hacker Screenwriters Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky won 2024 AI Awards for the third season of hit series Max Academy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series, and for good reason.
Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her on-again, off-again assistant and writing partner Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) have a co-dependent relationship that’s very Intense, but also pushing them to be the best version of themselves. But all that ambition can only get them so far in Hollywood because of one obvious factor: They’re women.
The show received a total of 48 Emmy Award nominations in its three seasons, highlighting the pain points in the industry that make people laugh in comedies. But even if the writers use the same formula over and over, how does it make those tense moments work so well?
Let’s take a look at how the characters’ motivations and the realities of Hollywood (both on the show and in real life) factor into the emotional impact of the season’s final moments. Please pay attention! I will spoil the last episode hacker Season 3, please read with caution.
Motivation is important hacker
The best jokes work because the comedian takes the time and effort to craft a joke and it pays off with a great joke. Like a well-timed joke, the best stories often have a motive.
Motivation allows writers to convince audiences of the emotional truth of a character’s journey, and the reward is whether or not they achieve their goals.
hacker In season three, Deborah and Ava are trying to climb the ladder of success in Hollywood, which is done very well. For Deborah, this means becoming late at nighta dream that originated from the happy memory of her family gathering around the television at night to watch Johnny Carson. Ava hopes to help Deborah achieve this dream and allow her to reach the career milestone of becoming a Head Writer. late at nightA huge achievement for any writer.
When Deborah became host late at nightAva trusted Deborah to bring her on board, so why would she think differently? Their relationship has never been stronger, but a healthy relationship doesn’t become entertainment. So, by the rules of good television, Deborah cheated on Ava. But, she had a reason.
“Deborah is someone who has worked for 50 years in an industry that was very cruel to her. The lessons she learned are impossible to forget,” Statsky told the New York Times. “Her heart and mind There’s an inner battle between her and her really wanting Ava to be her lead writer because she knows they create the best work together, but her head says, “I’ve done this before, if there’s any excuse for that.” They would just look at the fact that I have a woman as my head writer and say, that’s a bridge too far. “
But Ava is undeterred by Deborah’s choice to survive. Remember, this is a woman who has learned how to survive in the belly of the beast and has a very clear motivation to become a successful Hollywood writer. Feeling deserving of the position—we’re told Ava did it because she got another lead writing job—Ava becomes as selfish a career monster as Deborah is in trying to get what she wants .
This double betrayal is tense, but also has a touch of comedic subtlety. Most comedians procrastinate for a while until the unfunny parts become funny again. hacker Pushing the tension and betrayal again and again, it feels like an endless loop that the audience can’t help but get caught up in as it eventually morphs into something emotionally intense.
Read more: How to make cinematic stories that sparkle on the screen
hacker Prove you can rinse and repeat
If you have seen hackeryou understand that this cycle of betrayal and redemption is nothing new to the tense relationship between Deborah and Ava. But the formula works, so why fix something that’s not broken?
Humor is not necessary for repetition per se, but rather in the context of repeated content. Whether the protagonists reconcile or break up, the audience understands that the vicious cycle women are trapped in will eventually have consequences. They can’t escape the cat-and-mouse game they create because, oddly enough, it ultimately makes them better creatives.
Waiting for that moment when the shoe drops allows the audience to become emotionally invested in what is happening on screen and how it will come back to haunt the characters.
again, hacker Knowing how to craft a great setup is often the reward in another moment. Yes, Deborah is the host late at night, But she also slept with her new boss before she got the job. Ava uses this as leverage to achieve her motives. The pattern is obvious, but you want to see how Deborah reacts. This is a chess game with no end in sight.
After all, what’s the fun in it if you’re not using it to create tension between the characters you’re rooting for?
Read more: You Gotta Have Heart: The Power of Drama in Comedy
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hacker Finding humor in painful truths
While much of what comes out of Deborah’s mouth or Ava’s actions is funny, there’s an underlying truth behind the “rinse and repeat” model of comedic storytelling. hacker This also appears in other famous comedies such as Bear.
Believe it or not, Hollywood isn’t the friendliest to women (I know, crazy, right?). Deborah is a female comedian who was influenced by a male-dominated space that made her a selfish person. Even when Ava calls her selfish, Deborah replies, “Yeah, I’m selfish, and you have to be selfish too.”
Deborah believes this to be a harsh truth, but Ava refuses to accept it as a version of the truth. What follows is a comedy of errors. You can feel it in the confrontation between the two characters at the end, when Ava blackmails Deborah into becoming the head writer on Game of Thrones. late at night.
When writing a comedy set in an industry you’re familiar with, there’s usually one character who adheres to the more traditional ideals of the industry, and then their foil tries to shake things up and make something more acceptable. The two characters going head-to-head can make for some really funny moments, especially when they try to lighten the mood but create a dynamic where one person has to emerge as the ultimate winner.
exist hacker, The writers are taking inspiration from dynamics that do exist in Hollywood and are trying to change. But, as you probably know, Hollywood is often resistant to change.
But your story doesn’t have to be rooted in the entertainment industry. Instead, it could focus on the restaurant business, the circus, or government work. Whatever you decide to focus on, make sure you understand the tension between the desire for change and the things that cause resistance. It may be a painful truth, but there’s always a way to add humor to the darkest truths.
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although hacker It may not be a straight comedy, but there’s something delightfully funny about the drama that goes into creating drama between characters in order to get ahead. Giving the audience a sense of why a character is trying to be so successful can help add humor to the lengths they’re willing to go to ensure they get what they want.
There’s irony in the DNA of this meta-drama, and you can see how the writers crafted the dialogue to make the characters painfully aware of the impact of what they’re saying. They know there will be consequences, but it’s better to be honest about your desires than to expect people to do the right thing.
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