Steve Bugeja is a writer and stand up comedian, who won the 2013 BBC Radio New Comedy Award. He has a number of projects currently in development including his debut Edinburgh Festival show 'Day Release' which he is set to perform this August.
Steve joined us for our BBC Writersroom at Salford Sitcom Showcase 2015 sessions, where he live tweeted from the event (@SteveBugeja) using the event's hashtag #BBCSitcomShowcase
Being a writer can be quite lonely, staring at blank pages waiting for inspiration, pacing around your bedroom hoping that your desk lamp will offer a unique insight into the human story. And then there’s the tears. I’m currently working on a number of scripts and I often find going to these Writersroom events can help to invigorate and inspire me to be better. It is also a good way to procrastinate and not write.
I ate half a Kit Kat as I settled down to the first session on ‘How to Get Your Comedy Script Commissioned’. The hour Q and A was useful and honest. Producer Elaine Cameron gave some valuable tips, such as, instead of sending scripts often it’s worth just sending a short video to spike their interest. Clearly even TV people like to get distracted by YouTube. I’m hoping to get a whole series commissioned by never producing a script and just sending funny videos of dogs walking into french windows. Hearing about Phil Mealey’s journey as a writer was also eye opening. Even a man who had written Royle Family, one of the most successful sitcoms of a generation, sometimes faced an uphill struggle to get his ideas listened to. However it was Kristian Smith (BBC Comedy Commissioner) who, for me, offered the most simple advice of the day, if you write something that stands out, people will take notice.
I sat down for the second session and ate the remaining half of the Kit Kat. We were treated to an exclusive look at a new CBBC sketch show 'Class Dismissed' followed by an in depth discussion about the writing and production process. I found it particularly interesting how the writer intentionally wrote a multi layered comedy, one set of jokes for the kids and one for the parents. As someone who is currently working up a script idea for kids TV it definitely made me think of how I could add different dimensions to the jokes. Producer Claire McCarthy had some very interesting insights into what’s funny for kids and how you go about testing that. A key tip I picked up was that kids love farts. I will be penning many variations of fart jokes in my own script.
The final session after lunch was a look at the BBC’s first ever transgender sitcom ‘Boy Meets Girl’. I had no Kit Kat left. Despite this it was this third session that left me feeling most inspired. Hearing writer Elliott Kerrigan speak about his show was brilliant, this is a heart warming story with plenty of laughs. As he spoke about the characters it became clear that Elliott had lovingly crafted each of them in tribute to one of his family members. In particular the main character, who he says is based on his brother, who he described as the perfect gentleman. “Get in late and leave early” was a useful tip on how to construct scenes. I often find myself bogged down in writing the beginnings of scenes, “hiya how are you? … I’m fine thanks, good day?”. Rubbish. Skip that guff and get straight to the bit where they talk how they want to boff each other. Hearing Rebecca Root’s perspective as an actor was also quite enlightening, I guess when you’re writing it’s quite easy to forget that one day someone else might care about your character as much as you do.
My writing partner and I are currently developing a sitcom with Radio 4. Our aim, of course is to make it funny, but we want it to be filled with pathos as well. I bloody love the stuff. Hearing Elliott talk about finding the balance between big laughs and touching moments in his script got me thinking about ours. Using pathos to build up tension in the audience which you can then burst with a joke is my favourite thing to do in comedy, Elliott certainly does it well, I hope we can use the technique in our own script.
This day yet again offered some valuable tools and ideas for me to take away. I would highly recommend any writer come along to the next one. And also, as I said, being a writer can be quite lonely, so it’s just nice to get out of the house.
*Bring two Kit Kats.
