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Have the material but cannot get started

  • 02-01-2008 11:30AM
    #1
    boy_wonder
    Closed Accounts Posts: 245 ✭✭


    Hi Folks,

    I have been thinking about this a long time but have never really bothered taking it further, until now(hopefully).

    Basically, i have plenty of material and characters etc etc but all in my head. I dont think it would work as a novel/book and would be more suited to a sitcom/animation. I have seen the books online for writing sitcoms but i haven't yet purchased as i dont know how good they are. I have sat down a few times and tried putting dialogue together but i've never been happy with it.
    I know the stories/characters are funny but its a matter of translating this onto paper is where i'm getting stuck. I dont have time for courses etc so i want to tackle it myself.

    Any advice or ideas?


Comments

  • #2
    *Murphy*
    Closed Accounts Posts: 28 ✭*Murphy*


    that happens me alot and i find if i 'mind dump' and just write everything and anything that comes into my head, even if it doznt make sense. i would end up with random paragraphs, conversation, situations, sentences even, and after a while i found i was able to piece bits together


  • #3
    Nanoose2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13 ✭Nanoose2


    Well I have no experience at writing sitcoms but once
    I watched a Seinfield episode were Jerry and George had
    the opportunity to write a sitcom pilot for NBC.
    They didn’t have any good idea’s on how to write a
    sitcom piloted so they decided to make the show about nothing.
    NBC liked the idea so much that they offered Jerry and
    George $19.000 per episode but George got greedy and
    started comparing him self to Ted Danson.
    So NBC took advantage of them and they wound up only
    getting $6.000 per episode.
    So for the moment I guess the only advise I can think of is
    don’t compare your self to Ted Danson and go for it. Cheers!





  • #4
    claire h
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭claire h


    First off - you need to get it down on paper. Get something down, and you can fix it later.

    Secondly - if dialogue isn't your strong point, focus on the stories and the characters, decide exactly what kind of sitcom you want to write and where the humour's coming from - does the dialogue itself have to be witty and brilliant, or can you have everyday, ordinary dialogue being made funny by the absurd situations?

    Thirdly - watch a few of your favourite sitcoms, dissect them to death in terms of figuring out why they're funny etc., and see if you can get your hands on the scripts (either online or in book form) to have a look at how all that funny stuff actually looks on the page.

    And good luck! :)


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