Here's how to structure your TV comedy script
- Chris Head
- Dec 7, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 13
WRITE YOUR TV COMEDY SCRIPT Next sessions:
24th February - 31st March (5 x Tuesday nights - no session 17th March) 7pm-9pm UK time/ 8pm-10pm European time/ 11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT)/ 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) BOOK YOUR PLACE
This is one of my most popular blogs on comedy scriptwriting. So I have decided to update it with more detail and three example scripts you can look at. Read on for the new and improved version!
As a writing coach and mentor, I read a lot of thirty-minute TV comedy scripts. One thing that is often lacking is structure. Now, you can of course have a script that is perfectly structured but still falls short in terms of characterisation, story, situation... funniness. However you can also have a script that has huge potential in all these areas but is let down by poor structure.
I often say writing a 30 minute TV comedy script is akin to writing a pop song. There is an underlying shape to a song that we recognise whether we have analysed it or not; the verse/chorus structure, a middle eight or 'bridge' after the second chorus, a key change towards the end...
And no matter how many of these pop songs get produced, the genius of it lies in being able to be fresh and creative within an established structure. And so it is with your thirty-minute script. Knowing and applying its structure does not curtail your creativity. On the contrary it gives your creativity a framework to play within. Here it is:
Three act-structure
The significant beats across the three acts of a story are as follows:
Act One:
Setup: Introduces the characters, setting, and situation. Establishes the "who, when, where, what" of the story.
Turning Point: Something changes for the main character, and "the game's afoot." This marks the end of Act One.
Act Two:
Midpoint: Approximately halfway through the script, where things get worse or more complicated. The stakes are raised.
Crunch Point: The end of Act Two, where the main character faces their lowest, most challenging, or most difficult moment.
Act Three:
Twist: While the entire story might not be completely wrapped up (especially in a series), some aspect of the story within the episode reaches a conclusion in act 3. Ultimately, the very end of the episode contains a twist that provides a surprise.
The Set-up/ Turning Point / Midpoint / Crunch Point/ Twist in a narrative does jump out at you once you know to look for it. For example, when I watched the first episode of Mo on Netflix, I couldn't help noticing these story beats.
Act 1 sets-up that Mo is an undocumented migrant working at a US phone repair shop. His turning point is losing his job at said shop (despite his great skill) due to his immigration status. At the midpoint Mo goes to the supermarket to get cat food and gets shot! And at the crunch point, Mo is uninsured and can't go to the hospital, he has had his gunshot wounds dealt with by a tattoo artist. The twist first of all gives a surprise take on the tattoo story at the end reveals his trip to the supermarket (where he got shot) was unnecessary.
The specific events at each of these beats can vary greatly depending on the tone and style of the story. When I teach this structure I draw on shows as varied as Ghosts, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Black Books, Friends, Alma's Not Normal, Big Bang Theory, Mo, Chewing Gum, Fawlty Towers, Hacks… In this article I will look at how three of these shows are structured.
We’ll look at Amazon's Hacks and the pilot of the BBC's Alma's Not Normal as it introduced us to a brilliant character and world, but also because it had the unusual distinction of winning a BAFTA as a pilot. And because these two are a bit more in the comedy drama space, I'm also picking one that's full of good old fashioned gags and silliness, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You can read the scripts here:
Set-up/ Turning Point / Midpoint / Crunch Point/ Twist
Here are the Set-ups, Turning points, Midpoints, Crunch points and Twists in these scripts.
Hacks
Act 1: Set-up (script opening)
We see Deborah Vance, the acerbic old school, Joan Rivers-like comic, in her element, performing in Vegas.
Act 1: Turning point (p7-p.9): Deborah meets with her agent to discover that she has been bumped from the prime Friday/ Saturday night shows at Vegas (to be replaced with a beatbox group from a talent show).
"You know you're a part of the Palmetto's history, but maybe it'd be good if you did a few less shows a year...."
Act 2: Midpoint (p.16)
Ava - the young comic who is soon to be a reluctant writer for Deborah - fails to get a writing job on Season 2 of her contact's series. (In humiliating circumstances).
"I can't hire you. I'm sorry, but I have to protect the show."
Act 2: Crunch point (p.30-p.31)
Ava is furious with Deborah and all of her disdain she has been attempting to hide comes pouring out and they roast each other. Ava says 'bye bye'.
Ava: "...you're right - I'm not a fan of yours! You caught me! This is all just a little annoying because I flew all the way here on Spirit fucking Airlines even though I didn't want this job in the first place! The last thing on Earth I want to do is move to the desert to write lame jokes for an old hack!"
Act 3: Twist (end of script)
The twist sees the two mismatched protagonists suddenly hit it off as they riff on Ava's insult. Maybe they can work together after all...
