Writing Comedic Reactions

[cristopherous]

Sometimes a look or honest reaction is funnier than anything a character can say.

Curious how you guys write these reactions.

[wcmartell]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

I let the actors do that.

- Bill

[nmstevens]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

Sometimes a look or honest reaction is funnier than anything a character can say.

Curious how you guys write these reactions.

The most important thing to realize, of course, is that those reaction beats often *are* the punchline.

There's a classic moment in Buster Keaton's The General where Keaton, escaping from the pursuing Union Army in his own train, has set a fire on a bridge. Along comes the union in their train and the Union Commander sends his men out to inspect the Bridge. They come back, shaking their heads -- it's been damaged by the fire. It won't hold the weight of the train.

And the Commander, sitting on horseback, shakes his head, gestures. Send the train across. It'll hold. Send it across.

So they send the train across. Half way across. And the bridge collapse. Down goes the bridge. Down goes the train.

Boom.

Now, this was filmed in the twenties. No special effects. Real Bridge. Real train.

Real boom.

But the big boom isn't the joke.

The joke is when they cut back to the Commander sitting on his horse. To his reaction.

Which is, at best, at this huge disaster, one of mild annoyance. It's like -- hm. Oh, darn.

And then he turns to his men and gestures for them to climb down and ford the river.

And often, the reaction *is* the punchline and you need to describe it.

When I find myself in that situation, I'll often simply put the unspoken words or unheard thoughts into the description.

He stands watching the approaching behemoth. He rolls his eyes -- oh, well, another bad day in the city.

Now the reader "sees" the expression, the posture, the attitude.

NMS

[Richmond Weems]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

I hear what nmstevens is saying, but my inclination is to follow Martell's lead on this one.

The reason being is that "another bad day in the city" doesn't adequately portray the funny. I mean, yeah, it's a 'funny' reaction, but those reactions the OP is asking about are all from the actor. We can write the reaction, but it's not going to carry the same weight as what's seen onscreen.

Write the reaction "oh, well", or "rolls eyes", or whatever...but don't kill yourself trying to be funny when that reaction is going to have to come from the actor.

Where's Lowell or Mazin on this one?

HH

[Craig Mazin]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

It's a good question, and obviously the answer depends greatly on the nature of the joke that precedes the reaction.

Some of the things I do include:

Joe and Alec share a look.

Joe stares at Michelle. Wow.

Joe watches, jaw-dropped.

Alec just looks at this. No words.

Michelle shakes her head. Unbelievable.

Joe watches this... looks around. Is anyone else seeing this? He thinks about saying something, then just puts his hands up and walks away.

Stuff like that. It all depends on the moment.

[Manchester]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

This is why I come here. ^^^ Great stuff. Thanks.

[nmstevens]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

I hear what nmstevens is saying, but my inclination is to follow Martell's lead on this one.

The reason being is that "another bad day in the city" doesn't adequately portray the funny. I mean, yeah, it's a 'funny' reaction, but those reactions the OP is asking about are all from the actor. We can write the reaction, but it's not going to carry the same weight as what's seen onscreen.

Write the reaction "oh, well", or "rolls eyes", or whatever...but don't kill yourself trying to be funny when that reaction is going to have to come from the actor.

Where's Lowell or Mazin on this one?

HH

Well, the point is -- you can't ever really *do* a visual gag on paper. You can spend all day describing slapstick, but it's always just going to be a description.

The best we can ever do is to try to approximate it and the question is always how to do that effectively and if you're trying to describe a visual moment using words, if that moment depends upon actors or shots or a particular reading of a line -- or whatever it is, you can't just leave it up to someone else to do what needs to be done.

Because that presumes that somehow or other the thing that's in your head that *needs* to be done is going to jump the spark gap to someone else's head -- the director's, the actor's, the editor's -- and get done.

But unless you find the right words to describe the moment, the expression, the proper delivery of the line -- to convey that moment the way it needs to be conveyed -- the reader won't get what's in your head.

There just won't *be* a joke (or a scare, or a tear) unless you figure out how to convey where the joke is.

And all we've got to work with are words.

So we have to do the best we can with what we've got.

NMS

[cristopherous]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

The most important thing to realize, of course, is that those reaction beats often *are* the punchline.

I most definitely realize this, which is why I was wondering how others write such reaction shots. Like you, I sometimes write unspoken words or thoughts in description to help convey this.

