Online Film School Free » Script Writing Class » Comedy Script Writing
We all love to laugh and we all have comedy movie lines that we’ll remember forever. That is because comedy films have a special connection with their audience. Comedy script writing is not easy. You need to make readers laugh from just reading. In this article, I’m going to give you 10 tips that will help you write better comedy scripts, but before we go there, there are a few things you need to understand about how to make a comedy, because, let’s face it, it’s not enough to read a few tips to become a comedy writer. What’s important to remember is that when you write for a comedy, you should never try to be funny. Trying too hard is always visible, and in comedy, it might make the jokes and the characters unbelievable. The “funny” stuff should arise from the situations, the characters, and the story itself. In this post, I’m going to teach you how to sharpen up your comedy abilities.
Before you start to even think about creating any type of comedy, you need to find your writing voice and your type of favourite comedy. There are many types of comedies out there. There are:
There are also Slapstick, parody or spoof films, Black comedies, Gross-out films, And screwball comedies, so find out what are the ones that you want to do.
I recommend reading my post on finding your voice, but there is another fun exercise you can do to find your type of humour:
Listen to your favourite comedians, watch your favourite comedy films, listen to the jokes, and write down those that make you laugh. Now, look at these jokes and find out what they all got in common. Start to become aware of what makes you laugh.
There are a lot of comedy writing courses everywhere. It is recommended to learn how to write comedy in general and not only for the movies. Personally, I recommend 2 courses in the MasterClass program. The MasterClass program is a platform that contains more than 100 classes in different fields (a lot of film classes too) that are being taught by the masters. You can sign up for a full year and get free access to all of them. In the field of comedy writing I recommend these classes:
1. Steve Martin Teaches Comedy – This is one of the best comedy writing classes out there. Steve Martin is one of the most respective comedians out there. In more than a-50 years career, he practised comedy as a stand-up comedy performer, as a TV writer, movie writer, novel writer and more, so if there is someone that understands the anatomy of being funny, it’s him. In this online class, he teaches how to deliver comedy through all of the stages – from gathering ideas to the delivery itself. Steve reveals his best sources for comedy materials, he talks about how to find your comedic voice, how to develop a comedic persona. Steve also analyzes a few jokes structures that show you don’t always have to have a punchline to make a laugh and much more. This is a course that more than anything will inspire you to go out there and make other people laugh.
2. Judd Apatow Teaches Comedy – Judd Apatow is responsible for comedy hits like The 40 Year old virging, Knocked up, Girls, Pineapple Express, Superbad and so much more. What so good about this comedy course is that Apatow talk about all the stages of creating a comedy movie – from building an idea, to craft the story and structuring it, up until the directing and producing stage. Judd will teach you not only how to write funny characters, and funny dialogues, he also teaches how to cast and direct actors, how to shoot a comedy and the secrets behind producing a comedy film- as a writer, you need to know this stuff, so you’ll understand the process that your script will go after you sold it.
You can also look for comedy classes around your area and maybe even take some improv classes. Practice comedy and when you’ll write it, it will become more natural
You can learn about scriptwriting for as long as you need, but if you really want to advanced yourself, you need to start reading as many scripts as you can. There are tons of comedy scripts examples on the internet and you really don’t need to try hard to find a funny script. Start with comedy scripts of movies you like, and try to read as many comedy genres as you can. That way you’ll learn that there really is no one way to write a comedy script. There is a general format to write all the scripts, but after reading a few comedy screenplays, you’ll see that there is a way to be creative within the format.