tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post6458729403601366313..comments2024-03-22T07:38:11.573+00:00Comments on Sitcom Geek: Going FreelanceJames Caryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01315185952705396144noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-9948627346831231632013-05-29T17:37:42.212+01:002013-05-29T17:37:42.212+01:00Thanks James. That's encouraging!Thanks James. That's encouraging!Dan Swerythttp://www.dansweryt.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-34897206437108135662013-05-29T15:24:08.254+01:002013-05-29T15:24:08.254+01:00It's also worth remembering that for those of ...It's also worth remembering that for those of us who have come to writing later in life, writing for TV production is probably the least work-and-family-friendly avenue you could possibly pursue. <br /><br />TV has serious deadlines and lots of rewrites and if the producers like your pilot episode they're probably going to want you to write a load more of the same pronto. (OK you *might* score a gig writing on someone else's show on the back of your calling-card script if you're lucky.)<br /><br />There are lots of other satisfying routes to having your work produced. Writing a single play for theatre or for the Afternoon Play on R4, for example, where you can take as long as you like to get your script ready and you won't have to sell your house and give up your job and have your partner leave you and eventually fall into a lonely spiral of alcoholism and depression. <br /><br />Or, as many readers of this blog will know, theatre or radio sketch comedy are also very welcoming to the part-time writer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-26701046312004606432013-05-29T13:25:31.604+01:002013-05-29T13:25:31.604+01:00Hi Dan, Yes, I suppose it is a highly theoretical ...Hi Dan, Yes, I suppose it is a highly theoretical question because I specifically set out to avoid the situation of wanting to be a sitcom writer and yet stuck in different job with the commitments of a family/mortgage. Not least because after a day's work in the office, the last thing you want to do at night is write scripts, which is very hard work. I intensely admire anyone who is able to make the leap from one to the other. In a sense, everyone has their own path into this - or around it and on to something else more interesting.<br /><br />It may be that commitments being what they are, you just have to park the ambition for a while and work out how to downsize, reduce your other workload and/or wait 'til your kids get a bit older etc etc. Waiting is not the end of the world - as long as you're writing, reading, watching, thinking and plotting all the while.<br /><br />All I do know is that the writer only has the power to write a really good script - and if you write one, you will get interest and commissions/money will eventually start to turn up. Eventually... James Caryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01315185952705396144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-9414014618653126682013-05-29T13:11:36.459+01:002013-05-29T13:11:36.459+01:00I agree it takes a long time, and things are actua...I agree it takes a long time, and things are actually *starting* to happen. I find I'm very busy writing, but not making any money from it. Yet. (That's a very hopeful 'yet'!)<br /><br />I would like to ask though, JC, if you had a career now alongside the family and two kids, do you think you'd still have time and/or the drive to still be pushing to be a comedy writer? (Highly theoretical I realise, but I'd find the answer interesting)<br /><br />DanDan Swerythttp://www.dansweryt.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-23700285967357625332013-05-29T00:05:02.321+01:002013-05-29T00:05:02.321+01:00Thanks for the post and all the information in it....Thanks for the post and all the information in it. I am learning to be a comedy scriptwriter - I am currently reading story by robert mckee, which seems to be a good resource for how to write a story and I also did a short sitcom writing course last year with Chris Head, which I learnt a lot on. As a day job, I work as a producer in an advertising agency so that’s my real life, and I write in the evenings, but I am mostly interested in writing comedy shows.<br /><br />I get what you are saying about writing because you have to - I agree with that, I write for my own amusement, so I recently launched a website of material which is http://www.fiddlingdown.com, and in order for me to gain the experience of producing comedy, I am going to turn some of these news stories into radio scripts which I will self-produce, with me and my friends speaking into a microphone. So at the moment I am following the maxim of just make your own stuff, and get it out there.<br /><br />But in order to push things forward I’d like to be around other comedy writers, and I was wondering what’s the best way to be around them? To bounce ideas off, etc? <br />Do internships exist for scriptwriters? e.g. do production companies or theatres ever do them? <br />Because I’ll take some time off for that if it were. Bobhttp://www.fiddlingdown.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-80420956977544538632013-05-28T15:59:40.677+01:002013-05-28T15:59:40.677+01:00I would LOVE for you to write a sitcom set on a fa...I would LOVE for you to write a sitcom set on a farm. <br /><br />To everything else, yes, exactly. Mostly I know people who write fiction, and of those, mostly they write romance, like me. Almost everyone starts by doing it in their 'spare time'. They have jobs, kids, and busy lives. They get up early to write before work or stay up late to do it when the kids are in bed. They write because they have to and one day they hope to be paid for it. <br /><br />I'm in my very late thirties but I'm still living the young, cheap and single lifestyle. I have a part-time job and a rent-free place to live. And, coming up for 2 years after I self-published my first book, my writing is starting to make money (I have a combination of books with publishers and self-published books now). It takes time and perseverance, as well as talent. There's no easy way in.Roshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02669423378438380019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2272008603641292743.post-43166178040116857872013-05-28T15:25:49.342+01:002013-05-28T15:25:49.342+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16683371893925547823noreply@blogger.com