London Comedy Writers Newsletter Issue 78
Remember you can catch up with all the latest news at the London Comedy Writers Website and email us with your questions, comments and announcements plugging your event.
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NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 24th August
This weeks line up includes...
Restaurant III by Phillip Green
Dr Knows Best and World Cup 2014 by Peter McGladdery
Our main feature is a webisode series...
We've Been Framed, Cat and Mouse4.5 and Spoon Dragon by Alex Howley
You can find out more about the meetings here.
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DO YOU WANT YOUR SCRIPT READ?
If you want your sitcom read send me an e-mail to get on the list. londoncomedywriters@gmail.com
As always priority is given to those to turn up to meetings to give others feedback.
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COMCOMEDY
If you are up at the Edinburgh Fringe be sure to catch "Arthur's Big Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie" a free gig atop Arthur's Seat at 3pm Saturday 21st August. Comedy will be provide by Josie Long, Rich Fulcher and Lionel Richie.
ComComedy has been up in Edinburgh all this month, interviewing many acts, Keep checking www.comcomedy.com for updates.
Episode 1 - Marcel Lucont
Episode 2 - Jay Foreman
Episode 3 - Matthew Highton
Episode 4 - Doctor Brown
Episode 5 - Patrick Monahan
COMCOMEDY LIVE
ComComedy Live returns London on 8th September with a huge line up of Edinburgh's finest.
Not been to a show before read these reviews ... here, here, here and here.
Comcomedy is also accepting sketch submissions. E-mail scripts@comcomedy.com
ComComedy on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter.
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NEWS
GOOD VIBRATIONS: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy to star alongside Jonathan Pryce and Rupert Everett in Hysteria, a Victorian-era romcom about the invention of the vibrator. Hollywood is a-buzz over reports today that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy have signed on for the Victorian-era, medical-themed romcom Hysteria. The film charts the pair's fling against the backdrop of the invention of the vibrator, apparently created by a doctor who used it to treat hysteria in women.
DON'T BE EVIL: It seems that the Internet, not intent with taking over peoples social lives and networking skills, now has it’s sights set on people movie theatres now too. With the rise and rise of facebook set to hit the big screen in David Fincher’s The Social Network, the time is ripe to pluck another web brand out of the ethos and slap it down on celluloid. Enter Google. Based on Ken Auletta’s book Googgled: The End of the World As We Know it, Google: The Movie (definitely not the actual title) will tell the story of the two Stanford University PhD students who invented what is arguably one of history’s largest brands, and the effect it had on their lives and those around them.
ITV STATION: ITV is to put its catch-up TV service, the ITV Player, on Sony's PlayStation 3 by the end of the year. It is the first commercial catch-up TV service to go on the games console, which already gives users access to the BBC's iPlayer. The broadcaster said it was part of a wider strategy to put the ITV Player on digital outlets beyond the ITV.com website, including games consoles and TV and mobile-based devices. It is due to launch on Freesat in the autumn.
PROBLEM FAMILY: According to a report, Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Kawaszewski have joined Tim Burton's stop-motion version of The Addams Family. The writers will be adapting the Charles Addams comic strips for the film. In addition Burton has signed on to produce the writing duo's film Big Eyes, which is about artist Margaret Keane and her fight to get credited for a group of paintings "of big-eyed children that became wildly popular in the '60s." The script was written with an eye to having Alexander and Karaszewski direct. "Both of these projects are based on artwork that Tim absolutely loves," Karasewski said. "The retrospective in New York of Tim's own artwork showed how much of an influence Charles Addams was to him. We want the tone to be as darkly funny and subversive as the Addams drawings, and we've come up with an approach that nobody has ever done before."
NO ENDING: Having been burned by other series such as Flash Forward, Lost, Threshold and Surface, audiences have been very wary about dedicating time to a new series with a large story arch. This maybe why The Event creator Nick Wauters has promised that viewers will not have to wait long for a resolution to the show's mysteries. "There is a major twist at the end of the [first] episode that helps you to understand what the confines of the show are," he said. "[Then] in the first fifteen minutes of episode two, you're going to get several major answers. Look out for our upcoming review in Pilot Watch.
