1. A creator of Scottish Comedy.
2. Someone who decides what Scottish Comedies are going to be shown elsewhere (UK, etc.)
3. A reviewer from elsewhere, talking about exported Scottish Comedies and if they think they work as well in England, etc.
1. I've had a few ideas for this one, and two people have been contacted. First off I got in touch with Robert Florence, who's the co-creator of the TV show Burnistoun that was made in Scotland, and then shown elsewhere; people weren't happy that it wasn't' being shown everywhere across the UK, and there was even a newspaper campaign set up to make it happen. Mr Florence has agreed to do an interview at some point, but I need to get in touch with him again to work out when that will be.
Another person that would work very well in this package, is Greg McHugh. He's the creator and star of the TV show 'Gary: Tank Commander' that was originally just shown on BBC2 Scotland and then UK-wide on BBC3. I tweeted him about the interview but didn't get any response, but luckily my friend knows him and is going to email him about it for me; just the 'beginner email' so he knows that I'm a really great guy. Apparently, if he's not too busy, it's very likely that he'll be up for helping out.
2. This one was proving to be quite tricky. Commissioners are very hard to get in touch with as they're incredibly busy. I was worrying a lot about this one, as it's a bit of the package that is crucial and I'd probably have to change everything if I couldn't work out a person to interview for this part. I'd met Kristian Smith before, who's the executive editor for comedy commissioning at the BBC, but he's not got back to me yet, which is not surprising as he's probably got a huge workload.
After a bit of worrying, it just popped in to my head who I should be interviewing. Jemma Rodgers. She's the former Head of Comedy at BBC Scotland, and also a friend. She's agreed to do an interview. I think Jemma will add what is needed for the package, which is the input of someone who has a lot of control over these shows.
3. In all honesty, I probably haven't done as much as I could have for this one. There was only one person I really had in mind for it, and that's Grace Dent. She's a columnist and reviewer who in the past, has written the following about Burnistoun:
'Due to the unique way in which it is funded, the BBC produces a diverse range of excellent telly, then promotes it in such a piss-poor manner that no one ever sees it. Take, for example, the brilliant BBC2 Scotland comedy Burnistoun. For the 55 million Brits living south of Dumfries, finding Burnistoun would involve an exploratory trip into the remote 900s on your Sky EPG, taking you out somewhere near the African ministry channels and those sullen nude teenagers glued to their phones. This assumption that Scottish comedy is of niche appeal rankles me hugely. Iain Connell and Robert Florence's imaginary landscape of demented ice-cream van owners, petty single-issue local MPs and hapless husbands deserves a much wider audience.
If the British public can cope with season two of The Wire (22 hours of thick Baltimore mumbling about dockyards), we can surely overcome the Glaswegian language barrier: Burnistoun's Gordon standing up to a "ned" by "chucking a two-litre bottle of jinga right dead set on the rocket's nappa"; or Burnistoun funeral services, who promise to "dig youz up once a week to check if yer still deed". Two Glaswegian hardmen film a work-out DVD clad in greying underpants. Some friends go to a buffet for the first time and don't know the rules. Burnistoun FM's phone-in show can't find anyone who can even understand "today's big question". A chancer hires out crutches and hospital beds by the hour outside the dole office, to people defrauding the DSS. It's hard to nail the essence of Scottish humour without making sweeping generalisations, but here's my shot at it anyway: Scottish comedy tends to be raw and often sweary, mixing the plainly absurd with traditional old-school observational; it pokes fun at religious guilt, unsexy sex, the lazy and the tragic, the eccentric and anyone with delusions of grandeur. But isn't that just like comedy everywhere, you're asking. Well, maybe. So why isn't Burnistoun being shown on mainstream BBC2?'
Since then, Burnistoun has been networked across BBC2. But what interested me was her interest and passion on the topic, as shown in this piece. I've contacted Grace via Twitter, but didn't get any response. It was probably quite annoying, as I hard to write it all in 3 separate tweets and probably didn't look in the least bit professional. I'm going to ask if she's willing to give me an email that I can send the interview request to.
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That's where I'm at in terms of interviews. Really worrying about the third one, but I probably went at it the wrong way, as there was only really one person I had in mind for it. I should've taken a bigger look at it all, keeping different people in mind. But that's what I'm going to do now. Does it really have to be a reviewer? Or can it just be someone from elsewhere, who's a big fan of scottish comedy, and is known in certain circles for being that? I'll have a think.
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That's where I'm at in terms of interviews. Really worrying about the third one, but I probably went at it the wrong way, as there was only really one person I had in mind for it. I should've taken a bigger look at it all, keeping different people in mind. But that's what I'm going to do now. Does it really have to be a reviewer? Or can it just be someone from elsewhere, who's a big fan of scottish comedy, and is known in certain circles for being that? I'll have a think.
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