SITCOM Mailing List: This www.apc.net/ia/sc.htm page is provided as a courtesy to Screenwright(R) clients and visitors. Below are instructions for joining the SITCOM mailing list, which was created to provide a forum for aspiring and working sitcom writers to discuss the business and writing of sitcoms and to assemble a community of writers focusing on this specialized discipline as a source of support, advice, and general all-around camaraderie.

[Most browsers will allow you to File, Save As, so that you can read this off-line in your browser; or you can Click and highlight from top to bottom, press Ctrl+C to copy the text to your clipboard, then retrieve it in your word processor by pressing Ctrl+V; or you can Print it from here.]

To receive electronic mail from working and aspiring sitcom writers around the world, just insert your name as you would like it to appear on the list, and send only the following message in the body of an eMail (the automated LISTSERV ignores the Subject line):

subscribe sitcom Your Name

to: LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU

A command confirmation request will be automatically generated, and after you reply to the message with an ok command, complete directions for customizing your subscription options will be sent (you'll want to save the welcome messages - they're quite informative). The following will make more sense after you read the LISTSERV's instructions, but at this point, I'll jump in and offer my 2¢ with a solution for managing the potentially hefty volume of eMail. After I've been notified that I'm subscribed to an active mailing list such as SITCOM, I send this type of command to the LISTSERV: set sitcom digest ack norepro - to leave this LISTSERV, eMail a signoff sitcom command. Remove X when addressing eMail (stops SPAM robots) to <sitcom-request@maelstrom.stjohnsX.edu>, for contacting the list owners, Chuck Atkins <chuckat@primenetX.com> or Dan Signer <dsigner@ecomX.net>, and visit the SITCOM website for further information.

A random selection of TV- and comedy-related Usenet newsgroups follows: misc.writing, alt.tv.sitcom, alt.tv.seinfeld, alt.tv.friends, alt.tv.frasier, alt.tv.newsradio, alt.tv.3rd-rock, alt.tv.home-imprvment, alt.tv.mwc, alt.tv.simpsons, alt.tv.duckman, rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy, alt.comedy.british, alt.culture.fabulous, aus.tv, fr.rec.tv.series, alt.gossip.celebrities and alt.showbiz.gossip. Here are some other links for: posting to misc.writing, searching the archives at Deja News & St. John's, learning more about SITCOM at Tile.Net & Liszt (recommend SITCOM for Liszt Select!), and consulting ATAS, NATAS, episodic-l mailing list, SCRNWRiT mailing list, Sitcom Net & Sitcom Format 101.

Burning Typewriter: Would you like a powerful writer's image as your Windows (or other system) background graphic? In 3.x, choose Main, Control Panel, Desktop, to record the name of your current Wallpaper File, in case you want to undo your work. Then visit "Hommage" 1974 by Leopoldo M. Maler, which is located at The Hess Collection. After loading, simply right-click on it, and select Set As Wallpaper! [To make a smaller version, paste its URL into the Graphics section at Anikó J. Bartos - Conversion and choose Shrink to Purée, so WebFX can chop it down to size.]

IRC: At approximately 7pm Pacific time on Saturday nights (early Sunday, UTC), there's an Internet Relay Chat for sitcom writers currently scheduled on the #sitcom channel of the irc.superlink.net SuperChat server. Contact your Internet Service Provider for instructions on connecting to this IRC channel.

If you're in a UNIX Shell environment, you would normally type irc irc.superlink.net at the UNIX command prompt. If you have a SLIP/PPP account, you'll need IRC software. At Shareware.com, you can find "mIRC" or "PIRCH", which are highly recommended. The program will have a field to add irc.superlink.net as a server choice (it probably won't be one of the defaults), and the port number, if required, is usually 6667 - when you get connected and receive a welcome message, type /join #sitcom to chat.

Once you're comfortable with the software, you may select a "handle" or nickname by typing /nick [name], and you can post an action entry with /me [action]. You'll see quite a few shorthand acronyms like LOL for Laughing Out Loud, and smileys [or emoticons, like this sideways winking, smiling ;-) face]. But if you're ever unsure about somebody's meaning, just ask them.

Alternate IRC: AOL users may not be able to connect to the irc.superlink.net server as outlined above. If this is the case, try port 6670 through 6675 on the kentville.ns.ca.superchat.org server; it will give you access to the same #sitcom channel. If you have any further problems, you could also try irc.superchat.org for a random SuperChat server, or switch to port numbers 7777, 7000, or 6660 - 6669. I've always had quick, error-free connections at the houston.tx.us.superchat.org server, but that may be due to my Southern California location. Finally, if you want to slightly reconfigure your browser, you can automatically connect with this mIRCLink.

Webmaster: Alan C. Baird · Screenwright(R) · Books · Links · WORDS · interholics Anonymous