HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the latest edition of Hollywoodscript.com Newsletter, which is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem (http://www.hollywoodscript.com)
THIS NEWSLETTER IS NEVER SPAM.
Welcome to the latest edition of Hollywoodscript.com Newsletter, which is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem (http://www.hollywoodscript.com)
THIS NEWSLETTER IS NEVER SPAM.
You are receiving this newsletter because you expressed an interest in screenwriting by subscribing to this newsletter OR requested a read or a free query letter evaluation from Hollywoodscript.Com(s) Craig Kellem or Judy Kellem.
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please reply to this E-Mail and put the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.
The purpose of this newsletter is to share information, ideas etc. concerning the fascinating (and elusive) world of screenwriting.
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THE TEN RULES OF WRITING COMEDY
BY ALLEN RUCKER
(We’re honored to have this insightful piece from our old buddy AR. Besides major film and TV credits, he’s the author of four books, including "The Sopranos: A Family History," the 3rd edition to be published in September, 2003, and the spoofy "The Sopranos Family Cookbook," a recent #1 New York Times Bestseller).
THE TEN RULES OF WRITING COMEDY
RULE #1: Writers write, and that includes comedy writers, unfortunately. Like shooting free throws or skiing on one leg, writing is a mind/body activity that demands an enormous commitment to practice. If you don't want to put in the time, become an actor.
RULE #2: As Martin Mull once said, the only thing you need to be a comedy writer is to remember every person you ever met and to have no respect for any of them.
RULE #3: The best piece of advice I ever got about comedy scriptwriting: the story happens in the middle of the room, the comedy happens in the corners. If you take this literally, don't become a comedy writer.
RULE #4: There are no books on comedy writing. There are books on comedy or actually books of comedy and you should read them all: Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip Roth, Joseph Heller, Stanley Elkin (look him up), Gary Larson, Ian Frazier, Roy Blount, Jr., Allen Rucker, KInky Friedman, etc. If you can learn comedy, which you can't, you learn it from other writers.
RULE #5: Have you ever heard of Bob & Ray? Ever seen the W.C. Fields movie, "It's A Gift" or any Preston Sturges movie? Old episodes of "The
Honeymooners" or "Taxi"? If not, go find them, watch them repeatedly, and get back to me.
RULE #6: Lee Strasberg's famous adage about comedy acting often applies to good comedy writing: "The best way to play comedy is just a little more seriously than drama."
RULE #7: If you've ever seen "The Life of Brian" or "This Is Spinal Tap," you know that the comedy you bore your friends with ten years later is in the details. In fact, it's all details. (See Rule #3)
RULE #8: Find a box and write inside of it. My own favorite comedies, like "Spinal Tap," use the box of reality - everything happens in documentary, or mock-documentary, space and time. (In this box, for instance, you can't get caught in a hurricane without dying or you can't punch someone in the face without it hurting). The "Seinfeld" box is beautifully constructed: "No tears, no messages," or something like that. In other words, it never turned into a sitcom.
RULE #9: The best source of comedy, no matter the form, is reality. Have an awesome respect for reality. Reality is your friend. Most people who call themselves comedy writers, i.e., sitcom writers and whoever comes up with those feel-good "concept" comedies for Eddie Murphy or the like, have lost touch with reality. They make comedies based on other comedies. Don't do this. Reality never gets old. You'll get old, but reality is always a fetching young virgin.
RULE #10: There are no rules to comedy writing. Otherwise, everyone would read the manual and I, for one, would be out of a job.
ALLEN RUCKER -Among other things Allen is currently working on a new book with comedian Tom Green.
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HSC INTERVIEWS HOT CONAN WRITER BRIAN KILEY
Brian Kiley is one of the hip whiz kids who write Conan day in and day out. As a stand-up he’s appeared on Leno, Letterman and Conan. We’re so grateful for his valuable time and insights.
Q- The most striking thing about the writing for a show like "Late Night" is the need to pack a punch into very short segments. What are some strategies used to make the jokes work within such time constraints?
