Almost Ready…

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Lee

It’s been somewhat quiet on the 4amcab website this year and that’s partly because of Rachel’s crazy plan.

Well, excuses aside, the gears have been turning and very soon you will start to see the fruit (mixed metaphors allowing). I thought it might be interesting to share what has been going on and fill you in on the plan for the rest of the summer, with the forthcoming release of series 3.

This time around, I decided to try things a little bit differently. With previous series we had found that the conveyor belt of writing, script editing, recording, editing and releasing (then starting all over again on the next episode) was a difficult one to maintain. Something had to change to make the project more manageable. I decided that for the third series I wanted everything to be written before I began the recording. The good news is, that’s nearly done.

Right now, at time of writing this, there are just a handful of sketches to complete. Next week I will be recording the first three episodes followed up with another recording session of the second half of the series.

So the big news is, I’ll release a short tease for the new series on 1st July and then two weeks later, on 15th July, the first episode will come out. As all the writing and recording for the series will be in the bag, this means I’ll release the rest of the series weekly. You’ll be able to hear all six episodes by the middle of August. Phew!

The final bit of 4amcab news, for the moment, is that I’m hoping to have a few new voices on the show. More on that shortly.

Set your podcatcher to stun* and get ready for the 1st July. It’s going to be a bumpy ride**.

*automatic download
**no, it won’t

Thank You

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Lee

Well, I’ve been blow away.

When I opened the submission window on the 1st of February I was expecting only a handful of people to send in their ideas. Boy, was I wrong!

I’ve literally just finished logging everything that’s been sent in and even with my basic maths I can count almost 200 sketches. Thank you so much to everyone who has spent countless hours writing stuff for consideration, it is very much appreciated. I’ve only managed to read about a tenth of what I’ve been sent so far but already I can see a few sketches that could work. The inclusion of themes for series 3 really seems to have helped writers to focus their ideas and hopefully it will also make the episodes a bit more joined up… well maybe.

I aim to have read through everything over the next few weeks and so I’ll commit to letting everyone know if they’ve been successful by Tuesday 1st April. This should put series 3 on track for the first episode being released in May, but I’m not going to put that in bold just yet.

For series 3, I plan to record more than I need and cut sketches that don’t work out in the recording which is a common policy on shows like the BBC’s Newsjack and The Show What You Wrote. The idea with this is to be left with the strongest material whilst giving everything that I like a good chance. Hopefully this also will encourage those that get recorded but not used that they are on the right path for the show.

So thanks once again for sending in your work, it’s good to know that people like 4amcab enough to spend their time submitting sketches.

Series 3 Submission Window – OPEN!

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Lee

The window for submitting your work for consideration for 4amcab Series 3 is now officially… open!

This time round we’re looking for lot’s of really short sketches so we can get as much into each episode as possible. The other key difference is that we’re asking for sketches on a theme. Each episode will have it’s own theme into which all the sketches will relate. We will retain the central storyline concept too, so there’s opportunity to write a longer sitcom style story for each theme.

Those themes are as follows:

Class,
Love,
Work,
Creativity,
The End
and The Future

The deadline for entries is Sunday 2nd March 2014 at midnight.

Send your sketches into us at the usual email address: ideas@4amcab.com

More details can be found on the Write for 4amcab page of this website.

Good luck and get writing!

Send us your stuff!

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Rachel

We’re half way through Series 2 now, so we thought it’s the perfect time to re-open our inbox and ask if you’ve got anything to send us for the show. We are not going to set a deadline but we record the next two episodes on Monday 15th July, so you’ve got less than two weeks to make it into the next two shows. The final episode of the series will be recorded in September, so don’t worry if you’ve got nothing right now.

So what do we want? The current run has taken on a pattern and what we want is the following:

4 x story scenes (set at 4am)
2 x adverts
2 x stand alone character sketches

If you’ve not listened to the show before, then it’s vital that you do. We get a lot of stuff we can’t use which is too dark/offensive/sexually explicit/too long/not funny, so try to write something that would easily fit into a previous episode. You can listen to a lot of our sketches on www.audioboo.com/4amcab

Have a look at our writer’s guidelines to give you more information about writing for the show. Send your scripts to us at the following email address: ideas@4amcab.com

We credit everyone who writes for us and it’s a great opportunity to have your work professionally produced, so do get in touch. Ask us a question on twitter too, if you like.

New Series Taking Shape

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Lee

I should really be redrafting the script for S2:E1 right now but I’m getting so excited to be returning to the studio that I just had to share it with you.

After what can only be described from the outside as a MASSIVE BREAK (honestly, we have been working hard in the background) we are almost ready for our second coming. Rachel and I have read through all the submissions and we’ve made a nice sized pile of ones that are suitable (or will be with a rewrite). So far we’ve contacted three writers for the first episode and we’ll be in touch with more as we pull together the rest of the series.

Ready for a big announcement? Of course you are. Our plan is to release each episode in series 2 on the following dates:

Episode 1 – 1st May 2013
Episode 2 – 1st June 2013
Episode 3 – 1st July 2013
Episode 4 – 1st August 2013
Episode 5 – 1st September 2013
Episode 6 – 1st October 2013
(Secret and previously unannounced) Christmas Special – Just before Christmas ;-)

Imaginitve, eh? So put the dates in your diary (they’re probably already there, you just need to add the event).

We hope you’re as excited as we are and we’ll be asking for your help to spread the word just as soon as we’re ready to release the next installment.

The Window is Shut

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Lee

A big thank you to all the writers that have sent us their work over the last month for the forthcoming series of 4amcab, our inbox has been filling up nicely. We’re going to now read everything that was sent and can begin the process of planning out all six episodes of the second series.

Follow us on twitter to keep informed about how the project is progressing and if we need any more material we’ll put a call out on there (and on here too but there’ll be links from twitter).

So once again, thank you for taking the time to contribute and we hope to be able to use as much as possible.

Call for Submissions

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Lee

The window to write for Series 2 of 4amcab is now open.

This time we are having a month long window where we are asking for your sketches so we can more thoroughly plan all 6 episodes of the second series.

Here are the details you need.

– The current window is open until Midnight Wednesday 20th March 2013
– Send your Word .doc scripts to us at this email address: ideas@4amcab.com
– Put “Series 2 submission” in the subject box – this will ensure you get a receipt to say we’ve received your work.
– On each sketch, put a header with your name and email address on, so we can keep track of who sent what.
– Send us as many sketches as you like, there is no limit.

As we are expecting to receive a lot of sketches, we are not able to offer feedback for individual sketches but if we like something or think that it could be developed we will let you know.

As always, everything that is used will get a credit on the website.

For more infomation on what to write about, have a look at the writers guide but the main thing we are looking for are short sketches with a slightly surreal or silly sensibility. Have a listen to one of the later episode of Series 1 or individual sketches on our audioboo channel.

We look forward to reading your work.

Remember, the deadline is Midnight Wednesday 20th March 2013