Comedy Self-Awareness

I have a comedy writer friend who I call the Unabomber of Comedy, or The Unawriter -- because when he writes jokes he pulls a hoodie over his head, puts on music via earphones, and won’t interact with anyone until he’s done with his writing assignment. It’s his “process,” and, if he isn’t allowed to work in that way, he’s not nearly as productive.

I’ll write in the future about finding your own process, but for now I want to use my friend as an example of something else that’s incredibly important to becoming productive (ie, turning out pro level, useable, money-able comedy day after day after day).  And that’s Comedy/Artistic Self-Awareness.

Self-awareness -- the ability to accurately see who you are, what are your strengths, your weaknesses -- is a tough thing to achieve in all areas of life, but it’s absolutely essential if you want to consistently set yourself up for success as a comedy creator.  

Look at it this way:  every creative project can be broken into hundreds of sub-projects, all which need to be done well because they are essential parts of the final product.  So, if you’re writing dialogue in a script, every single character needs their own voice, and each of those voices need to be interesting, emotional, evocative, and distinct from the others.  Any of those characters can be done well, neutrally, or badly.  Each of them needs to be given distinct attention so that they’re constructed with real creativity, they’re evaluated for quality, and they’re fixed if they underperform.

A self-aware writer would realize what kinds of character dialogue they write well, and what kind they don’t.  It’s easy to think you’re writing dialogue well, but you’re often just writing a stereotypical voice of that character instead of writing something unique or interesting.  

For example, I can mimic dramatic writing. I’ve written a full screenplay that’s a drama, and I have even managed to get people to have emotional responses when they read it.  But I’m not good at it.  It’s not natural, it feels like I’m just guessing.  With comedy I know when something is funny.  I know other people will find it funny.  I know it as soon as I read it, think it, hear it.  I’m self-aware about my comedy instincts, I know when to trust them.  And I’m self-aware about my lack of drama instincts -- at least as a writer -- and I know not to trust them.

As I’ve moved up into professional writer/creator ranks, I've found that most pro writers have a strong, developed self-awareness.  I think that comes from working with others and being able to measure what you do against what they do. If there’s an amazing joke writer on staff, they make you laugh with their stuff, they find angles and ideas you don’t.  Their jokes get huge audience response.  You see right there in front of you the difference in what you are doing and what they are doing. The good news is that self-awareness lets you see that you need to improve. So you can figure out what that writer is doing, understand the underlying techniques they are using, practice those techniques, absorb them, and, sometimes, begin to do them even better than the original writer can do them. Which is that wonderful moment when you turn a weakness into a strength. It's that super-power of being able to constantly add more weapons to your comedy arsenal. It's the awesome gift of being self-aware -- you know you need to improve, and so you put energy into making that evolution happen.

And it only happens if you are self-aware enough to see that you need to improve on one of the hundreds of sub-areas of creating/writing.  Or, even at the base base of that statement, that you can see all of the sub-areas, and start your process of growth on each of them, so that you are truly developing, instead of jumping to the end and saying things like “I’m a comedian,” or “I’m a comedy writer,” even though you are missing prime pieces of the foundation that will make you great -- and thus, employable.

Do You Need a Career Mentor?

 [* For all those comedy creators, writers, producers, actors and trying-to-be professionals out there in the big wide world, wondering if they should pay me $100 a month for mentoring, here are some questions to ask yourself…]

 ()  Do you have trouble figuring out how to get into your area of the professional comedy industry, actually get jobs, get hired, get paid?

 ()  Are you lacking people inside your industry who will really help or advise you -- vs. just being nice to you, telling you easy things and cliches, and then leaving you alone again to figure things out on your own?

 ()  Do you put in a lot of work, but still lack a solid set of amazing, finished products -- completed scripts, killer standup sets, memorable short videos, powerhouse writing samples, awesome acting reels, super cool marketing materials -- that really impress pro’s who are hiring?  

 ()  Do you have an excellent outside reader/evaluator who can tell you why your stuff isn’t working, and how to fix it?

 ()  Do you feel like you have a lot to give, but people who hire aren’t hiring you, aren’t reaching out to you, aren’t actively trying to get you to work with them?

 ()  Do you put in a lot of time and effort on things that seem to fizzle instead of grow?

 ()  Do you lack an accurate read on how competitive you are with pro’s who are doing what you want to do?

