I remember reading a guy that said you shouldn't be laughing at your script because it means it's the authors sense of humour coming through not the characters. I find ghost world humorous, but reading the script it isn't terribly funny, then again that isn't a comedy. My script is hilarious and if I didn't know it so well I'd probably laugh at each page(it's boring reading each page hundreds of times).
Should you laugh out loud at your comedy script?
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I don't think I agree with him. I laugh, cry, and cheer for all of my characters. When I find I do that, then those who read it do too. If it doesn't evoke any emotions in me, it isn't strong enough. I really don't see how you could write something funny and not find it humorous yourself. If it means nothing to you, the reader will see the lack of passion and most likely it fail to move them.
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I've never read a script I laughed at. Sometimes I smile, or nod in appreciation. I read Sideways last week, lots of smile moments.
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Comedy is the hardest to write, as I have recently learned. Funny is so subjective and very personal.
If you laugh at your stuff, that's great, but the trick is to make everyone else who reads it laugh too. There lies the challenge-- to write jokes that most people will get and write it in such a way as the tone reflects comedy.
If you laugh at your stuff, that's great, but the trick is to make everyone else who reads it laugh too. There lies the challenge-- to write jokes that most people will get and write it in such a way as the tone reflects comedy.
Yeah, I can't write comedy. I can add in funny moments, but I can't write comedy. I think its something the person has inside them because I didn't get it.
I'm the opposite of you Joe. To me, writing comedy feels natural and comes quite easily. But if you asked me to sit down and write a serious script about an archeological find that had global repercussions, I'd probably write 8 pages of it and then turn it into a movie about some dude that lives at home with his mom and works as a crossing guard at a school for transsexual eskimos.
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Someone mentioned above that it basically depends on your sense of humor. If you're going to write a comedy, write something you know makes YOU laugh, first and foremost. If you try to judge what others might think is funny, you've already started off on the wrong foot.
I write the occasional comedy. I can't tell a joke with a punchline worth a crap...but if my life is any indication, I'm pretty good with physical comedy and quick-witedness. So I won't waste my time trying to write a comedy full of set ups and punchlines and will instead allow my characters to find themselves in comedic situations and react according to how I'D react.
It just seems to me that if you can't make yourself laugh first, you probably won't have any luck making any one else laugh (unless you're Ed Wood, but his stuff is unintentionally funny).
I write the occasional comedy. I can't tell a joke with a punchline worth a crap...but if my life is any indication, I'm pretty good with physical comedy and quick-witedness. So I won't waste my time trying to write a comedy full of set ups and punchlines and will instead allow my characters to find themselves in comedic situations and react according to how I'D react.
It just seems to me that if you can't make yourself laugh first, you probably won't have any luck making any one else laugh (unless you're Ed Wood, but his stuff is unintentionally funny).
Boo_Radley said:
My movie isn't full of punchlines, at least I try not to have it like that. It's characters that do stupid stuff and get put in interesting settings.
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