A-For one thing with Conan's monologues he never explains what's going on. It's always one sentence then the punchline. With our first comedy piece after the monologue (what we call the deskpiece) it's never a sketch. It's always a piece that lends itself to a lot of quick jokes (Or beats). So, I guess one strategy is to keep it simple and something you can suddenly tune into and still get. You can't do that with an elaborate sketch which is why we put those later.
Q- The brand of humor on Conan is pretty silly. To what extent do you try to weave some social commentary into the jokes?
A- Our show is very silly. Sometimes, we put some political stuff in the talking lips bit that we do. During presidential campaigns we'll do stuff about the candidates, but what usually happens is we try some heavier stuff and it doesn't work so we go back to being silly. We're not trying to educate or to make the world a better place. We're just trying to get laughs.
Q-How flexible is the format of the show, not in structure, but in the types of skits and bits you can offer for the period between the monologue and the guests?
A-Our show is not that flexible, really. Occasionally, we deviate but mostly it's mono, desk piece, first guest, sketch. It's what we're used to and what Conan's used to. When you are on every night you have limited rehearsal time so you don't really have time to screw around with the structure.
Q-At what time in the morning, or perhaps in the night before, does the writing process begin?
A-For the monologue it's starts that morning. The three or four of us working on the mono each read about 5 papers (skipping over the tragic stuff) and then write our jokes. Sometimes a good joke leftover from the day before gets used but for the most part the jokes are made fresh that day. The desk piece is often written the day before and then punched up during the day of. Sketches can be written a day or two ahead or if we're
desperate the day of. The pieces that have to be planned in advance are the pieces that require a lot of editing like when Conan takes a camera crew somewhere and shoots stuff.
Q-When is the decision made to choose exactly what bits will be on the show that night, and how long does it take to perfect them?
A-The week is planned out in advance in a general sense. However, with a lot of pieces we don't get a sense of what shape they are in until rehearsal that day. A lot of things are rewritten that day on the fly. Especially, if Conan doesn't like it. It's ultimately up to him.
Q-What media sources are primarily used for material?
A-USA Today, NY Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, Headline News, to a lesser extent the NY Times, as well as Internet news sources.
Q-Does each show intend to have an overarching theme or tone for that particular night, or is each segment disconnected from the others?
A- Once or twice a year we may have a theme show but otherwise, the show doesn't have a theme or anything connected it.
Q-Can you teach someone to be funny?
A-No.
Q-What's it like crossing over to write screenplays? Advantages? Disadvantages?
A-The disadvantages to writing screenplays is you're not used to writing deeper characters and stories. As a result, you can have a problem writing scripts that read like a series of sketches and lack an arc. Also, you may end up characters that are sort of one-note like you would in a sketch.
Also, the industry (agents) may pigeon-hole you as a monologue writer or a sketch writer not as a script writer.
On the plus side, you're used to writing every day. After working on a show like this, you are used to sitting down every day and coming up with something.
Q-Do you ever get blocked? How do you handle it?
A-I just don't have the luxury of being blocked. When I was just doing stand-up I did all the time. I just being trapped here and not wanting to lose my job eventually even on the worst days you come up with something.
Q- Any advice for young hopefuls out there?
A-If you want to write for a show like Conan, tape the show night after night. Learn his sensibilities. What he does jokes on and what he doesn't. Don't try to change him. You have to adapt to be like him, not the other way around. Then write a bunch of stuff that fits the show. To get your foot in the door you may want to find a show that accepts faxes. (SNL maybe?) and try writing for them. If you start get jokes on other shows may take a look at your submission.
Q-Are you having fun?
A-Overall, I have fun. Conan's great, the other writers and the staff are great. I enjoy having colleagues that make me laugh. Sometimes, I get worn down. Doing a show everyday is a lot of pressure. And sometimes, the job feels repetitive. Doing outside projects, stand-up, scripts, etc help my piece of mind.
