How to write a comedy script with laugh-out-loud dialogue.
Learning how to write a comedy script that makes readers laugh is no easy task. But if you’re writing a comedy, your dialogue Better be funny. No joke. Not just reviews. Not just blue throwaway humor, but I laughed my ass off.
When wondering how to write a comedy script with super funny dialogue, think of all the dialogue you’ve ever read in a spec script with weak jokes or lines.
Now multiply that by a thousand. Because last year so many different executives, production managers, and studio readers were confused by the humor in all the comedy scripts they read.
The best way to avoid the above is to make your character truly witty.
When your characters say something witty and different to elicit laughter, readers will be impressed and think you’re a better writer than you are. So take the extra time to give your characters a keen intellect, and it will pay off handsomely.
But the question is, how do you do that?
How to write a comedy script with wit.
How do you make all the jokes feel like they were written by a professional comedy writer? How do you give a character a Woody Allen-esque quip?
A great way to give your character great lines is not to spend hours racking your brain to come up with an amazing joke on your own, but Modify an existing joke. There are literally millions of jokes that can be adapted into your comedy script.
Let’s say your comedy script features a very immature person. You could spend a long time coming up with a funny joke to describe him acting like a 14-year-old. Alternatively, you can search online for “jokes about immature men.”
Within seconds you’ll find a plethora of adaptable jokes waiting for you. For example:
“Men are like government bonds… they take a long time to mature.”
This could then easily be adapted to a line spoken by one of your characters, something like this:
“He needs to grow. I see government bonds maturing faster.
You get it. This will instantly give your character a comedic edge over most other characters in the spec scripting realm.
The idea is to take the original joke and adapt it, or be inspired by itrather than moving it directly from the Internet into your comedy script.
But still… isn’t this stealing?
Some newbie writers like to complain “You can’t do that. It’s stealing! But the truth is there are literally mega There are a lot of jokes there.
The likelihood that an executive or manager will recognize that a line in your script has been adapted or inspired by them is close to zero.
Obviously, in an ideal world, we’d all be capable of coming up with something completely original and wonderful out of thin air. But most comedy writers (even professional ones) need a little help.
Listen to Woody Allen jokes Annie Hall About him wanting to do to his ex-girlfriend what the government has done to this country for years. This is based on an old Jack Benny joke.
But does anyone really care? Does anyone think Woody Allen is not funny because he adapted an old joke? No.
How to write a comedy script with unwitting characters.
But those are just Generally speaking “comedy” Not necessarily witty?
Take Everett, played by George Clooney. Oh brother, where are you? We think his dialogue is the funniest in the movie. But his assistants Hogwallop and O’Donnell are arguably more interesting.
The Coens achieve this by giving each character one voice. Each of them has his or her own speaking style, and what they say rarely comes across as a “joke.” This is because the humor comes from naturalistic (or humorously unnatural) voices, and each character has a personality.
Great advice, we know: “Write like the Coen brothers, stupid!” While we realize how difficult this is, our point remains: empower your characters a point of view and base any of their humor on this perspective. This is based on all Great comedy writing.
You can also try this scripted character development method to flesh out a full character.
Then, your character’s voice should become clearer to you, and just like everyone you know has a different sense of comedy voice—for better or worse—so should your character.
How to Write Dialogue in a Comedy Script: Conclusion.
If you want to know how to write a comedy script with dialogue and characters that will make studio readers, agents, and managers laugh, here’s what you should do:
• If you have a “witty” character, make sure their jokes are super funny by modifying and taking inspiration from existing jokes online.
• If you have a “comedy” character, make sure it’s the way they act rather than what they say that makes them funny.
By doing this, your comedy script will far exceed 99% of specs, and studio readers will be more likely to give you the recommendation grade you’re looking for.
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How do you come up with jokes for your characters or make their personalities as interesting as possible? What do you think of our approach to crafting your comedy script? Let us know in the comments section below.
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