 ()  Do you have a lot of motivation, joy, and creative juice about working in comedy, but need help turning that good energy into a real career?

 ()  Or, finally, are you possibly shooting yourself in the foot with some “personality issues” that keep people from wanting to work with you?

Then, yeah, you need a mentor.  Everyone needs someone smart and experienced who is actually willing to help them get to where they want to go. Especially in difficult industries like entertainment.  It would have made a massive difference in my own career if had had someone back in my 20's -- or at any point, really -- who could have given me real, ongoing, personalized, and perceptive advice on who I was/wasn't, whether my stuff was ready to be seen and how to get it to where it was ready to be seen, how the industry works, and how to plan my way through it all in a productive way. Massive. So that’s what I’m offering here in this little biz.  And the $100 a month is an incentive to get me to offer this stuff to people I don't really know, at least when we start.

Pop me a note, danmentorscomedywriters @ gmail, we'll figure out if mentoring is right for you. - dan

How to Produce Comedy, pt. 2

So I said last week that I’d do a second installment on what it means to be a comedy producer, and here it is.  I’ve been a writer, I’ve been talent, I’ve directed, I’ve created comedy -- but the role of producer is the one area that I’ve learned absolutely has to be solid if you want something to actually come to life, come to life well, and to really function in the world (meaning, find its place in the flow of the media business).  

A producer is like the queen boss of a production -- he or she has two roles:  creative overseeing, and project management.  And you have to be good -- super good -- at both.  If you lack creativity, you’ll get in the way of the creatives, they won’t trust you, and the project will suffer.  If you lack project management, the creative energy won’t have direction, the project will stall, and everything will limp along toward what will surely be a failed conclusion.

Thinking like a producer is different than thinking like a writer, actor, director, creator, etc.  Whereas creatives can largely lead with creative thoughts -- this would look cool, this would be funny -- a producer has to always have a second voice going on that says this isn’t possible, this is too expensive, this will make this project unmarketable.  When the two voices inside a producer's head groove well, it makes everyone feel comfortable that they’re being effectively guided and supported, and the project is being protected as it comes to life.  If the producer has an anxious vibe, a confused vibe, is too pushy or not pushy enough, again, things limp.

So let’s cruise through some of the questions that occur instantly in my producer head when I come upon any project, any pitch, any idea.  Usually, if any of these questions set off big red warning lights, I’ll pretty quickly mentally check out of the conversation, go into pleasant/polite mode, and dismiss the idea of getting involved.  If, on the other hand, all of these start to light up green, I’m way into it and will start devising plans almost instantly for how I can help get this thing moving forward.

So, producer questions:

()  Does this project have money?

-  Not “can it raise money” (crowdfunding, investors), but what

money does it start with?  If it has no money, it’s going to

take forever to get started, it’s going to have to compromise

everywhere on quality, and it’s likely to die on the vine.

()  Does this project have anyone who can raise money?

-  Someone for real.  Most creatives cannot raise money.  Is there a dedicated, talented, experienced someone involved who can yank money into this thing?

()  Can this project make money after it’s made?

-  Is there a production company that makes similar things and which already has deals in place and might buy this and get it distributed?
-  Is this so grooved with a product that there might be a natural way to pitch it as a commercial of some variety?
-  Would people want to see this badly enough that they would pay?

()  Can this project gain fans?

-  Not friends and family, but can this project, seen on it’s own,

inspire allegiance, evangelism, a desire to see more stuff from

these creators?

()  Are the creators -- creatively, proj management wise -- actually competent?

-  Not to be cruel about it, but I want to know what it will be like working with the principals.  Are they experienced?  Do they know how stuff works? Do they have enough creative juice to infuse every iota of this proj with cool, original, surprising, stimulating stuff?  Are they open to input, or do they think they already have it all wired, and you’re just along on their ride?

()  Who else will be hired here?

-  Is everyone at every position going to be good?  Will they know their equipment, their job?  Will they have backups, will they be able to shift quickly?  Who in this production might bring it down?

- What’s the hiring process going to be?  Who’s making the hiring decisions?  Are they competent at that?

()  Is the idea super-charged?

- Is this a mediocre idea, or a super idea?  If it’s mediocre -- familiar, one-note, already done, easy to predict -- then it’s going to put much pressure on everything else to be great.

()  Are there “easy marketables” in this?

