“Stories are about fucked up people.” – Judd Apatow When I first started writing scripts, in the early ’90s, I was really into Buster Keaton and The Marx Brothers. Which is great from a comedy history/geek perspective, but not so much when it comes to screenwriting. Keaton’s philosophy was figure out the beginning, and the…
Author: Jason Peck
Jason Peck, is an award-winning English humorist, actor and comedian based in Chicago, IL. As a comedian, he performed stand-up on the London comedy circuit, worked as an improviser, wrote and performed material for Newsrevue and contributed material to The Treason Show.
Comedy Screenwriting: Story vs. Jokes
“In that moment what would you say? Forget the joke. What would you say?” – Garry Shandling. When it comes to comedy screenwriting, sometimes (but not all the time by any means) story can take a backseat to spectacle or humor. Whether or not it should I think comes down to personal taste. So I…
Story vs. Plot
I’ve been thinking about the difference between story and plot when it comes to screenwriting. And, if I’m honest, I sometimes use those words interchangeably. I tink this comes from learning about script structure so I often end up conflating the two. But they are different. And I don’t just mean in the spelling. If…
The Children’s Entertainer
Between 2004 and 2005, I worked as a children’s entertainer. A friend of a friend was working for a company, mostly performing magic for kids. I got recommended to try out for the company. I auditioned, got in, and was invited to do an all-day training session. Halfway through, they announced that one of their…
Please Stop Trying To Kill Me, Dad: Origin
In September 2001, I watched a one-woman show by London-based performer/theatremaker Peta Lily. The stand-up theatre show, Topless, was about ‘life and death and love and hate and sex and sticking plaster and breasts.’ It was fantastic, very funny. I thought to myself, “this! This is the sort of work I want to be doing….