Category: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE; Scotland
Date: 27.05.2005
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Almost 5,000 entries have been received for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE's Last Laugh competition.
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The competition, which invited the public to finish the last ten
minutes of one of eight brand new sitcom scripts penned by some of
the biggest names in the business - including Carla Lane and Marks and
Gran - attracted a total of 4,816 entries.
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Project manager Esther Coleman-Hawkins said: "It would appear to be the
biggest ever comedy script writing competition in the UK, even possibly the biggest
script writing competition ever."
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This follows on from End of Story last year, made by the same team
for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE, which invited the public to complete short stories
crafted by big name writers including Ian Rankin, Marian Keyes, Sue
Townsend and Fay Weldon.
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It received almost 17,000 entries making it the largest short story
competition in the UK.
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A number of the End of Story finalists are
currently in discussion with agents.
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Finalists in the Last Laugh competition - who will be revealed in a
series in the autumn presented by Dara O'Briain - could see the
script made into a comedy pilot for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE, the televisual home of
Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh, The Smoking Room and Monkey Dust.
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Esther Coleman-Hawkins added: "We always knew that The
Last Laugh would be a hard proposition.
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"Writing comedy is tough but
the level of entries is fantastic and our initial readings suggest
that there is some quality gagging in there."
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Julian Friedmann, Editor of Scriptwriter Magazine, said: "While I do
think this is an astounding number of entries, I suppose I shouldn't
be so surprised because there are so few avenues for people wanting
to break into comedy writing, that perhaps it isn't so amazing that
so many people have taken this opportunity."
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A reading panel is currently wading through what is effectively more
than 800 hours of comedy writing to whittle them down to four endings
per sitcom.
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These will then be assessed by a judging panel - Office producer Ash
Atalla, Friends writer and producer Adam Chase and Two Pints of Lager
star Natalie Casey - who will select two to go through to the writing
team to pick their favourite.
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One or more of the final scripts will
could become a pilot show for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE.
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The writing teams, who have written the first 20 minutes, include:
Carla (Butterflies and Bread) Lane; Paul Mayhew-Archer, co-writer on
The Vicar of Dibley and My Hero; creator of Desmond's and Porkpie,
Trix Worrell; Ian (Rab C Nesbitt) Pattison; Marks & Gran, who wrote
The New Statesman and Birds of A Feather; My Family's James Hendrie &
Ian Brown; Jonathan (Gimme, Gimme, Gimme) Harvey and the Peep Show's
Bain & Armstrong.
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Outside of London, the top comedy writing area in the UK proved to be
Essex.
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Strangely, a person named Mike Davis has entered providing an ending
for Hendrie & Brown's script start entitled Mike Davis, PI.
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The competition overall attracted a wide range of entries up to the
age of 80 years old, but the median age of the entrants completing
The Old Guys - about a pair of pensioners aging disgracefully - was
32.
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The start of the The Old Guys was created by the Peep Show
writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, who are 33 and 32 respectively.
