the idea of a workplace sitcom or something Can't be but as you say also upstart crow kind of transports you somewhere else in a way that where the artifice doesn't seem to matter so much So again, maybe you know trying to get a studio sitcom That's set today in a regular house with a regular family or even an irregular family But in a regular house and you know and the BBC have got one Jim howix in it written by Tom baster Um, and that's a that's that's a single camera show. Yeah, and if you said, you know, do you want to do that in the front of studio? They'd say well, why would you do that? Um, because also then limiting the scope of where they can go and what they can do so Um, yeah, it's it is tricky.
I think you need a really good reason why it's got to be said In a studio. Um, because otherwise it's just gonna be This is gonna feel old fashioned. Yeah, and it can feel old fashioned as long as it's old fashioned plus something else Yeah, or it's so old fashioned. You can't quite believe it.
Yeah, as in mrs. Brown's voice So yeah, so if you are going to write an audience at common, you know, I would consider it You know, I would think about it just as we say if only for the numbers thing So you do you do kind of need a very big idea. I think beyond. Yeah, I will it's a family sitcom Plus, you know, like you say the um, Tom bazman one, um, you know, it's a family sitcom that's a mockument entry Um, yeah, I mean, I mean, I would for instance say I know something like that um that which finder one which which didn't really do it for me Um, but I sort of almost could imagine that as an audience sitcom.
I could almost be a sort of black adder type thing Um, but it's kind of too much. They you know, they enjoy the aesthetic of the filmmaking too much I think that's a yeah, I think that's a problem that I think that's a probably another good reason to like audience sitcom is because you know We don't really care about you know filming and beautifully film that is I want to laugh really Um, yeah, and lots of scripts we read and have read do forget that they're very much what what shocked we're looking at they're very much We we open on this we go here. We look at that. We see this we do that and it's like this is this is a wannabe cinematographer Or there's loads of action description.
We mentioned this in the previous podcast. It's like oh you this person should write a novel um, so Yeah, um, another thing so to think about you know when you're writing a sitcom We always say well, you know sitcom They're either about a single monster larger than life character or they're about sort of mismatched couples And actually sort of thinking about it a little bit. Um, um, think about say Miranda for instance Yes, of course Miranda is larger than life character, but actually characters two and three are both larger than life as well. Oh, no really Stevie.
Yeah, mum, you know, they're both also I mean mummies are monster. You know absolute monster. Yeah. Yeah, and um, and They're larger than life in in their characters, but also they're both played by small actors And again, this is something that you can really play well in an audience sitcom You know, you've got Miranda who is whatever she is six one or something.
I think and then Patricia Hodgson, Sarah Hadland who you know probably about five foot three five four and you've already you've just already got You know big you're looking for big contrasts and uh, you know, that's that that's stuff that you can You know, you you you have to find ways of doing that that are real and you know, what what's what's a what better way Can you do that than having one very big performer and two smaller? Yeah, that's you know, that's already doing some of the work for you um, as you mentioned as well, James jokes jokes jokes jokes. You really have to you really got to have those jokes um and Big plot twists really don't you have to have kind of pretty big Um plot twists. They still have to be character Yes kind of but I think in a way the twist what was brilliant about Miranda was determined that the Final scene and the big reveal should be played out in the studio in front of the audience in because it feels like if you've got six minutes of studio Outside shooting or whatever you a lot yourself or whatever you can afford the temptation is to take it out of the studio and Out into the place where you can really, you know, um, let things really explode but actually it's so much better Uh, when it's in front of an audience because the audience they really buy into the characters in the situation in the story So if you can do that massive reveal if you can give them that huge victory You know, the audience is gonna cheer for them and they know they know it's not real But they still want the character to succeed and you know, they want the baddie to get their comeuppance and all that kind of stuff So so you want those big twists but in a way that the temptation and this is going well that therefore has to go outside studio No, no, that's not the case at all the emotional stakes are super high as well And so, you know, just make sure that it's every bit as emotional as anything else Uh that you would write.
Yeah, no, that's a really good point. I hadn't thought of that and actually I think one of the things that I always um the sort of big introduction to me in of tv uh sitcom writing audience sitcom writing was was my family with first tv sitcom that I wrote for and Seeing you know kind of being in the room when the show was recorded and then going home and watching it on tele three or four weeks later And not kind of wondering what didn't quite transfer which bit of magic that happened on the night and it's always really brilliant on the night What hadn't quite worked? I think and thinking about it now probably nine out of ten times It was that the big reveal was not uh done in the studio. That's a really uh, I haven't thought of that.
