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In April 2000, David Quantick and his writing partner
Jane Bussman made The Junkies, the first situation comedy
on the net, at a rock bottom price of £5000. He is also
is a scriptwriter for the TV series Brass Eye and Smack
the Pony.
Why d'you do it?
Originally the intention was to shoot it as a TV
pilot. As a tie-in we put it up on the net as well,
and one of the actors, Sally Phillips (Smack The Pony),
said that she'd much rather be in a net comedy, so that's
how it's been thought of ever since.
In the first year there were over a million attempts
to download it, which got a lot of attention from the
press and from a few TV companies. But there were problems
over the subject matter and the fact that they wanted
us to make it for the same kind of money, which you
can't for TV.
For £5000? How did you manage that in the first
place?
Basically, because we didn't pay anyone. All the
cast are people we know, and the crew were recruited
for free through Shooting
People. The money mostly went on insurance and transport,
a bit of catering and we gave this bloke £200 to use
his council flat.
Were there differences making a show for the web
rather than for TV?
On the net you can do exactly what you want to do
creatively – and we did. You don't have commissioning
editors or channel controllers trying to change your
idea. But we used that freedom well and respected the
boundaries and we weren't gratuitous. You could have
done half an hour of fart gags.
It was shot on DV, which isn't used much for TV because
of the resolution. But the grainy look looked good on
the net. It would have worked well as a daily five minute
comedy. The net is good for short video – sketch
comedy or a movie trailer – but trying to watch
a movie on it is madness.
The Junkies was on the net the same day as it came
out of post-production. If the BBC or Channel 4 had
commissioned it, it would have been a year at least.
That immediacy is the advantage of the net and why,
say NME
online is better than the NME in print, because
the stories are constantly updated.
Good comedy sites?
The best comedy sites are the ones which use the
medium well, for example TV
Go Home and The
Onion. Both work because of the use of graphic and
text. They're the sites that are constantly ripped off
but are still the best. You should ask yourself –
'could this only be on the web?'
A final tip on shooting a web comedy, if you please
Find out how cheaply you can do it. Use your imagination.
All you need is a camera, some lights and sound. Just
'Follow the Dream'.*
*(In trying to get over the way the last phrase
was said, imagine Professor Sarcastic of the University
of Sarcasm making a sarcastic comment)
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