Q-What is Conan's contribution to the writing process?
A-Conan is basically the show's editor. He rewrites a lot of what we give him. Plus, he'll have funny ideas of his own like the bit where he drives the desk. His idea. It's his show if he doesn't like a bit we don't do it. If he doesn't like a guest they don't come back.
Q-What is the deal, really, with Conan's hair?
A-It's fake, but don't tell anyone.
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We’ve read several scripts lately that have been quite well done but have been short on a key element--EMOTION. We were about to write a passionate article about this and then realized that we had one. We’ve published this once before but it’s time may have come again.
THE X FACTOR
by Judy Kellem and Craig Kellem
One of the things we’ve noticed in reading a great volume of screenplay material is the propensity of writers to create from their minds rather than their hearts. There is a marked, qualitative disparity between stories and images born from real life experience and those made from pure, intellectual invention. This difference is easily detected, commonly distinguished as the distinction between, "connected" versus "disconnected" writing.
Life is rife with evocative moments, large and small, which create powerful feelings. Insights. Unique situations. Quirky fascinations that linger about our minds. Those of you who know us, know one of our all time favorite axioms was coined by Julia Cameron. She states, "The singular image is what haunts us and becomes art." Think about that! At last "a place" to put all of your little insights, moments of truth, fascinations and unique experiences that previously lacked a "file." If you access that "file" while preparing your script and use these hot little tidbits as springboards for scenes, your script is going to be buzzing with honesty and life. This is what audiences crave.
Singular images can come from anywhere. An unusual weekend, a comment said in fleeting, a detail caught at a glance. Something grabs us in these images and the image stays, resurfacing and resurfacing. While some may try to shoo it out of their mind, or lightly ponder the fact they’ve been "haunted," for the writer this is a jackpot of creative enterprise.
Characters, scenes and moments modeled on real life experiences that touched the writer, carry that original feeling like an X factor into the material. And this X factor transmits to the reader, heightening their experience of the script. And it’s regardless of how truthfully or not the "singular image" is related. A writer who uses emotional photographs from his/her own life can drift far from the actual event. They can invent, exaggerate, fictionalize so much that the "reality-base" is unrecognizable. But still, it’s inevitable that the emotional root will come through. The fundamental feeling attached to the writer’s memory can’t be shaken. It seeps through the fiction and the reader senses this presence on a visceral level.
A major reason why access to emotional ammunition is so important is that ALL scenes need to be maximized. It’s not enough to produce a great concept enhanced by a few treasured moments. A winning script is the sum of parts that continuously produces dynamite.
On the other end are "disconnected,” thought-based writings, conceived from images, stories, ideas and moments conjured only by the brain. They can work, can act as a vessel for the writer’s unconscious emotions and therefore have an effect on the reader. But its effectiveness is often not as reliable. Much material wrought from rationale winds up flat on the page, lacking life (as it was never truly known) and spirit. The writer can do a thousand pony tricks, have every bell and whistle in place but the grand show is a flop, because it’s empty. It has no root in the gut of the creator. There’s no X.
Our screenwriter friend, John Hill, warns the artist who tries to circumvent writing from real, personal experience: "How can you try to write for a ‘business of emotions’ and know that you’re going to veer away from really revealing your own?"
Instead of limiting a script to snazzy concepts, draw upon your life and those around you. When something effects you, trust it, save it and when appropriate use it to grab and haunt your audience.
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ADVICE ON WRITING A SYNOPSIS
*avoid the temptation to write a dutiful chronology. Instead write it like the info part of a hot query letter.
*provide a lean, bottom line pitch of your story between the lines.
*highlight key beats, key moments. Throw in a bit of dialogue here and there if it’s brief and juicy.
*don't be shy about showing off exceptionally hot twists, turns.
*write it with as much attitude and swing as you can muster...the mood and tone of the synopsis should reflect the mood and tone of the script. If it's a thriller, the synopsis should be thrilling! If it's a romance, the language of your synopsis is best made steamy..etc.
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