PREVIEW:
SITCOM
The biggest mistake
writers make when trying to break into sitcoms is to think they must
have as many jokes in the script as possible. Not only does this belief
keep many writers from even trying the form, it guarantees that even
funny people will fail as sitcom writers.
Rule #1 about writing sitcoms: sitcoms are not jokes. They are story.
Yes, sitcoms have
to be funny. But the question is, where do those jokes come from? They
come from the story engine.
The sitcom engine
is determined by two things: the way the show has been set up (aka "the
franchise") and the structure of that particular episode.
The first thing
a writer of a spec script has to do is analyze the set up of the show
itself. Incredibly, most writers skimp on this step. They may have watched
the show many times and think they know it. In fact, they have probably
missed the keys to the show. Unless you break down a number of episodes
on paper, emphasizing the show's lead character, the web of the sitcom
family, the particular sitcom sub-genre, the oppositions and the scene
sequence, you will miss what makes your particular show work.
Like the short story,
the sitcom is one of the most dense of story forms. I find consistently
that the average sitcom script has only about 2/3 of an act worth of
real story.
It is true but essentially meaningless to say that you should jam your
story forward to get the maximum out of the 22 minutes allotted you.
Doing that requires many things.
One is don't focus
too much on the "Act out," that is, the moment right before the commercial.
Having some kind of pop just before the commercial has almost nothing
to do with structure. Writers who sequence their story in order to have
a good Act out, or who try to determine the Act out too soon, usually
end up with a lot of padding.
Yes, you want some
big event or some important revelation just before the first act commercial.
But the true structure of your script has everything to do with the
unfolding of your hero struggling against his/her predicament. That
means the good old 7 steps.
Sitcoms execute
the 7 key structure steps in unique ways. For example, good sitcoms
have a unique desire line that gets the hero in trouble. The trouble
then escalates. In this way the humor comes from the character and the
jokes come from the situation that the hero himself has caused.
Do a test sometime
and notice how many times a bad sitcom is the result of a hero who doesn't
have a desire that gets him into trouble.
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