Sep 23
Here are a few sitcom pilot scripts traps I’ve experienced myself, and some potential ways to escape.
This is not an exhaustive list of traps by any means. And I am writing from the perspective of a first-time sitcom pilot script writer. Here’s a little background, and then I’ll go over some traps and escape plans.
Aug 22
I’ve been on comedian & author Jerry Corley’s mailing list for a couple of years now. I really enjoy what he has to say. And there’s a lot to be learned, for free, on his blog. He’s always entertaining and insightful. If you’re not sure who he is, Jerry is a comedian and comedy writer who worked the road for a number of years, and also worked the corporate comedy market. Not only that, but he wrote for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for eight years.
Aug 21
Note: This is a version of a review I posted on Amazon.
I don’t believe you can learn to be funny. Some reading this (when I say some I mean all one of you), will disagree with me. Some suggest you can learn to be funny. In my experience, people like this, myself included, have been stuck using techniques that stifled their own sense of humour. Once they break out of that, and learn to effectively capture their sense of humour, then it seems as though they learned to be funny.
Aug 21
My second son is nearly 4 months old at time of writing.
I cannot help reflect back three years and think about the crummy guidance a nurse gave us when we had our first son. “Your life is now on hold for the next 18 years”.
Huh?
Naturally, we panicked.
We felt we hadn’t even scratched the surface of what we wanted to do. My son had only turned two a couple of weeks when we wrapped filming on “Falling for You”, our first feature film.
It took a lot of work and planning to get it all done in 52 days or thereabouts. We shot over evenings and weekends, but we did it. Of course having a second baby is harder than having one.
But that doesn’t mean we have to stop doing, or trying to do, the things we want to do with our lives.
You can find a way. We’re now working on finding a new way whilst still being the best parents we can be.
Don’t take no for an answer.
Mar 12
You’ve had an idea for a sitcom. You need to find out not only if it has legs for a pilot but also for a series. Now, you don’t necessarily have to write al the episodes, especially if you’re trying to get an agent. You just need a pilot script. But it would benefit you knowing if it would work as a series. Particularly if you get to the point where someone wants to know more information about it and whether it would work as a series. Or if you decide to produce it yourself.
Here’s what I did.
