Austin Improv

I want to encourage anyone out there who writes sketch comedy or may want to give it a try to enter the XL sketch writing contest that is part of the sketch festival coming up soon. I've heard that they need more sketches.

Go to the XL site for more info and the rules. Sketches need to be 600 words or fewer and fit the type of comedy that Esther's Follies puts on. If you don't know what that is, I recommend that your material not be too blue or absurd, etc...

The deadline is this Thursday (April 27). Let's try and get a bunch of stuff submitted, so as to get a cool show put together.

Andy Crouch, are there any more details on the festival?

i would enter tons of sketches but all are over 600 words. c'est la vie.

I've been having to cut some sketches pretty harshly....a good exercise....though it's tough to cut some
stuff tha you really love.

Yeah, I'm gonna cut a few things, it will HURT SO MUCH! Maybe they'll be a little less harsh about that rule next year.

HerrHerr wrote:

Go to the XL site for more info and the rules. Sketches need to be 600 words or fewer and fit the type of comedy that Esther's Follies puts on. If you don't know what that is, I recommend that your material not be too blue or absurd, etc...

Hah! Whoops. I must have missed that submission guideline. I guess I didn't register that this was a purely Esther's thing. i hope they like the smoothie sketch.

[I guess I didn't register that this was a purely Esther's thing.]


I think the original idea for the contest was that Esther's would get some new material and meet
some new writers. Last year, everything was done through Esther's. This year, because early submissions
were low, the contest became a part of this new (supposedly still hapening) sketch festival. I'm just
assuming that Esther's is still the main anchor on this thing...for the writing contest at least. The Hideout was
brought in because we have such a great pool of talented folks...and potential audience draw?

Anyway...

...please write more sketches! It's good for you! Take that silly idea you have and make it golden![/quote]

LuBu McJonhson wrote:Maybe they'll be a little less harsh about that rule next year.

I doubt it bro. But first we need submissions this year.

Kill your babies, Bryan, just kill 'em.

HerrHerr wrote:I think the original idea for the contest was that Esther's would get some new material...

Don't they already have paid writers? Why give them material for free that they can take and use, and even rewrite if they like?

I know I sound like a sourpuss, but shit, put on them sketches at the Hideout! Keep your own artistic vision too. Stop giving it away...

Chris wrote:The Hideout was brought in because we have such a great pool of talented folks...

Exactly.

mcnichol wrote: Don't they already have paid writers? Why give them material for free that they can take and use, and even rewrite if they like?

I agree with you for the most part, Bob, about all of us doing our own sketch thing at The Hideout.

The winner of the contest is supposed to get $500. I don't think the "losers" can have their sutff used beyond the contest show w/o compensation.

Yeah, they have paid writers, but I think they may be looking for MORE writers, ya know? Kind of a sneaky way to find new talent.

see i thought this was a joint hideout & ester venture, and this just isn't the case. it's more of an ester venture where the hideout is helping out. this translates to lame. the hideout should start its own sketch festival and writing contest, and give cash rewards. why not? don't look at me, i'm leaving the country.

Evilpandabear wrote:see i thought this was a joint hideout & ester venture, and this just isn't the case. it's more of an ester venture where the hideout is helping out.

Honestly, Jay, at this point I don't know what it is. I'm just trying to encourage people to
participate by writing or having their troupe perform since we've committed to Esther's and
Velvetta with AIC show blocks. If this is gonna happen (and it's scheduled to...) then I just
wanna make sure it's NOT total lame-ass.

Still waiting to hear more from Crouch about this...

This year is shaping up to be a nice low-key sketch fest. We're not pulling many troupes from out of town, so the schedule is mostly us. They're not getting an abundance of sketches for the contest, so that side of it should be pretty mellow also.

Esther's follies is an Austin institution that has been selling out shows for a couple decades now; they're pros at marketing and press relations. We're a fun up-and-coming organization with a lot of talent. Putting on a sketch festival together is a low-commitment venture that should benefit us both. They get to run an event with some local energy behind it (including the front page of the XL) and scout for some fresh writing talent, and we get to feed off that publicity and hopefully bring some crowds in to see what we're doing at the Hideout. And it gives us the excuse to play around with sketch stuff more. Seems like a fair trade to me.

And no one is giving anything away for free. If Esther's wants to perform anything beyond the one time it will happen at the sketch fest, they have to buy the sketch.

HerrHerr wrote:
I doubt it bro. But first we need submissions this year.

Kill your babies, Bryan, just kill 'em.

Yah...I'm gonna write a couple of other things too, that won't seem like they've been CUT HORRIBLY.

Hey Andy...(and all)

Yeah, I think the whole thing is a groovy idea...it's just that there hasn't been much buzz to build off
anything, ya know? I mean, hello? We're calling this a festival...and it's still being thrown together...and
we have, what three weeks....YIKES!

Criticism aside, I am willing to help by submitting scripts and having Hoover' Blanket play. And I am not
down on Esther's at all. I know there's no way they'd "steal" anyone's scripts. They do pay.

Maybe the next attempt at this will be a bit more orderly and include all parties fully. For now, let's rock out
as best we can...tick, tick, tick.....