The Comic Toolbox
Writing Comedy
For Television And Film
prepared and presented by John Vorhaus
PART ONE: COMIC TOOLS
- the comic premise
- comedy equals truth plus pain
- clash of context
- the wildly inappropriate response
- exaggeration
- tension and release
- defeat of expectation
- 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
PART TWO: COMIC STRUCTURE
- 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 film comedy in the context of comic characters and comic story construction
- the comic throughline
- 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
PART THREE: 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 three-dimensional line
- the non-linear approach
- macroconflict and microconflict
Exercise in writing dialogue using comic characters in opposition and multiple levels of conflict
- the long view
- process and product
- bosses and buyers
- writing as a professional
- writing partnerships
- pitching
- serving the work
- the wince factor
- the fraud police
- toughness
- heart
- patience and impatience
- the writer's life
PART FOUR: PRACTICUM
- Practical exercises in comic story construction
- Sample scene writing
- Pitching
- Question and answer
- Closing remarks