Interview - Radio 4 Commissioner Caroline Raphael

When to invite, when not to invite, what to say, what to send and when? The British Comedy Guide's Helen Bagnall met up with Radio 4's Comedy Commissioner Caroline Raphael to find out more about the Radio 4 commissioning process. Here is Helen's resultant guide to R4 Comedy Commissioning...

BBC Radio 4 Comedy Commissioner Caroline Raphael is lively and curious, which co-incidentally is just like her typical R4 listener. And she always has this listener in mind when commissioning. And boy does she commission a lot, Little Britain, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, The League of Gentlemen and Genius for starters.

Recently she's rated Bleak Expectations, Clare in the Community (pictured), Fags, Mags and Bags, and performers Mark Watson and Tim Key amongst many others. Caroline commissions for three comedy slots on Radio 4: the 11:30, the 18:30 and the 23:00. But faux seriously she tells writers to beware of the 18:30 slot, as this is the busiest time in the typical R4 household and listeners demand simple plots and stories. Interestingly the creators of Clare in the Community are cartoon writers too, and are therefore experts at the three-scene gag. This is a commonly recommended approach for writing quality radio comedy. 11:30 and 23:00 may have smaller audiences, but it is these listeners who are more likely to pay your work the kind of attention it so rightly deserves.

Caroline was happy to give clear guidelines to those connected to the British Comedy Guide and interested in submitting comedy material to R4. As Commissioning Editor for R4 comedy, does one simply send her material? Well no. DVDs, CDs, websites and scripts only get a look in when they come attached to a producer - literally at this point, attached as in their hand. So she's not joking when she says the best use of the wannabe writer's time is to make friends with a producer. They have her ear, and her ear likes to hear a producer coming through her office door with a script saying 'read this'.

However, as well as listening to producers, Caroline is often found out-and-about actively looking for talent. Along with Radio 4's producers, she goes to shows and screenings and industry showcases - the finals of So You Think You're Funny for example. And they are there with a purpose: they're looking for reassurance that a writer is capable of producing at least 4 x 15 minutes of material. This is the key thing, as this is the minimum a relationship with R4 can offer. So if you're putting on a show with an hour of top-notch material invite Caroline, she wants to be invited. She's also always open to suggestions of who to see in Edinburgh.

Talking of which, Edinburgh it seems is now regarded as the trade show of the comedy business. Caroline is there to work, work, work - seeing upward of five shows a day for two and a half weeks. Comedy, after all, is now a proper profession (banker, baker, comedy writer) and anyone really considering the job as a profession should take Edinburgh extremely seriously.

The Edinburgh of recent years has become a showcase for the best work you've got. That's the stuff tested in previews which allows you to hit the ground running as the saying goes. Caroline firmly believes that what people show at Edinburgh will be the best the material is going to be for some time, and so is the perfect place to judge it - it is why she doesn't go to the Edinburgh previews.

Whilst there, she often sees great performers and often great material, but rarely both. It can be a great opportunity however if you don't feel comfortable on the stage to find someone who does but clearly needs a writer and vice versa. She wishes more writers would use Edinburgh in this way. During our talk, Caroline also noted the increasing trend in stand-up directors. This can make a real difference, a director can act as your substitute audience, tell you how best to position yourself and your props, help you with timing - everything which allows the audience to focus on your material. She also made an appeal to all acts planning to go north of the border to print a programme. With such a workload, the Radio 4 crew may not warn your show they're coming and may struggle to make contact with the performers afterwards. If there's no program - not even an A4 piece of paper, then that's it. Tragedy. You never know who's in your queue it seems.

And for those who don't get to Edinburgh - all is not lost - there is an approach that's not only a lot less expensive but also involves far less standing around the cold (or Scottish summer as it's known). Because back in London, remember those BBC producers who need to be wooed? They are open to approach apparently. But how do they like to be approached... well, directly it seems - by email, with scripts attached that get them excited. Also it's good to know that YouTube clips, DVDs, CDs etc are all extremely useful for a producer being able to sell the project internally, and for the commissioners to get a good idea of the ability of a writer/performer.

And how to decide which producer you want to be friends with? Raphael suggests it's a case of listening to the shows and working out which producers would be a good fit with your writing. They are also your best bet in understanding the guidelines from Radio 4 in terms of what they are looking for, as these change slightly every time there is a block of commissioning.

And so, all in all, getting your gags on R4 seems to be purely a matter of hard work, dedication, polish and professionalism. No problems there then!

Helen Bagnall currently writes for an online soap and habitually dabbles in comedy writing.