Writing Situation Comedy

a five-day course

prepared and presented by John Vorhaus

[This is a sample course outline for my five-day sitcom writing workshop. It can, of course, be modified to meet the needs of individuals and groups.]

DAY 1: COMIC TOOLS

• the comic premise
• comedy equals truth plus pain
• clash of context
• the wildly inappropriate response
• exaggeration
• tension and release
• defeat of expectation
• joke structure
• humor and culture
• telling the truth to comic effect
• telling a lie to comic effect
• the rule of three
• callback
• taboos and tolerance
• toolcraft

View and critique an episode of a situation comedy for the purpose of examining the role and use of comic tools

• creating comic characters
• the comic perspective
• flaws
• humanity
• exaggeration in comic characters
• worldview
• controlling idea
• primary orientation
• fundamental questions
• comic opposites

Exercise in creating comic characters and putting them into dynamic opposition

DAY 2: STRUCTURE

• the sitcom premise
• types of comic stories
• a-story and b-story
• act breaks
• set glue
• arc of stability
• arc of denial
• story and theme
• lines of conflict
• levels of conflict

View and discuss a situation comedy in the context of comic characters and comic story construction

• the comic throughline
• story and theme
• the needs of the sitcom pilot
• comedy and jeopardy
• story logic and plot logic
• story and taboo
• predicament comedy
• character comedy
• finding ideas
• developing ideas
• comic stories in brief

Exercise in writing and evaluating comic stories in brief

DAY 3: OUTLINE AND SCRIPT

• writing a story outline
• rewriting a story outline
• appropriate levels of detail
• the need for the story outline
• ideas in contention
• outline in the context of series arc
• editing a story outline
• mining and refining
• write fast, write long

Read and evaluate a story outline with an eye toward maximizing its potential

• story to script
• the raw draft
• the first draft
• editing a draft
• from first to final draft
• the polish
• the myth of the last great idea
• scriptwriting tools
• the big speech
• the doorbell effect
• the three-dimensional line
• the non-linear approach
• surrendering your "stuff"
• macroconflict and microconflict

Exercise in writing dialogue using comic characters in opposition and multiple levels of conflict

DAY 4: THE PRACTICE OF WRITING

• the will to risk
• your ferocious editor
• the long view
• process and product
• bosses and buyers
• writing as a professional
• spec scripts and spec projects
• writing partnerships
• pitching
• serving the work

Exercise in giving and taking notes on creative work, with focus on serving the work

• team writing
• roles in a writing team
• the wince factor
• the fraud police
• toughness
• heart
• patience and impatience
• the writer's life
• the long view
• growing an industry
• teaching and learning

DAY 5: PRACTICUM

• Practical exercises in sitcom construction
• Practice pitching
• Individual consultations/assessments
• Question and answer
• Closing remarks