Comedy scripts

[LMPurves]

I've stepped outside of my drama box and am working on a feature length comedy.

KUNTA KINTE IS MY UNCLE

Picture Kevin James trying to land Beyonce by proving he is black.

Anyway, I've written three feature comedies and they all suck balls (well, 'cept my baseball comedy that might have some potential with a bazillion rewrites) so I am humbly inquiring if anyone here who has had some success at comedies has some pointers they would be willing to share with me.

I'm finding it hard to sustain pure comedy throughout the whole script -- during the character arcs, I keep dropping back into my comfortable zone of drama so on the read-thru, I'll be reading comedy then suddenly have a whole page to a page and a half of drama where no funny sh1t happens.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this?

[emily blake]

What puts you in a funny mood? Is there music that helps you get your quirk on? Dancing around the house? What makes you goofy? Do it right before you start writing.

But if you're not naturally funny, you're probably not going to be able to fake it.

[Ronaldinho]

I can't give you specific advice (I'm not a comedy writer) except to say this:

The problem you're experiencing is very, very common. I've read a lot of comedy scripts - even very good ones - where the comedy suffered during the dramatic bits.

Remember that most of the comedy you see onscreen is team written. A sitcom has a bunch of funny people in the room for every episode, looking for places to add jokes. Comic features invariably have joke specialists brought in to make it funnier. Working alone, expect to have to do a lot of passes and put a lot of hours to compensate - do passes that are specifically about looking for more jokes.

[eirick]

I'll just pass on something Jason Segel said about writing comedy, which was an advice given to him by Judd Apatow.

The advice was: don't try to write a comedy. Write a drama. We will add the comedy later.

I think what he meant by that was that if you try to write a comedy based on funny one liners, the script is going to be boring by page 15. However, if you're writing a drama, the comedy would most likely arise from funny situations. That way you would be able to sustain the comedy for longer and avoid that it falls flat. Or something like that.

You can always add funny lines later.

[LMPurves]

Originally Posted by Ronaldinho

Remember that most of the comedy you see onscreen is team written. A sitcom has a bunch of funny people in the room for every episode, looking for places to add jokes. Comic features invariably have joke specialists brought in to make it funnier. Working alone, expect to have to do a lot of passes and put a lot of hours to compensate - do passes that are specifically about looking for more jokes.

This is really good to know.

Thank you, Ronald.

[LMPurves]

Originally Posted by eirick

I'll just pass on something Jason Segel said about writing comedy, which was an advice given to him by Judd Apatow.

The advice was: don't try to write a comedy. Write a drama. We will add the comedy later.

I think what he meant by that was that if you try to write a comedy based on funny one liners, the script is going to be boring by page 15. However, if you're writing a drama, the comedy would most likely arise from funny situations. That way you would be able to sustain the comedy for longer and avoid that it falls flat. Or something like that.

You can always add funny lines later.

Also insightful.

Thank you.

[Mark Somers]

Lisa if you are the same Lisa from artfulwriter then you thought my "Unstable" was funny, in which case there is no hope for you. If you are not the same Lisa then I leave by saying "I fart in your general direction".

[Jim Mercurio]

If you are in drama mode, that means you are finding IMPORTANCE for the characters. That's a great start.

Here is an article I wrote about how importance can be used in comedy. I reference The Other Guys and MBFW.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/f...715350586.html

If you have things that matter to the characters, then that's a start. Now tweak their perspective so that their allegiance to what is important is a bit overkill. Like "don't touch my stuff in Step Brothers." Also, take the current situation that is light or not super serious and make the characters link it a bit too closely to what's important to them.

In drama, a person who wants control might not let you change the custody agreement of their children. In a comedy, they would suggest McDonald's and their date would suggest Burger King and they would fly off the handle because they would link that to the larger issue of control.

If characters can have strong and exaggerated perspectives in scenes, they can get worked up over stuff that is less important than in dramas or in reality. But in the world of the movie, those things rise up.

[ChadStrohl]

I might be wrong, but isn't comedy drama dialed up to 11?

[LMPurves]

Originally Posted by Mark Somers

Lisa if you are the same Lisa from artfulwriter then you thought my "Unstable" was funny, in which case there is no hope for you. If you are not the same Lisa then I leave by saying "I fart in your general direction".

Guilty.

Guess there's no hope for me.