That's a great point Yeah, in fact, I mean my family's role was with there was no location shooting in my family at all There's not a single location. No, but they they they filmed they pre-recorded Uh on the Wednesday it was the pre-recorded stuff that they filmed on the the day before Yeah, um that that was kind of um what um, you know, sometimes the big final scene at the end was had been Not actually been shot in front of the audience. Although it was in the same studio The other I guess you know the other bit of advice maybe therefore as well is That maybe you need to do it as a stage show. Maybe you do need to do it at the end of festival Maybe you do need to do it at local theater.
Maybe you do need to prove the concept You know because I think we're we're more mindful of the fact that um things need to be based on existing things Uh to just to take the risk out of it and tv controllers and commissioners, you know, it's pretty high stakes And they want to establish a proof of concept now They already know that serena ligand's funny and probably three million people would turn up to watch her sitcom if she wanted to do one but um, you know, if you don't have that then maybe you need to you know show that this is because i'm getting mrs Brown's voice was a live touring show Um, and the you know the producer of the tv show went and saw at the glass go empire and realized that this is a Huge hit with a bunch of people so in a way, it's like The risk had already been taken out of it whether it was transfer to tv or not was obviously more of a mystery But there was no doubt that people were finding this funny and it wasn't thing I mean there was even a movie based on mrs. Brown before it was even on tv. Yeah, um starring starring a huge Yeah, so holly would act and jellica houston and jellica houston. Yeah, i mean it's like it's not that's kind of incredible really isn't it?
So um So if you can sort of work out away, I mean a bit like it's not a sitcom. I know but vik and bobs big night out You know was born from a live comedy club where vik reves would would be on stage and then bob mortimer was just a punter He used to show up and then heckle him and then slowly got more and more involved in the show You know you can drive a scripted sitcom where it's an interaction with the audience, but it's kind of scripted You know, there's loads of things that you could do but it just depends on your idea of course So But um, but it's just why thinking does your idea lend itself to that But also if you have an idea what would the studio sitcom idea of that be and how could you prove that it would work in front of an audience? Yeah, I think also I mean the last thing that I would say as well is you know when when when you're writing it And I think this does actually apply whether it's an audience that come or not Can I do read a lot of sitcoms that are you know, they're nicely written and everything and they they have a little nice nice characters and a Interesting little plot thing, but actually you kind of need to Turn it up to 11. I think to use the spinal tan phrase.
So you kind of have to Just exaggerate things a bit more don't you know, don't go completely over the top but just Make everything a little bit broader a little bit brighter, you know kind of a bit bigger contrasts there um, and I that's that's how I said give to anyone who's looking you know looking at your script at the moment and thinking how can I Zing it up a bit more, you know without even before I do a big proper rewrite on it So and I think that's also you know, you have to think about that definitely for a live shows as well Definitely so those so those are our hot tips. Dave. Are you going to do a studio sitcom? You're gonna keep writing it We shall carry on for now.
I feel more confidence now being I mean in a sense it will probably be the Would you have a producer read it and says if a producer says I love this idea I don't think it's an audience sitcom then it's that's it's not a hill that I'm gonna die on but I would like to present it as an audience at all we both would like to present it as an audience at com and see what people say Um, but they might just say maybe it's not but at the moment I'm I'm kind of seeing it I mean it's only takes place in there's that there are only two rooms in which it takes place So the moment if it works fine and it does have the artifice as well. It's got its own kind of Artifice there. You know, so so we'll have to see what people say Well, we may yet change your mind because we're gonna keep talking over on patreon So there's an extended version of this episode and before we start recording I asked from our patreon's any more questions of writing studio sitcoms and we've got a few of those so we're gonna deal with those now So if you want to get in on that and listen to episodes We've already referred to that coming up in the future that we've already recorded Then do join us on patreon if you google sitcom geeks patreon Then you can get involved where you also get invited to a discord server as well as our secret facebook group And so you can be in touch with other writers and we can all have a bit of a winch together But also help each other keep spirits up as well as a point each other and talk about what was on tv last night And also pick up lots of really useful information about resources not James and I we come we recommend things you from time to time, but we've got about 130 people in the patreon group and we get a lot of really useful Advice and think things that's books or shows and things people recommend that you know, we don't even recommend other podcasts, which is frankly incredible But they do so anyway Thanks very much. If you want more go on patreon and there's a bit more and in the meantime.
Thanks very much Dave. Thank you James I must be next time. Here we go