Write Your TV Comedy Script: Course Info & How to Structure Your Script
- Chris Head
- Mar 6, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 11
5 Week Guided Process to Write Your TV Comedy Script
"This is the best comedy writing course I've done. It was organised, incredibly thorough and well designed. I managed to complete my first draft of my sitcom in 5 weeks which I didn’t think was possible! Chris’ feedback was also very positive, encouraging and specific. I absolutely loved this course and I got a lot of value out of it. I highly recommend it!"
Alya Soliman
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.
On this course, you'll produce a 30 minute television script (and radio can be accommodated if that's what you're working on). You will be taken through a structured approach to producing your script and will be given deadlines to complete each phase of the work.
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
Across 5 weeks, be taken through the process of writing an artfully structured and plotted comedy script.
This live and interactive Zoom course is a great opportunity to (a) get your script done and (b) to make sure it is clear, well structured, funny and in a form that will best serve your idea, whether you are looking to submit it to producers or enter it into competitions. Chris mentors TV writers and develops scripts with Lucy Lumsden, former BBC Comedy Commissioner and TV comedy producer and founder of Yellow Door Productions.
Weekly live Zoom sessions led by Chris Head with a friendly group.
Each session is recorded so you can catch up with the video if you have to miss a class.
You submit your developing script each week for notes and feedback.
Script structure The course follows the classic script structure of: SET-UP/ TURNING POINT/ MIDPOINT/ CRUNCH POINT/ TWIST.
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 (you have a week following the final session to get the draft done). And if you don't manage it, you will know exactly what you need to write to complete it.
HOW THESE STORY BEATS WORK
Your story will be across three acts and how we follow the beats across the weeks of the course. In the sessions we look at shows as varied as Ghosts, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Catastrophe, Black Books, Friends, Alma's Not Normal, Fawlty Towers and Hacks to provide examples of these story beat moments and script structure.
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).
Act 1 introduces the dilemma or problem for your protagonist.
Act 2 develops and complicates the situation
Act 3 brings things to a conclusion.
The five big beats of your script
WEEK 1 of the course
SET-UP (ACT 1)
ACT 1 will be setting everything up for that episode. It will open with the SET-UP that establishes the world and the characters.
Homework: Write the set-up
WEEK 2 of the course
TURNING POINT (ACT 1)
At the end of Act 1 you reach a TURNING POINT for your protagonist. So something changes for your main character, it's the moment that sends your characters down a new path or raises the stakes on the challenge that has been introduced.
Homework: Write to the turning point at the end of act 1
Week 3 of the course
MIDPOINT (ACT 2)
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.
Homework: Write to the midpoint of act 2
Week 4 of the course
CRUNCH POINT (ACT 2)
At the END ACT 2 you hit a CRUNCH POINT for your protagonist. This is the worst point. You can look at the script making things worse for your protagonist across the three beats of turning point, mid point and crunch point.
Homework: Write to the crunch point of act 2
Week 5 of the course
TWIST (ACT 3)
As you go into act 3 an element of the narrative reaches a conclusion but you're likely to keep a storyline open to take us into the series. The TWIST at the end of the episode gives a surprise finish, which is either simply a comic beat to end on, or potentially sets up the narrative to come.
Homework: Write to the end of the script, the twist of act 3
(This final homework will be reviewed online a week after the final session)
"This course gave me all the support I needed to develop my characters and scenes into a first draft pilot. Approaching the three-act structure gradually over a few weeks was really helpful - it helped me to iron out any problems with Act 1 before thinking about Act 2 and so-on. The group feedback was very constructive and it really helped to get a general consensus of what went well and where I could improve. By the end of the course I had a completed script and plenty of notes to guide my next draft." K.P.
As I write, I'm running this on Zoom with a group of writers from the UK and a few international writers, including in Australia. Aussie writer, Ryan had this to say:
"I’m marvelling at the ‘throw us in the deep end’ approach of Chris Head! Having messaged a few of the gang this week and read some of their scripts, it’s amazing what a deadline and accountability brings out in people! Well done all. I'm finding the whole thing very challenging but in a good way. By the end of this I can say, ‘I finally wrote a pilot’!" Ryan Johnson
If you want to be thrown in the deep end (or, rather, if you want to be supported so you can dive into and confidently swim in the deep end) and if you want to finally get that script written in the company of a great group of writers and with expert support, this is the course for you.
For much more on this see chapter 6 of my new book:
Next ZOOM course 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
Image of a class in progress by Kate Bell (student in top right of picture!). Thanks Kate!
And I can also work with you on your script one-to-one.