FREEDOM!: Scots comedian Billy Connolly is to receive the Freedom of the City of Glasgow later. Connolly, who is one of the city's most famous sons, will receive the honor at the city chambers on Friday night. Known affectionately as "The Big Yin", Connolly's career in comedy, films and TV, spans more than 30 years. Lord Provost Bob Winter led calls for the city to recognise the performer for his contribution to comedy, film, music and his charity work. Mr Winter said: "Billy Connolly is arguably the world's best-known Glaswegian and is truly deserving of the Freedom of the City.
COMEDY GOD: he little-known act which is currently leading the public vote for the Edinburgh Fringe "Comedy God" award has made a triumphant return to the city. Comedian Stewart Lee brought Frank Chickens onto the stage in front of a packed crowd at the Festival Theatre. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, formerly the Perriers, are in their 30th year and new sponsors Foster's launched a vote to find an all-time "comedy god". Lee's e-mail rant against the award went viral. About 100,000 people, 50% of the vote, have so far chosen the obscure Anglo-Japanese act over household names such as Michael McIntyre, Eddie Izzard, Lee Evans and Jimmy Carr. There is just over a week before the award, which is open to all the acts nominated for the Fringe award since 1981, is announced. Lee, who has been appearing in Edinburgh since 1987, said the Fringe should be about "art for art's sake". He told BBC Scotland: "It should not be about attaching a brand to a high-profile celebrity."
BEWARE OF WOMEN ON THE NET: Chatroulette has been a haven for guys jerking off since it's inception and yet guys still flock to the sight in hope of seeing girls reveal themselves. Knowing the temptation these guys have set out to fulfill this fantasy.
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COMPETITIONS / SUBMISSIONS / OPPORTUNITIES
Competition
Grand Words is a one-act play writing competition for anyone over 18 living in Lancashire; Cumbria; Manchester; Liverpool; and the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Dawen.
Deadline: 27th August 2010
Call For Submissions
Here We Go Theatre Company is accepting submissions for its 2010 Write Now Competition.
Deadline: 31st August 2010
Competition
Are you a blogger? A diarist? Do you write great emails? If you have a talent for finding danger and decadence then writing about it, Planet of Death may turn your talent into 'wealth' and er… notoriety?
Deadline: 31st August 2010
Opportunity
A new satire website, Spank the News, is seeking writers of short satirical pieces. There's no payment at present, but if the site can attract advertising and sponsorship that will change.
Deadline: 31st August 2010
Competition
The Mystery Fiction Competition must include Ellie Lacey, A Photograph and A Stolen Jewellery Box
Deadline: 31st August 2010
Competition
English Heritage and the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust (CHGT) are looking for talented writers to create a short sketch based on a historical view of Chiswick Gardens
Deadline: 31st August 2010
Competition
Ernest Hemingway said that his best piece of writing was a six word story - 'For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.' Arvon's theme for 2010 is the six word story and we want you to contribute.
Deadline:1st September 2010
Call for Submissions
Calling all short story writers! White Rabbit is planning another season of stories in London for 2010. Last season we sold out in both London and Brighton so it’s great way of getting your work heard!
Deadline "Wonder": 2nd September 2010
Competition
Critically acclaimed MokitaGrit Productions are launching a search to uncover the best in new-writing. New script competition 'The Script 2011' will be building on the already considerable reputation of MokitaGrit as one of the most prolific independent production houses in the UK.
Deadline: 11th September 2010
For more great competitions check out the London Comedy Writers website.
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PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
This is an oldie but a goodie one for writers; regulars to this newsletter might be thinking I should read it as well as recommend it.In Eats shoots and leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Also checkout the London Comedy Writers Library for more recommendations.
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WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK
Writers everywhere take note - if you are forcing your character through a series of events you are writing an unemotional script.Rant from script reader NuttyNatter's twitter feed.
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TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
It looks like every romantic comedy ever made. The Switch.
Freakanomics is now not just a great book
Catfish is documentary about a guy who falls in love with a girl over the internet, talks to her on the phone exchanges gifts and then goes to meet her, the final 40 minutes provide a shocking and unexpected twist.
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OLD JOKE OF THE WEEK
What's gray and can't swim? A Castle.
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WRITERS AND ACTORS WANTED
The London Comedy Writers is always on the look out for new writers for the site and actors to read at our meetings. If you are interested give me a shout.
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