Write Your TV Comedy Script: Course Info & How to Structure Your Script
Updated: Sep 21
In this blog I talk about my Write Your TV Comedy Script course and set out advice on structuring your thirty-minutes TV comedy script. And in the video I talk about how the course works.
Plus here is an hour long webinar I gave where I talk about structuring your 30 mins TV comedy scripts using Alma's Not Normal, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Catastrophe as examples.
Note: I am running two TV comedy script writing courses starting in early 2024. This WRITE YOUR TV COMEDY SCRIPT course is focused on getting the actual script written, with a close focus on getting the structure and rhythm of it right. The other SITCOM & COMEDY DRAMA - ESSENTIAL WRITING TOOLS course is more exploratory. Learning and trying out techniques, writing scenes, developing characters, finding your world.
Any queries please contact - chris@chrishead.com
WRITE YOUR TV COMEDY SCRIPT Next sessions:
5 sessions on Thursdays 18th January - 15th February 2024 7pm-9pm UK time
8pm-10pm European time
11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT)
2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT)
Here's the blog I talk about in the video.
Across 6 weeks, be taken through the process of writing an artfully structured and plotted comedy script. Across the sessions you'll get your script written and you will learn structural and plotting skills that will serve you for all your future scripts.
Each week features example clips from sitcoms and comedy drama shows, writing tips and insights as well as discussion and analysis of your work. A video of the live class will be shared in case of absence or to refer back to. And you will share your work on a Trello board where there will be discussion and feedback.
Script structure The course follows the classic script structure of: TURNING POINT/ MIDPOINT/ CRUNCH POINT. In Act 1 of your script you want to hit a 'turning point' for your protagonist (often at the end of Act 1 but it can fall earlier). In the middle of the script is the 'midpoint' and at the end of your Act 2 you reach a 'crunch point'. Then you're into Act 3 which consolidates the key relationships and tees up the series.
And these beats of the story create a series of steps that the course follows, enabling you to get your script written in 6 weeks (5 sessions - two weeks between session 4 and 5 to allow for writing time).
HOW THESE STORY BEATS WORK
3 act structure
While stories might be told in four acts, five acts or seven, three acts is a natural shape and is commonly found in 30 minute TV comedy. (Ignore anyone who tells you these shows are two acts - probably this is based on the idea of shows with a single commercial break).
You might have a cold open at the top: a scene or scenes that go before the opening titles. This cold open, or teaser, could usefully be be plot related, but it can also be an unrelated skit with your main character(s). Act 1 introduces the dilemma or problem for your protagonist, Act 2 develops and complicates the situation, and Act 3 brings things to a conclusion. And you may end on a 'tag' - an extra comic moment after the main story is wrapped up. Now, it's not mandatory to have acts actually marked on scripts with headings saying "Act 1"/ "Act 2"/ "Act 3". But even when they aren't explicitly marked, you will benefit from writing to this underlying rhythm.
The three big beats of your script
ACT 1 will be setting everything up for that episode. At a key moment - often at the end of Act 1, but it could be sooner within that first act - you reach a TURNING POINT for your protagonist. So something changes for your main character, it's the moment that sets the story in motion.
Act 2 picks up the story, then around half-way through the script, you hit the MIDPOINT. It's not just the middle of the script, it has a specific job to do. It can be the moment of no return, or at least when things suddenly get more challenging and options close down for your protagonist. It can also be a revelation where the audience find out something significant.
At the END ACT 2 you hit a CRUNCH POINT for your protagonist. Then you're into the shorter act 3 that rounds things off.
On the Zoom course we look at shows as varied as Ghosts, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Black Books, Friends, Alma's Not Normal, Fawlty Towers, Hacks...
Next ZOOM course sessions: 7pm-9pm UK time
8pm-10pm European time
11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT)
2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT) 5 sessions on Wednesdays 6th-27th September and Thursday 12th October 2023
(4 x Wednesdays and 1 x Thursday - two weeks between session 4 and 5 for extra writing time).
Image below by Kate Bell (student in top right of picture!). Thanks Kate!
And I can also work with you on your script one-to-one.