Alma's Not Normal
Act 1: Set-up (start of script)
Alma rides up a hill on her bike in Bolton, reacting to the heckles of the youths watching her. Alma enters the job centre, but she has a clear career plan - she is going to be an actor.
Act 1: Turning point (p.6)
The turning point is when she puts aside her acting ambitions and accepts the sandwich shop job interview.
CAROL (Back to knackered) "To stay on JSA you need to be actively seeking work Miss Nuthall. Shall I put in an expression of interest?"! CAROL shoves the SubNGo document at ALMA. ALMA slumps down defeated and takes the document. ALMA "Yeah go on then."
Act 2: Midpoint (p.17-p.18)
Alma has held out hope for an acting job that she has auditioned for until, at the midpoint in Act 2, she is turned down for the acting job.
ALMA's phone rings. She mimes to LEANNE it's her audition. LEANNE looks excited for her. ALMA (Faux posh voice) "Hello! Yes - this is I! Thanks for calling back. (Beat) Oh right. Okay. (Hurt) Okay. Thank you fo-" They've hung up. ALMA puts her phone away. ALMA "Didn't get it."
Act 2: Crunch point (p.33)
Trying to cheer herself up with a night out with her best friend, she experiences embarrassment when trying to hit on a guy and her crunch point is realising her whole life is a failure.
LEANNE "Maybe just start with a job." ALMA "Yeah. (BEAT) Doing what?" LEANNE "Well, what skills do you have?" ALMA(Beat) "I can hold a 3 liter bottle of cider under my left tit with no hands." LEANNE "I don't think that's a transferable skill babe".
Act 3: Twist (end of script)
Alma decides to become a sex worker.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Note, with a characteristically long cold opening and a longer Act 1, the ratios of the acts are different (probably due to NBC commercial breaks) but we find the exact same rhythm.
Act 1: Set-up (start of script)
Jake and Amy investigate a crime, a break in at an electrical shop.
Act 1: Turning point (p.8 - p.9)
We have seen what an easy life Jake had with the old captain, and at the turning point of Act 1 he meets the new captain, Captain Holt, and suddenly his easy life is over.
JAKE: "Our old captain didn't care if we wore ties." HOLT: "Well, your new captain does. And more importantly, he cares that you follow his direct orders."
Act 2: Midpoint (p.19)
This midpoint ups the ante as we discover what's really at stake with Jake and Amy's competition over who can get the most arrests.
GINA: "The bet is: if Amy gets more arrests, Jake has to give her his car. It's an old Mustang, pretty sweet. If he gets more arrests, she has to go on a date with him." HOLT: "Just one date?" GINA: "He guarantees it'll end in sex. She says it won't. I don't know, though, Jake's got some moves. I'd bet on at least some over-the-clothes action."
Act 2: Crunch point (p.23)
Not only is Holt unhappy with Jake's attitude, he has now let a criminal escape.
JAKE: "Good news is: we found the murderer. Ratko Slovic, a Serbian butcher. Robbery gone bad. He confessed and everything." HOLT: "I don't see a Serbian butcher in here, so I assume there's bad news." JAKE: "Charles and I may have allowed Ratko to escape."
Act 3: Twist
(end of script)
Jake has been demoted to the records room, where he finds a document that solves the murder.
The point of working with this structure it is it puts your story into the right shape to have the most impact on the reader of your script. Not all of these readers will be consciously registering this structure - let alone a viewer of the show - but they will instinctively recognise that it is there (and will instinctively feel when it's not).
When you're doing a first draft, you could make sure you're hitting these beats. Or you could just as well forget all this (or have it buried in the back of your mind) and just bash out your exploratory writing or your 'vomit draft' (such a horrible phrase - I like to call it the 'splurge draft'). You may well have instinctively got close to the optimum shape anyhow as story structure is so ingrained in us. Then when you do the edit and rewrite, you can start to think about this bringing in this structure.
Join me to write your script that hits all these beats on my upcoming Zoom course:
More resources
Book!
For much more on this see chapter 6 of my new book The Complete Comedy Script Toolkit
One-to-one Zoom Sessions
And if you want to work on the shape of your script with me you can do so!
Podcast
Here I am talking about script structure on the Comedy Masterclass podcast if you fancy a conversational exploration of it all.
Also latterly I work with the host Danielle Krage on structuring a sitcom episode that we make up on the fly! If you want to hear about how these structural beats (and indeed character dynamics) play out as you develop a show, have a listen from 35 mins.
Course! WRITE YOUR TV COMEDY SCRIPT Next sessions:
24th February - 31st March (5 x Tuesday nights - no session 17th March) 7pm-9pm UK time/ 8pm-10pm European time/ 11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT)/ 2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) BOOK YOUR PLACE
And here is an hour long webinar of me talking about all this plus clips and scripts from shows - Alma's Not Normal, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Catastrophe. I this will be behind the BCG paywall however.
