Laughing Out Loud

Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay

Andrew Horton

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520220140
• eBook ISBN: 9780520923546
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Whoever wrote "Make 'em laugh!" knew that it's easier said than done. But people love to laugh, and good comedy will always sell. With the help of this complete and entertaining guide, writers and would-be writers for film and television can look forward to writing comedy that goes far beyond stereotypic jokes and characters. In Laughing Out Loud, award-winning screenwriter and author Andrew Horton blends history, theory, and analysis of comedy with invaluable advice. Using examples from Chaplin to Seinfeld, Aristophanes to Woody Allen, Horton describes comedy as a perspective rather than merely as a genre and then goes on to identify the essential elements of comedy. His lively overview of comedy's history traces its two main branches—anarchistic comedy and romantic comedy—from ancient Greece through contemporary Hollywood, by way of commedia dell'arte, vaudeville, and silent movies. Television and international cinema are included in Horton's analysis, which leads into an up-close review of the comedy chemistry in a number of specific films and television shows. The rest of the book is a practical guide to writing feature comedy and episodic TV comedy, complete with schedules and exercises designed to unblock any writer's comic potential. The appendices offer tips on networking, marketing, and even producing comedies, and are followed by a list of recommended comedies and a bibliography.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Introduction
• PART I. Comic Elements and Exercises
• CHAPTER 1. Elements of Comedy That Writers Should Know
• CHAPTER 2. Exercises to Nurture the Comic Muse
• PART II. A Writer's Overview of the Traditions and Genres of Comedy
• CHAPTER 3. From Stage and Page to Screen: Anarchistic and Romantic Comedy
• CHAPTER 4. Physical Humor: From Commedia dell'Arte and Molière to Vaudeville and Silent Screen Comedy
• CHAPTER 5. Sound Comedy: American Screwball Romantic Comedy, Then and Now
• CHAPTER 6. Comedy and Television: Stand-up, Sitcom and Everything in Between
• CHAPTER 7. Comedies from around the World
• CHAPTER 8. Comedy and the Documentary Impulse
• PART III. Close-ups on Comedies
• CHAPTER 9. Feature Film Comedies
• CHAPTER 10. Television Comedy: Seinfeld and The Simpsons
• PART IV. Writing Comedy
• CHAPTER 11. The Fifteen-Week Feature Comedy Screenplay
• CHAPTER 12. The Seven-Week Half-Hour Television Comedy Pilot Script
• Beyond Happy Endings: Toward a Comic Conclusion
• Appendix 1. A Recommended Viewing List of American and Foreign Feature Comedies
• APPENDIX 2. Networking, Marketing and Making Your Own Comedy
• APPENDIX 3. Food, Recipes and Comic Screenwriting
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX