Laughing Out Loud Page 23
Half-hour episodic comedy is structured in either two-act (M*A*S*H, Mad About You, Seinfeld) or three-act (The Simpsons, Murphy Brown) divisions. What is the difference between the two? Both add up to 23 to 25 minutes of total screen time, but the three-act allows for two major shifts in story in half an hour while the two-act depends on that one big jolt halfway through. What you are trying to accomplish either way is to Disrupt the Status Quo in act 1. If you are doing three acts, Follow the Disruptions Further in act 2 (the bar scene, for instance, in the Simpsons episode discussed in chapter lo). And in the final act, Re-establish an Equilibrium. In other words, we start with the "normal" set-up, whatever that is for your show, then undergo a Disruption that turns into an Eruption followed by a Readjustment that leads to a Re-establishment of "normal" once more. That story sense-the Completed Circle That Is Not Quite Round-is necessary for television episodic shows, of course, since no radical change can take place without doing damage to the show's basic concept. The characters in M*A*S*H don't leave Korea or go beyond the time period of the Korean War; Lucy never moves out of the suburban home we came to memorize the floor plan and furniture of, Homer Simpson never leaves his job at the nuclear power plant; Seinfeld always lives in his own apartment and keeps his job as a stand-up comedian.
Television requires that comfort zone of the predictable within which small surprises and changes can take place over time.
Decide which is your main, or "A," story and which one or more narratives are your subplots, or "B," "C" or even "D" stories. We can say that Seinfeld really is a four-character, four-story show, with one being foregrounded each week as the "A" story and each of the other characters having his or her own preoccupations as well. Other comedy shows function well with just one subplot, or two at the most.
Whatever your choice of how many subplots, make sure that your minor stories reflect some aspect of the main story, either in contrast or as a variation. The "B" and "C" plots allow you a range of the comic. If your "A" story is romantic, your "B" might be more farcical; if "A" is quite anarchistic, your "B" and "C" might reflect more conservative forms of humor, including one story that goes for some pathos.
Week 3: Outlining Five to Ten Episodes for Your Series
ASSIGNMENT:
You have the series concept you like best. And you know what you want for your pilot episode. But before writing the pilot, sit down and in brief outline form map out five to ten episodes.
Why not just jump into writing the pilot? Simple. This series outline assignment helps you determine whether or not your idea has staying power. It can help you sharpen your pilot as well.
This is also the time to review any chapters of this text that caught your eye in a first reading. Was there something about Aristophanes or Shakespeare that might influence your soon-to-be hit comedy? Or should you look at a Czech or Yugoslav comedy before writing dialogue for your sitcom about a dentist in Des Moines who with his wife has adopted four children, each from a different country?
Finally, have you made someone close to you laugh recently? That's a good check-up on whether or not you are ready to write the comedy pilot that all the networks will be beating down your door to produce.
Week 4: Writing Act 1
ASSIGNMENT:
Make sure you have gone over the simple basics of television format, thenwrite act 1!
If you've covered everything in the text up till now, you don't need me to repeat advice. But remember that everything happens at least twice as fast in tele vision. As Good As It Gets or The African Queen have almost two hours to develop romance and comedy, but you have less than half an hour to work with. So make it all happen faster. (But don't be afraid to write whatever you wish at first and then trim back.)
If feature comedy is epic, then series comedy is much closer to haiku! The structure and length are set. What you must master (and what the audience enjoys) is what you can do within such restrictions. In fact, taking the haiku analogy one step further, the brevity and tight structure should be viewed in series comedy as in Japanese poetry, as your invitation to creativity and novelty.
More easily said than done, of course. But worth remembering nevertheless.
End the week watching one of your taped shows once more, so that you can be proud of how much you have done so far.
Week 5: Writing Act 2
ASSIGNMENT:
Write act 2, making sure that even though you think you know where the story is going, you still manage to surprise yourself daily with a plot wrinkle, a really good line you had not come up with before, or a bad joke that works perfectly for your episode.
If you are writing a two-act pilot, then this is it. If you have a three-act comedy, you are enjoying seeing your carnival of clashing forces unfold. Is there anything left for you to consider at this point? Always! Ask yourself these three questions:
i. Am I "pushing the envelope" at least a few inches in this episode? No, I don't advise doing something like the "coming-out" Ellen episode as your pilot for a new show and hope to sell it to a major network. But this question is asking you to consider if in fact you might be guilty of the opposite: are you playing it too safe and thus giving us the same-old-same-old in a version that does not let your originality and talent shine through. Don't be afraid to try out a character, a situation, an idea that has a bit of an edge to it. If I were doing a show set in a New Orleans, where I have lived the last twenty years, I would in part want to smash stereotypes of the proverbial city of jazz and good food-by, say, adding one character who is Vietnamese. Why? Because New Orleans has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the United States, and they have become an important part of the culture and economics of the city. And I would also enjoy writing such a character because I don't remember such a figure in a major American comic series.
Ask yourself what your pilot is offering us that we haven't seen before! Take some chances for the pure fun of it.
2. Am I having fun with some "sneaky" details that reward, as The Simpsons does, those who pay attention? What cereal does Seinfeld eat, what messages are on the blackboard in Bart Simpson's classroom, and what musical groups are they talking about in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Comedy does thrive on detail, and you have a wonderful opportunity to sneak in some details for the unadulterated pleasure of it. Teenage girls used to make a run on libraries the day after each episode of Northern Exposure aired, asking for those "guys" that Chris, the highly literate deejay, had mentioned that week, ranging from Proust to Hemingway, Sartre to Socrates.
3. Is there at least one moment, one scene, that even by my own standards seems a little bit over the top? Comedy invites excess, and in fact demands it. Forget this at your peril. And yet comedy that is excessive nonstop becomes a bore. How to orchestrate and build to the excess is the question. Often you can build to the moment when one or more of your secondary stories crashes into your main story. In The Simpsons, excess is the operative word, in large part because of the freedom granted the show by the limitless world of animation. As we explored in chapter to, Marge doesn't just get drunk at Mr. Burns's picnic, she gets really really drunk and then tops that when she begins to sing. You can always pull a scene back in a rewrite, but let carnival rule as you write some scenes that go for flat-out comedy.
Week 6: Writing Act 3 or Polishing the Two-Act Pilot
ASSIGNMENT:
I. Wrap up your comedy.
2. Go over chapter ii to review details on everything from minor characters and comic texture to the need for balancing fantasy and festivity in your pilot.
3. Fine-tune rather than completely rewrite your comedy.
Go for the swift ending with a final wink, joke or line that seals it all. In our Simpsons episode covered in chapter io, the family is expelled from a family therapy clinic as a newly reunited group that the good Doc just can't handle. But the perfect cap that takes it one step further is that the Doc gives them double their money back so they can retrieve the family television set. The S
impsons can now return home to the activity that has always drawn them together as a family: watching television.
Our other sample show, Seinfeld, had a very simple set-up and close for many episodes, bookending the action with snippets from Jerry's stand-up rou tines, thus allowing him the chance to be both the central protagonist and the narrator/wise-guy commentator. I've often run into folks who watched the show just for those moments.
In both cases, the endings are what we could call "trademark" closings, for they are emblematic and repeated actions-the family watching television and Jerry joking about the events he has just lived through. Thus, even with your pilot, you are not just figuring out how to reach "The End" but thinking about what might become an expected motif or theme for your closings for audiences to look forward to.
Rewrites? Don't do any major overhauling before the "performance" in week 7. But comedy even more than drama needs a fine-tuning of lines and scenes to heighten laughter and shade character. No wonder so many stand-ups and gag men and women have worked in television. A rewrite is always a chance for, "Oh, that reminds me of the joke my mother used to tell ..." or "Perhaps your slapstick biz on page ten is too close to what Saturday Night Live did three years ago." In short, the first rewrite is more a going-over to brush out clinkers and see if you can build in fresher lines, livelier moments, even more comic anarchy that will bring on more honest laughter.
Week 7: A Performance and Celebration Evening
Bravo, folks! Another television comic series has been born.
Savor the moment, then prepare to share it through a celebratory evening and reading as outlined in chapter ii. Think particularly of the fun you can have with such an evening if you have, as suggested in chapter 2, set up a comic story circle that meets on some kind of regular basis. Even if you don't have such a "home team," not to worry. A reading with friends or those you know with some acting talent and those who, best of all, may fit the parts will certainly tell you much about what you have accomplished and what can be made even better.
Then a rewrite. Double-check television script format. I have advised you to get hold of several television scripts to study them, but it is also useful to refer to some of the standard works on format and screenwriting that cover these topics more thoroughly. Individual shows make particular changes according to their needs, and thus you have a certain degree of flexibility, since you are creating your own pilot. In general, however, note that the format is similar to feature screenplay format with these differences: Include labels for acts; number or letter scenes. Most shows have a top-of-page heading that includes the title of the show, the title of the episode, the number of the draft, the date of the draft and a page number. For a pilot, however, I would have the show's name, the pilot's title and a page number only. Some shows underline slug lines (EXT. STREET-DAY) YORK NEW and others don't. Some, such as Seinfeld, capitalize all directions, while others don't. Some shows underline all entries and exits of characters, many don't. Bottom line: be consistent.
What next? Because television comedy can change so swiftly, you must be prepared to take some chances as outlined in appendix 2 and to be ready to follow through on any breaks or contacts that come your way. At a minimum, you should not bat an eye at picking up and flying to New York or Los Angeles and staying there for several weeks if nibbles begin to come, or even to begin knocking on doors. Remember, "they" will not be calling you if you do not first get "their" attention!
Do not forget two important items once you start in on placing your script: be most grateful and gracious to those who do help you, and above all, be yourself.
The cheerful doling out of futures which takes place at the conclusion of most comedies is not in any secure sense "happy." Rather it is sublimely arbitrary.
Walter Kerr, Tragedy and Comedy
Laughter lifts our spirits, surprises and sometimes shocks our expectations, allows us to cross boundaries, reorders our priorities, and gives us access to ideas and associations we rarely ever thought to have.
Jean Houston, A Mythic Life
That's all, friends ... almost.
We've looked into writing screenplays that shine with humor and the comic spirit. But we should end as we began, realizing that in real life comedy plays its daily role and at times makes history as well as laughter.
That comedy and carnival are a state of being beyond the borders of genres was very clear to all who participated in the Belgrade protests after the Bosnian war ended and the socioeconomic situation continued to worsen in Yugoslavia. I quote from a Serbian friend's letter:
What has happened these days in Belgrade and in the other towns of Serbia is a completely new form of human communication. It has happened at a moment when we are confronted with a total break of communication. Serbian TV has destroyed real information.
Yet communication among the people in the towns was never so close, so live, so direct. We have been communicating with each other in a new way: with whistles, leaflets, jokes, passwords, gazes, meetings, by drumming on pots and pans every evening at 7:30 to block out the TV newscasts. Students and citizens have made a real democratic carnival. And carnival, as Bakhtin writes, destroys the existing order and establishes a new one.... Every day people go into the streets to purify themselves mentally and to defend their hope through laughter and humor.
(Slobodanka Pekovic, letter, January 1997)
At such a point, there is no script, no scenario other than the spontaneous one of a mass carnival. Such comedy-of-the-streets goes beyond festivity in the community and personal release to reach, as the Russian theoretician Mikhail Bakhtin suggests, its "meaningful philosophical content" (5).
Let us sign off by wishing you well in all of your comedies, written, lived, remembered and yet to come. I call on Milan Kundera to offer the final appeal: "I beg you, friend, be happy. I have the vague sense that on your capacity to be happy hangs our only hope!" (156). And, of course, to top off even such an invitation, bring on Groucho Marx in A Night at the Opera, giving his approval to the carnival of fantasy and comic chaos that, in the film, follows his words:
And now on with the opera. Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor.
I started out this list modestly, proposing some twenty-five titles that I thought cut across the whole band of comedy. The list quickly grew to ioi, but I kept adding, and finally-wisely, I trust-said the hell with it and let the list take on a carnival of its own! Then, at last, I trimmed, knowing my editor would not approve of an extra twenty pages of listings!
This list brings together many of the feature comedies discussed in this book and others from around the world. The list is meant to be suggestive or even provocative and offbeat rather than exhaustive. Not all these films would be recognized as comedies, but their inclusion here merely means there are enough comedic elements and moments to make them worthy of study and enjoyment. And I've squeezed in several other categories as well. Enjoy!
Silent Comedy
Safety Last (1923) Director: Fred Newmeyer. Screenplay: Hal Roach, Tim Whelan, Sam Taylor. Cast: Harold Lloyd, Sam Taylor, Mildred Davis, Bill Strothers.
Charlie Chaplin, all, but especially: The Gold Rush (1925) Director and screenplay: Charles Chaplin. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray.
Buster Keaton, all, but especially: The General (1927) Director: Buster Keaton. Screenplay: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, from The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittinger. Cast: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Joseph Keaton; and Sherlock Jr. (1924) Director: Buster Keaton. Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joseph Mitchell. Cast: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Ward Crane, Joseph Keaton, Erwin Connolly.
Anarchistic and Black Satirical Comedy
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) Director: Tom Shadyac. Screenplay: Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac, Jim Carrey. Cast: Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Sean Young.
After Hours (1985) Direct
or: Martin Scorsese. Screenplay: Joseph Minion. Cast: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Thomas Chong, Linda Fiorentino.
Bananas (1971) Director: Woody Allen. Screenplay: Woody Allen, Mickey Rose. Cast: Woody Allen, Carlos Montalban, Louise Lasser.
Being There (1979) Director: Hal Ashby. Screenplay: Jerzy Kosinski, from his own novel. Cast: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden.
Blazing Saddles (1974) Director: Mel Brooks. Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger. Cast: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn.
Court Jester (1956) Director: Norman Panama. Screenplay: Norman Panama, Melvin Frank. Cast: Danny Kaye, Melvin Frank, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury, Cecil Parker.
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George, based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George. Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull.
The Marx Brothers in anything, but especially: Duck Soup (1933) Director: Leo McCarey. Screenplay, music and lyrics: Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Cast: The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern.
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Director: Charles Crichton. Screenplay: John Cleese, based on a story by John Cleese and Charles Crichton. Cast: John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin.
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) Director: Barry Levinson. Screenplay: Mitch Markowitz. Cast: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran.
Harold and Maude (1971) Director: Hal Ashby. Screenplay: Colin Higgins. Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles.
A League of Their Own (1992) Director: Penny Marshall. Screenplay: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, from a story by Jim Wilson and Kelly Candaele. Cast: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Jon Lovitz.