Hi all

I hope i'm posting in the right place, please forgive me if it should be elsewhere in this forum, but i was hoping to get some info on how to put together a scriptwriting team.

I'm pretty new at this game and am helping to produce a (prospective) comedy series aimed towards adults (but tempting the teens!) using live action rod puppets, but filmed in a movie-type fashion, with all manner of cinematic shots. Inspirations for the show's look include Tarantino, Bruckheimer, crossed with Japanese vinyl toys. Much of the humour is influenced by Family Guy, as well as numerous references to other movies.

Looking into possibility of utilising the American method (we're from the UK) of putting a team of writers together to thrash out jokes and was wondering if there were any resources/articles/pearls of wisdom on how to administer this way of working so i can have a full understanding. I have the following specific questions, but any info would be greatly appreciated: -

how are they paid (per joke basis or otherwise?),

what are the production company limited to asking from potential writers in the first instance (obviously, not asking people to work for free, but we need to know they've got a grasp of what is required and can deliver funny lines).

if the group of writers solely write the jokes and not the storyline of the show, what credit do they get, and how much of the story do they have to contribute before they get a loftier credit?

i guess similar question re. characters. Whilst they are developed to a certain extent, i'm sure there may, naturally, be further input along the way from writers

we have interest in the show coming from both sides of the atlantic, and whilst there is no money on the table at the moment, we're not really going to be asking writers to do a great deal of writing until green lights are being shone in our eyes and money is being thrown at us to fund it! i guess right now, we are just trying to put the structure and team in place, get people who really want to write for it, for when we get the go ahead.

essentially the show could turn into a bit of a franchise as there is 3 potential shows to come out of it, one of which is for kids (but again tempting the adults!), and a social networking-reality tv-game-type hybrid internet monster to boot! So, i guess any info on the mechanics of how to put this sort of a writing team together would be great (and would relieve the growing pressure on my brain at this moment in time...)

Would love to hear suggestions

Mr N

FWIW, you should keep your writing team small and have a head writer who everyone should take orders from.  Don't have writers who write only jokes and writers who write only the story; your writers should be able to do everything.

In regards to pay, they should be paid per episode.  That's how it's done in the USA (and probably the rest of the world).


Phil