O.M.C!
O.M.C! is a brand-new Gaelic sketch series being created by multi-award-winning comedy producer, THE COMEDY UNIT, and due to air on BBC ALBA later this year.
The creative engine-room behind a string of hits such as Scot Squad, Chewin’ the Fat, Burnistoun and Limmy’s Show, THE COMEDY UNIT are now working on an ambitious new Gaelic show.
O.M.C! aims to follow on from the popular success of Gaelic comedies such as Ran Dan, PC Alasdair Stiùbhart, Dà Là san Damhair, Talla Sheòrais and the recent award-winning hit show Func, with an innovative, contemporary and positive show that has its own unique flavour and strong identity.
This is an exciting opportunity for the very best Gaelic-speaking comedy talent to collaborate with experienced producers, script-editors and directors to create a distinctively Gaelic show that has broad-appeal.
Writers
Writers will be at the very heart of this series; their creative input is vital for its success. One joyous aspect to the creation of a new sketch show is the host of enthusiastic creative talent that abounds in the Gaelic world. We would love to work hand-in-hand with you in order to harness your talent and in so doing create a memorable experience for all concerned.
New Show, New Sketches
We don’t want to limit your creativity, so we’re open to different styles and tones. This includes observational humour, visual comedy, quickies, shorties, longer character sketches, one-offs, recurring scenarios, biting satire, surreal weirdness, sight-gags, slapstick and monologues – from the sublime to the downright ridiculous. The target audience for the show is broad and multi-generational.
In everyday life, we are increasingly all using all sorts of technology to interact with each other and the world. We’re interested in incorporating this element into some of the sketches. How do modern methods of communication affect everyone? – not just the teens and the tech savvy.
We’re hoping to engage as wide an audience as possible and let as many viewers as we can in on the jokes.
The only rule is that the sketches should be vividly relatable for a Gaelic audience, and of course FUN – fun for you to write, fun for us to read and fun for our audience to watch and enjoy.
Comedy Characters
A brilliant comedy character can be timeless, so if your idea falls into the bracket of “classic” then it would be very welcome. This show presents an opportunity to feature a new collection of comedy creations. But not everything has to be ultra-cutting-edge or provocative. We’re keen to see the comedy characters that chime with the watching audience. And, at the same time, we’d like to showcase brand-new, recognisable comedic creations. We’re after everything from crofters to hipsters and indeed hipster-crofters.
What sorts of characters and locations particularly resonate with the audience? We’re aiming to forge a fresh, vibrant identity for the show while still including well-known elements that the audience will recognise and enjoy.
We’re keen to feature a hilarious range of characters, old and young from a wide range of backgrounds in a selection of very different settings to bring as many elements as possible to the show for the viewers to enjoy. These can be Scottish-based figures – or even international celebrities and global topics if it suits your sketch.
On this show, the emphasis is to celebrate the very best in Gaelic-speaking comedy talent. This includes writer-performers. If the ideal person to perform your comedy is the person writing it, then please feel-free to write for yourself!
Spoofs
We’re also interested in how writers might approach spoof-type material. These spoofs can range from quickfire trailers and adverts to more involved sketches. We’re looking for skits on TV shows, music, films, internet platforms and sports coverage. This could involve everything from sending-up Gaelic TV shows to “remaking” global SVOD hits from a Gaelic-speaking perspective.
Dates/Style Guide/Useful information
What we would ask in the first instance is for you to send us an initial batch of sketches by 16/07/21. We will follow-up on this by getting in touch, collaborating with you to advance your work, exploring other ideas and where appropriate, commissioning further material. We’re looking at material as soon as you send it in, though, so please don’t store it up! Send us your sketches as soon as they’re ready.
The Comedy Unit has useful experience in creating shows, but just to be clear, the Glasgow-based company won’t be calling the shots on dialogue or translating old scripts into Gaelic. This is a brand-new Gaelic comedy series and both the dialogue and sensibility should be Gaelic.
In terms of a style guide, we don’t want to curtail your creativity too much, so we’ll look at up to a dozen sketches. One pagers and half-page quickies work a treat, and they are the lifeblood of a sketch show. But if you have a longer character piece that needs more than that, it’s worth keeping it under three pages if possible. Within your sketches, we’re looking for dialogue in Gaelic, with a line by line translation into English and stage directions in English – just for ease of production with non-Gaelic speaking production team members. We’d also encourage you to submit on word or plain text documents for ease of reading. Please put your name on each sketch and go to a new line whenever a new character is speaking.
We hope some of the above will inspire you. If so, please run with it and go to town on creating some cracking new comedy sketches. At the same time, if you have a brilliant idea for a sketch and it doesn’t fit in with what’s been suggested here, please send that in too! The main thing is to get you going on writing comedy. We can’t wait to see your material!
Sketches should be sent, as e-mail attachments, to seamus.macmillan@comedyunit.co.uk and rab.christie@comedyunit.co.uk
All that remains is to wish you luck and happy writing. The Comedy Unit looks forward to working with you and to developing a fruitful and enjoyable creative relationship.
O.M.C!
