Writing Television Sitcoms (revised)
by Smith, Evan S. (Author)Edition: Original
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-12-01
Publisher(s): PENGUIN
Other versions by this Author
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Summary
This new edition of Writing Television Sitcoms features the essential information every would-be teleplay writer needs to know to break into the business, including:- Updated examples from contemporary shows such as 30 Rock, The Office and South Park- Shifts in how modern stories are structured- How to recognize changes in taste and censorship- The reality of reality television- How the Internet has created series development opportunities- A refined strategy for approaching agents and managers- How pitches and e-queries work - or don't- The importance of screenwriting competitions
Author Biography
Evan S. Smith is an associate professor at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and has written sitcoms for studios including Paramount, MTM, and Twentieth- Century Fox.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. xv |
| Writing Premise-Driven Comedy | |
| The Game Plan | p. 3 |
| Career Paths | p. 4 |
| Getting Started | p. 7 |
| First, Some Theory | p. 9 |
| The Mechanics of Laughter | p. 9 |
| Characteristics of Comedy | p. 11 |
| The importance of Tension | p. 16 |
| Putting Theory into Practice | p. 18 |
| Seamless Humor | p. 18 |
| Consistency | p. 19 |
| Comedy Output | p. 19 |
| The Traditional Approach to Sitcom Writing | p. 20 |
| Level One: Premise-Driven Comedy | p. 22 |
| A Different Approach: Comedy in the Story Premise | p. 23 |
| Predicaments | p. 25 |
| Character Mix | p. 31 |
| Style of Comedy | p. 36 |
| Casting | p. 40 |
| Level Two: Comedy in Sequences and Scenes | p. 42 |
| Compound Story Predicaments | p. 43 |
| Stir Up the Character Mix | p. 44 |
| Mix and Match | p. 44 |
| Three Things to Remember | p. 45 |
| Level Three: Comedy in Dialogue and Actions | p. 47 |
| Building Jokes | p. 48 |
| Setups | p. 48 |
| Punchlines | p. 57 |
| Funny Actions | p. 65 |
| Miscellaneous Comedy Tips | p. 69 |
| About All of These Labels | p. 71 |
| Finding Your Comedic Voice | p. 72 |
| Writing a Professional Script | |
| Doing Your Homework | p. 77 |
| Which Series to Pick | p. 79 |
| Researching the Series | p. 81 |
| Studying the Premise | p. 82 |
| Developing an Episode Premise | p. 87 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 87 |
| Dreaming Up Stories | p. 88 |
| Picking Your Best Ideas | p. 90 |
| Turning Ideas into Springboards | p. 92 |
| High-Concept Stories | p. 94 |
| Developing the Story | p. 96 |
| Creating a Beat Sheet | p. 97 |
| Story Structure: Linear vs. Thread | p. 99 |
| Story Threads vs. Subplots vs. Ensemble Stories | p. 101 |
| Stories Without Endings | p. 102 |
| Serialized Stories (Story Arcs) | p. 103 |
| Dramatic Structure vs. Broadcast Format | p. 104 |
| Story Tips | p. 106 |
| Comedy's Impact on Story | p. 109 |
| How the Production Process Affects Your Script | p. 110 |
| Nail the Story, the Rest is Easy | p. 113 |
| Creating Funny Characters | p. 115 |
| Remember the Mix | p. 117 |
| Character Arcs | p. 117 |
| Character Types | p. 118 |
| Visiting Characters | p. 122 |
| Writing An Outline | p. 125 |
| Writing to Sell, Not Educate | p. 126 |
| Building an Outline | p. 127 |
| How it Should Look on Paper | p. 130 |
| Stylistic Tips | p. 135 |
| Rewriting an Outline | p. 138 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 139 |
| Writing the First Draft | p. 142 |
| Just Do It | p. 142 |
| Writing Scenes | p. 143 |
| Harvesting Comedy Built into the Premise and Scene Levels | p. 147 |
| Professional Script Format | p. 147 |
| Writing Scene Descriptions | p. 148 |
| Writing Dialogue | p. 151 |
| Miscellaneous Tips | p. l55 |
| Planting Exposition | p. 157 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 159 |
| When That First Draft is Finished | p. 162 |
| Rewriting the Script | p. 164 |
| When Rewriting by Yourself | p. 169 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 171 |
| Once the Script is Finished | p. 172 |
| A Battle Plan for Launching Your Career | |
| Step One: Developing a Strategy | p. 177 |
| The Job Market | p. 177 |
| How the Writer Fits In | p. 180 |
| A Writer's Workweek | p. 182 |
| Writing is a Business | p. 185 |
| Ageism | p. 186 |
| Putting Food on the Table | p. 186 |
| Must You Live in Los Angeles? | p. 189 |
| Step Two: Landing an Agent and/Or Manager | p. 191 |
| Developing a Hit List | p. 194 |
| Before Picking Up the Phone | p. 201 |
| Prepare a Phone Spiel | p. 203 |
| Making the Call | p. 205 |
| Submitting Your Material | p. 208 |
| Testing the Waters if You Don't Live in LA. | p. 209 |
| Following Up on Submissions | p. 211 |
| If you Fail to Land Representation | p. 212 |
| You Get an Offer! | p. 214 |
| Signing the Contract | p. 215 |
| Once You've Signed with Someone | p. 217 |
| Step Three: Getting Your Work Out There | p. 218 |
| Scouting the Market | p. 218 |
| Hiring Windows | p. 220 |
| Working with Your Rep | p. 222 |
| Which Scripts to Send | p. 223 |
| Being Picky about Jobs | p. 223 |
| Cold-Calling Producers | p. 224 |
| Other Strategies for Reaching Producers | p. 225 |
| Keep Writing | p. 228 |
| Writing in Teams | p. 229 |
| Rejection | p. 230 |
| Dealing with Writer's Block | p. 230 |
| Protecting Your Work | p. 231 |
| Who Keeps the Copyright? | p. 234 |
| The Writers Guild of America | p. 235 |
| Step Four: Pitching for Assignments | p. 239 |
| The Call Comes In! | p. 240 |
| Preparing for the Pitch | p. 240 |
| The Pitch | p. 243 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 245 |
| What Might Happen | p. 248 |
| The Contract | p. 250 |
| The Money | p. 252 |
| Step Five: Landing a Staff Job | p. 254 |
| Becoming a Staff Writer | p. 254 |
| Office Politics | p. 256 |
| Roundtable Writing | p. 257 |
| Advice from Our Producers | p. 258 |
| Staff Job Contracts and Compensation | p. 262 |
| Step Six: Climbing the Ladder | p. 264 |
| The Care and Feeding of Reps | p. 265 |
| Taking a Development Deal | p. 268 |
| Creating A New Series | p. 271 |
| Creating a Series Format | p. 272 |
| Writing a Pilot Script | p. 275 |
| Selling a Pilot | p. 279 |
| Going in to Pitch | p. 280 |
| Producing a Homegrown Pilot | p. 282 |
| The Money | p. 284 |
| Time to Wrap Up! | p. 287 |
| Script Format Guidelines | p. 289 |
| Additional Resources | p. 311 |
| Endnotes | p. 321 |
| Index | p. 325 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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