Category: Comedy

Comedy Screenwriting: Set Pieces

“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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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The Return…

This post marks my return to blogging… again. This blog seems to have been about me leaving and then coming back. Made a couple of cosmetic changes here and there over the years. I stopped posting because a) life, and b) I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this blog as it no …

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Late Night Comedy Writing Packet

Well, I finally finished putting together my generic Late Night Comedy Writing packet. I finished it back in November, and now have a potential sample that I can tweak if I decide to look for Late Night writing jobs. I can thoroughly recommend buying a copy of late night comedy writer, Joe Toplyn’s book, Comedy …

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