I let the actors do that.

- Bill

Actors can bring a lot to the screen, and I'll be grateful when that happens with one of my scripts.

But right now I'm worried about the page and influencing what the reader sees in his or head. Craig's reply has a lot of great examples that I've used before.

Still though, do you guys actually think writing such lines -- "Joe and Alec share a look" -- elicit a laugh from the reader? Even though you know on screen it absolutely will? I feel like in the many scripts I've read, I've never really laughed at such lines.

Which leads me to this:

How often have you written something that isn't all that funny on the page, but you know on screen it will kill? Is that even possible? Any examples, specifically people who have had their work produced?

And how do you make sure that the reader sees your intention? I always strive to make sure they can, and think I do an adequate job, but I know in my own writing there have been times when picturing a scene on film is way funnier than anything I can write.

Thanks for the discussion!

[JoeNYC]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

Cristoperous says, "curious how you guys write these reactions.-

-- I've written a few comedies where I've used reaction shots (facial and/or body). A character reacting (the description a Writer would write) to something (dialogue or action) could produce anything from a chuckle to a full out belly laugh. Like Craig said, "depends greatly on the nature of the joke that precedes the reaction.-

I'm not gonna give examples from my own writing. I think it would be better to give examples from known produced comedies.

For example, "When Harry Met Sally.- The diner scene where she faked the orgasm and Billy's character's reaction wasn't in the script, but if it was, the reaction could be written: "He glances around and squirms uncomfortably,- which his reaction got a chuckle from the audience.

"American Pie- where his parents catch their teen son watching porn and the father grabs for the TV remote, which is sitting on the pillow that's been covering the son. The pillow gets brushed aside -- revealing the son with his shorts down, and a very strategically placed tube sock. The father rushes his wife out so he can handle it.

The script's description of the reaction shot of the father sitting next to his son, thinking how he's gonna handle this:

"Jim's Dad is stuck there with his half-naked son. Horrible, awful embarrassment. A long, strained beat.-

The following is a reaction shot from a scene from "Private Parts- that produced a full out belly laugh from the audience (Note: this came from a transcript. Had only the writer's dialogue, so I had to fill in the description from what was shown on screen):

Set up: Howard's mother is driving her 12-year-old son and two of his friends to school. It opens with adult Howard's narration.

INT. STERN'S CAR - DAY

Mrs. Stern drives. Howard, sitting in the front passenger seat, gazes aimlessly out his window. Two of his school buddies sit in the back.

HOWARD (V.0.)
My whole neighborhood underwent
a demographic shift.

FRECKLED BOY
My parents said we're moving because
of those niggers. They said pretty
soon, Roosevelt's going to be nothing
but niggers.

Mrs. Stern looks annoyed.

DARK-HAIRED BOY
Really? My parents said we're moving
because of all the Shvartzes.

FRECKLED BOY
Shvartzes are niggers, idiot.
They're the same thing.

Sound of tires screeching.

Mrs. Stern turns around to the boys.

MRS. STERN
I don't want to hear any more
of this, you hear me? I'm half negro,
and Howard's half negro.

Howard spins toward his mother with a wide-eyed, shocked expression.

MRS. STERN
And anything bad you say about
negroes, you're saying about us,
you understand?

She turns around and drives on. Howard's friends stare at him like he's an alien. Howard leans in to his mother and whispers...

12-YEAR-OLD-HOWARD
Mom, we're half negro?

She nods.

Howard faces forward with a look of: My whole world just ended.

-- The reaction shot from the young actor playing Howard hearing he was half negro was funny as hell. The audience loved it. Now, if I read this in the script first without the actor's interpretation, I would find this reaction funny, but I don't think it would have caused me to laugh as hard as I did watching it on screen, so this goes back to what NMS said:

Well, the point is -- you can't ever really *do* a visual gag on paper. You can spend all day describing slapstick, but it's always just going to be a description.

The best we can ever do is to try to approximate it and the question is always how to do that effectively and if you're trying to describe a visual moment using words, if that moment depends upon actors or shots or a particular reading of a line -- or whatever it is, you can't just leave it up to someone else to do what needs to be done.

Because that presumes that somehow or other the thing that's in your head that *needs* to be done is going to jump the spark gap to someone else's head -- the director's, the actor's, the editor's -- and get done.

