You are a sitcom writer for a major television network. The network is once again in a slump and as their star writer its up to you to come up with a clever, new sitcom to boost their ratings. On a steep deadline (a week) you gather up some of your best co-workers and put together a short commercial that you hope will leave the network production panel (the olympics judges...) salivating! Your sitcom can be of any flavor. To help you along, we've provided a list of sitcom genres with examples:
Super-Natural
- Mork & Mindy
- Bewitched
- I Dream of Genie
- Alf
Family
- Cosby Show
- Simsons
- Brady Bunch
- Full House
Workplace
- Just Shoot Me
- Cheers
- WKPR
Group of Friends
- Friends
- Seinfeld
- Drew Carry
Odd Couples
- Will & Grace
- Perfect Strangers
- The Odd Couple
Non-Traditional Family
- Punky Bruster
- Different Strokes
- Webster
- Small Wonder
- Mr. Belvedeer
- Who's The Boss
- Frasier
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Awards and Scoring
Awards
| Most Original Sitcom | *50
points |
| Most Entertaining | 50
points |
| Best Writing | 30
points |
| Best Music | 20
points |
| Best Special Effects | 20
points |
| Best Cinematography | 20
points |
| Best Choreography | 20
points |
| Best Female Actor | 10
points |
| Best Male Actor | 10
points |
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Participation
Five points will be awarded for each team member that participates.
Time Limit
Commercials that exceed the time limit will be penalized at the discretion of the judges.
Bonus
Twenty points will be award for a composed theme song.
* Points are relative to this event.
Details and Tips
- Turn in the video on a cued DV tape to Mario Christoudias in NE43-V609 by 2pm on Friday, January 30.
- Commercials have a time limit of 1 minute and a suggested length of 30 seconds.
- Cameras and equipment will be discussed during the captains meeting.
- Take lots of footage. You don't want to have to reshoot scenes the night before it is due.
- Shoot the same scene from multiple camera angles, so you can cut between them.
- Plan for two days of pure editing.
Resources
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I'd like to give special thanks to Neal Checka and Kevin Wilson for helping with the theme of this event and providing me with genres and examples. I'd also like to thank Jacob Eisenstein and Michael Siracusa for their ideas on scoring and Harold Fox for his tips on filming and editing.
Comments or Suggestions? Email: cmch at mit.edu