Class Work - "The Writers are the Stars of Every Really Successful Sitcom"

In script writing we are looking at writing sit-coms. I am with a partner rather than a group and we have to come up with a story idea and soon write the pilot script for the show.

A sit-com is short for situation comedy, this genre of comedy features characters sharing a common environments such as a house or work place. The episodes are 30 minutes long and will use similar sets every episode as well as having the same main characters appear in every episode. Sit-coms are very dependant and heavily based on stereotypes or in UK sit-coms the class system. Many sit-coms borrow elements of soap operas or some have a central figure who is unusual or eccentric. Situation-led sitcoms are those that show various different mishaps to the main character as opposed to character-led sit-coms which focus on the characters which are normally very stereotypical. Within an episode the primary plotline is resolved at the end of the episode, sometimes this entails offering a moral conclusion. 

Chloe and I came up with our sitcom: Up North, after reading the BBC3 brief. BBC3 were looking for a show aimed at young people that shows a good representation on real life, especially in different regions of the UK, that they would relate to. 

Up North: Lily Hogwood is a typical teenage girl, typical that is if you've been born and raised in West London. The daughter of a government minister, she's used to having everything served to her on a silver platter until a change of government forces the family to return to the North-East. Lily is thrown into a new school and soon finds that there is life north of Kings Cross even if it does remind her of London Zoo.

I have changed a couple of things after thinking more about her backstory and the reason as to why she has moved up north. As well, we also have the idea of having her narrate it through the episode so that we can hear her thoughts.