But unless you find the right words to describe the moment, the expression, the proper delivery of the line -- to convey that moment the way it needs to be conveyed -- the reader won't get what's in your head.

There just won't *be* a joke (or a scare, or a tear) unless you figure out how to convey where the joke is.

And all we've got to work with are words.

So we have to do the best we can with what we've got.

NMS

[Timmy]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

How often have you written something that isn't all that funny on the page, but you know on screen it will kill?

Plenty of times you think you've got a cracker and then go on stage and die on your ass.

I'd be cautious if it wasn't funny on paper.

If it was important, I'd try to find some way to test it - try it out on an open mic night or get some actors to perform it - to see if it really is funny or just my imagination.

[wcmartell]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

I'd be cautious if it wasn't funny on paper.

Yeah, I'd make the situation really funny on paper... and then let the actors do their thing and make it even funnier.

- Bill

[Armak]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

Excellent question from the OP. And great examples from Craig.

I tend to obsess over the non-verbal reaction, constantly questioning 2 key facets of each:

1) Is it truly necessary? After all, there are potentially thousands of them in a feature-length movie, but I've singled out a handful.

2) Does it get the point across without being too cliche/obvious/obscure?

That last one is the one that really taxes my writer-brain down to its last resources. Whew.

The non-verbal reaction has a really weird place in the screenplay. In film, a medium told in images and sounds, where showing is everything, the human face is the heart of the story… and yet the screenplay format has evolved to exclude the literal describing of facial reactions-- there's simply no room to go into the details, no matter how vital or enormous the moment would play on screen.

As a result, screenwriters who need to evoke the human face are forced to break one of the cardinal rules: namely, "show don't tell." Quite rightly: it's the only way to evoke a facial expression with any kind of economy.

If you look at Craig's examples, 4 of the 6 explicitly write out either the subtext or person's thoughts ("Wow." "Unbelievable." "No words." "Is anybody else seeing this? [etc]"). No coincidence with the ratio: I'd say this approach is used 2/3 of the time.

The other 2 are interesting tacks…

- "…share a look" does not say what the look is but uses the context to infer what that look must be, probably because the reader/audience is having the same reaction. Using context is one trick. Sometimes even the vagueness of "Fred reacts." is a clear mental image. (Although something equally clear but punchier is usually preferred)

- "Joe watches, jaw-dropped." This is that very rare reaction that is a physical description. Others are "bug-eyed," "mouth hanging open," etc. The problem with these is that there are so few of them that are good at conveying a mental image with emotional subtext that they're on the verge of becoming cliches from overuse.

Another problem, IMO, is that although these are technically physical descriptions, what they make you picture is more like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Which can be fine in a broad comedy but is tonally jarring in another context.

I've been trying to find new ones of this type, with mixed success. I shot a film over the summer that had a woman seeing a man for the first time and "her pupils dilate." Neither the actors nor the producers nor any of the crew knew that pupils dilating is a physical reaction to seeing something you are attracted to. I guess we read different articles in Wired magazine; onto the scrapheap that experiment went.

Anyway, as you can see, I can talk all day on stuff like this, on how to get complex images like faces translated to the page. It's fun for me. Really! *shoots self*

[Madbandit]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

It's a good question, and obviously the answer depends greatly on the nature of the joke that precedes the reaction.

Some of the things I do include:

Joe and Alec share a look.

Joe stares at Michelle. Wow.

Joe watches, jaw-dropped.

Alec just looks at this. No words.

Michelle shakes her head. Unbelievable.

Joe watches this... looks around. Is anyone else seeing this? He thinks about saying something, then just puts his hands up and walks away.

Stuff like that. It all depends on the moment.

Rolling the eyes back is also a good reaction.

[DavidK]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

4 of the 6 explicitly write out either the subtext or person's thoughts ...

Saying what the character is experiencing lets the actor act, and actors often come up with ways of exhibiting something that the writer might not have imagined. Saying that Kristel suddenly realizes she's the only one in the room laughing offers more latitude and opportunity than describing how you think she will look or what facial expression she might use at that moment. If a grimace or shriek is called for, write it, but more often than not more is achieved be describing the feeling or experience than by specifying an expression. "Joe rolls his eyes" falls into a special category, and don't ever tell Morgan Freeman what facial expression to use.

[DavidK]

Re: Writing Comedic Reactions

I'd be cautious if it wasn't funny on paper.

If it ain't funny on paper then it probably ain't funny anywhere.