comedy 36 results

Queenpins Writers Balance Comedic Tone with Real-Life Drama in Coupon Caper

  Queenpins is a quirky crime comedy inspired by a trio of women who made millions of dollars in an elaborate coupon scam. Married writer/director team Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly have a background in documentaries and journalism so when they stumbled upon this true story after visiting an FBI website, they knew they had the ...

Oscar-Nominated Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo on Going from Sketch to Screenplay

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, is one of the silliest movies you’ll ever see. It’s also one of the most joyful. With bright colors and a sexy Jamie Dornan, watching the movie is like devouring a giant spoonful of marshmallow fluff ­– and it’s exactly what we all need right ...

Bill and Ted Face the Music Writers on Writing from Character, Not Structure

It’s excellent that Bill and Ted (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, respectively) are back in the bodacious three-quel Bill and Ted Face the Music! It’s heinous to think that it’s been 31 years since the two dudes started time traveling together, but that’s only given us all time to share the first two films with our own outstanding little ...

Writer/Producer Chris Henchy Shares his Surprising Path to Directing Impractical Jokers: The Movie

While Chris Henchy isn’t a household name, his comedy films, TV shows and website Funny or Die are substantial comedy touchstones. Entourage, Eastbound and Down, Spin City, Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis, and Life with Bonnie are all shows he either created, wrote, produced or all three. His sitcom I’m with Her was inspired by ...

‘Playing with Fire’ writer shares his crazy 14-year journey from idea to screen

The new movie Playing with Fire is an adorable family comedy that stars John Cena, John Leguizamo and Keegan-Michael Key as a crew of rugged firefighters who meet their match when attempting to rescue three rambunctious kids. The movie is funny, heartfelt and features some of the best comedic talents around. I sat down with writer Dan Ewen ...

‘Greener Grass’ writers create a surreal comedy from painful identity

  Greener Grass is a surreal comedy of manners, set in a pastel-tinted suburbia where best friends Jill  (Jocelyn DeBoer) and Lisa (Dawn Luebbe) do social acrobatics to passive-aggressively impress each other. When Jill notices that Lisa likes her baby Madison, Jill gifts the baby to Lisa who renames her Paige. Later, Lisa becomes ...

What is a set-piece?

So, the first thing I found out by researching set-pieces is that there’s not a long of agreement as to what they are exactly. My understanding has always been that a set-piece is a self-contained portion of your story which can stand on its own. That is certainly the dictionary definition. However, some sites are saying that a set-piece is an expensive sequence that is the dramatic or comic highpoint. That’s a definition I disagree with so what I’ll be discussing here is the first idea of a set-piece as a self-contained portion of your story.

In the Beginning… There Was the Joke

If you are writing comedy, or drama, and want to get a laugh, it’s tough to avoid jokes. There is both craft and talent involved in joke creation. To make this article more interesting, we sat down to write without a specific joke in mind. Instead, everything you read here was created without forethought using the steps we’ve described (This ...

Girls Trip writer Karen McCullah: “They brought me on to be outrageous”

Girls Trip writer says they brought me on to do outrageous R-comedy for women.

Our 5 favorite YouTube bits on comedy writing.

One of the best ways to hone your craft is to look at the work of experts. Here is a round up of our favorite YouTube bits on how to write standup, TV, films, sketch and everything in between.

HOW TO BE SINGLE screenwriter Dana Fox explains why rom-com is a dirty word

Powerhouse Hollywood comedy writer, Dana Fox, is sick and tired of hearing the word “rom-com” when it comes to describing her movies. She’s written What Happens in Vegas, Couples Retreat, The Wedding Date and the TV show Ben and Kate. ScreenwritingU Magazine sits down with the writer/producer to hear about her new film How to Be Single, ...

BREAK POINT writer Jeremy Sisto on writing a tennis comedy

"With all the effort it takes to get these things made, there are so many opportunities to stumble and lose track of the story that you want to tell,” says actor Jeremy Sisto of the screenwriting process. This is his first foray into writing for the big screen. “I marvel at the eloquence of it and the restraint that it takes to reveal ...
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