24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition

SUBMISSIONS: An unlimited number of submissions may be received by the 24HSCC. The Producer will select teams from the pool of submissions, including a guaranteed berth for all former champions Taco Tuesdays, The Storefront, A-Cups, The Mothpeople, and Hacks, . In order to submit, prospective teams must email “[email protected]” with the subject line “TEAM NAME DECEMBER 2019”. Attached should be headshots of your ensemble or a group photo, as well as a “team resume” (doesn’t need to be fancy) highlighting your team’s experience performing sketch, as well as the official names of each member of your team, and includes the phone number of the team contact (which will be used to communicate with that team during tech rehearsal). There is no limit to the number of members allowed on a team. Only people explicitly named in the submission email will be allowed to perform on stage during the competition. Substitutions are discouraged but may be accommodated at the discretion of the Producer. Submissions for the December 8th show must be received by the 24HSCC no later than 11:59PM CST Friday November 29th, 2019. The selected teams will be announced via the 24HSCC page (https://www.facebook.com/24HSCC/) by Sunday December 1st. Selected teams will also be contacted via email.

REGISTRATION FEE: Unlike previous versions of the 24HSCC, there will be NO submission or registration fee. It’s free!

PROCEDURE: At least one representative of each team must convene at the bleachers on the second floor of The Second City on Saturday December 7th at 7:00PM. Here teams will randomly draw their particular set of parameters their sketch must follow, including running/rehearsal order. These parameters will be kept secret until drawn. The meeting will conclude at 7:30PM with the reveal of the final parameter all teams must follow. Teams will have until Sunday, December 8th at 5:00 PM to write and rehearse their sketch.

TECH REHEARSAL: All teams and performers must meet at The Blackout Cabaret at The Second City at 5:00PM on Sunday December 8th for a tech rehearsal. Failure to arrive by 5:00 PM may result in disqualification, at the discretion of the Producer. Teams must provide the Producer with 2 fully printed and stapled copies of their script, void of any mark ups or hand written notes. Scripts must not have a title page. The top of page one should include: TEAM NAME, SPOT IN RUNNING ORDER, AND TEAM LAY ON. These scripts will be used as the final drafts by the Stage Manager during the performance. Teams will then be allotted no more than 8 minutes to run a tech rehearsal for their scene in The Blackout Cabaret with the Producer and Stage Manager. Following each team’s tech rehearsal, all teams will be run through a brief “tops and bottoms” of the entire show. Because of the rapid fire pace of this tech rehearsal, we strongly encourage teams to limit their sketch’s use of sound, music, and light cues. Teams will be allowed no more than 3 tech cues (lights, music, SFX). Absolutely no video or use of screens will be allowed. All tech cues must be labeled “CUE:_______________” on its own line in the script. Between the tech rehearsal and actual show, teams will be encouraged to continue rehearsing their scenes, but no space will be provided in The Blackout Cabaret. The Producer and Stage Manager will not accept revised scripts following the hand in time of 5:00 PM.

THE SHOW: 24HSCC wil begin at 7:30 PM CST in The Blackout Cabaret at The Second City. Space permitting, teams will be allowed to sit in the theater and watch the show before and/or after their performance. Teams will not be allotted any comps/free tickets to disperse to others. Sketches must last no longer than 5 minutes maximum. Each sketch will be bookended by the Producer who will introduce each team and explain the set of parameters this team was assigned to follow. Following the show, all team members will convene in a designated space outside of the theater, as to allow for a clean voting process for both the judges and audience.

WINNING: There are two awards teams can receive.

1: “Judges’ Pick” will be determined by the 3 judges: Norm Holly, Ali Barthwell, and Jonald Reyes.

2: “Audience Pick” will be determined by whichever team receives the most votes from the audience. Each audience member will be allowed 1 vote, to be written on an official voting card distributed and counted by the Producers. Team members who appeared in and/or wrote the sketch are not allowed to vote.

Winners will be announced on stage. It is possible for one team to win both awards. The Producer is under no obligation to provide transparency regarding how many votes each team received.

PRIZE: There are two official prizes offered for winners of the 24HSCC:

1: “Judges Pick” will receive $80.

2: “Audience Pick” will receive $25.

Winners will have the money transferred from Sam Bowers to the registering member via Venmo within 1 month of the completion of the contest, or via cash night-of. It is possible one group may win both the audience and judges’ pick, in which case they would receive 1 payment of $105.

The Producers may also disperse any “informal” and non financial prizes/awards to teams for categories not yet determined.

JUDGING: Judges will not be involved in the selection of teams for the 24HSCC. Judges will convene for a private voting session following the performances. They will judge sketches based on 3 overall parameters:

1: Which sketch was the funniest?

2: Which sketch was most impressive considering the short time window provided to write/rehearse it?

3: Which sketch most earnestly leaned into their particular set of rules and guidelines as provided by the Producers?

MISCELLANEOUS: The Producers reserve the right to disqualify any team or team member at any time for any reason whatsoever so as to ensure a fair and safe competition. The 24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition is in no way sponsored by The Second City, and is rather an independent competition created, produced, and executed by producer Sam Bowers.