-  Celebrity.  Are there name actors in this who will generate media

and fan interest?

-  Sex.  Are the actors super attractive?  Is there nudity?  Is there

advertiseable sex?

-  Actor quality.  Are there excellent actors in this, who people

already admire for what they will bring to the project?

-  Script.  Is the script amazing?  Seriously, I don’t want to be told

it’s amazing and then get slapped in the face with its huge

flaws -- boredom, uninteresting characters, flat diaologue,

slow pace, predictability, etc. Is the script awesome?  If

not, don’t start the project.

-  Writers.  Do the writers have name recognition from other

admired projects?

-  Successes.  What other successful projects like this can we

claim associations with?  

-  Quality.  Is the project so good that it will get a life of its own

basically no matter what?

-  Lack of flaws.  Most projects have major flaw points that drag

them down.  What are the flaws here?  Can they be fixed?

-  Company credibility.  Has this company made other amazing

things?  So we can expect this to be awesome, too.

-  Funniness.  Is this actually funny?  Are the principals funny?

Is the script funny?  Are the actors funny?  Is the freaking

makeup person funny?  The more funny people -- really funny,

not get in the way of the funny because you think you’re

funny -- the better.

Mentoring a Joke Writer

Great set-ups create a precarious balance

As I continue the process of explaining how a "Mentoring Service" for professional comedy writers/producers works, I thought it would be useful to post samples of actual feedback I'm giving to current mentees (or is mentals, aka DanMentorsMentals?).  

Like most of the clients I'm working with, the person I'll post about today likes to write in multiple comedy formats, including sketch, standup, maybe some sitcoms and screenplays down the road. For right now, though, he's looking to learn TV monologue -- aka, someone who can get hired to write straight-up "open the show" jokes that you see on so many late night talk shows.  

I've worked as a TV monologue writer for many years, it's a job and art form I know really well.  And even though it's a super short mode of writing (the jokes can be as short as 5 seconds, and even less for tag-lines), when you start creating these things you realize there really is a micro-art to doing it so that the jokes actually work. It's very, very nuanced, and the writing needs to be scalpel-like to get it all built into these tiny, but powerful, packets.

Right now we're working on one of the absolutely essential sub-arts in the joke writing process, which is to create really clean, crisp, informative, energized, interestingly worded, conversational, natural sounding, unclunky, easy to pronounce, short set-ups. 

Well-crafted set-ups are the secret power center of all joke writing, they literally set up the entire universe of the joke, put everything into this exquisite perfect but precarious balance, so that it can all be completely ripped apart and big banged by the punchline. Without excellent set-ups, forget having monster joke payoffs.  And without getting monster joke payoffs -- meaning audience-wide, irresistible, spontaneous gut-laughs that last and linger -- you aren't going to be a pro monologue writer.

Here's a set of notes I sent to my client in response to a recent set of jokes he sent me.  See if some of these ideas for writing great set-ups help you get a better sense for how to build these essential little fulcrums of comedy.

**  Notes:

-  good job on finding interesting words for the set-ups, and making them shorter.  Need to make sure the set-ups sound natural and conversational. Has to sound real or it becomes obvious that you’re trying to force in jokes, which throws people off and out of the joke.  Try saying the setups out loud, it will help you hear if they sound natural -- easy to say, good flow, no odd phrasings, etc.

1. McDonalds is trimming its menu as the scales are creeping up on kids. Also forbidden from creeping up on kids is Ronald McDonald.  

-   scales are creeping up sounds odd/forced.  but i like the creeping verb, see if you can make the set-up sound more natural)

2. McDonalds is taking several steps toward healthy eating.  They’ve replaced Grimace with Jillian Michaels who’s paid to yell berating remarks in customers faces.  It’s called SuperShame Me.  

-  good joke parts here, i like adding in micheals. but again, setup is phrased awkwardly. maybe “McDonalds is making strides” or “McDonalds is responding to criticism about the healthiness of its food by replacing Grimace with Jilliean Michaels.” with punches like

-  Just as scary but not as purple.

-  Michaels announced the news by screaming into a reporter’s face

-  It’s all part of their new ad campaign, SuperShame Me

3. Trying to change their image, McDoanlds menu is being rehabbed. Also undergoing rehab is Grimace and the Hamburgler.

-  no joke here here, but i like the verb "rehab"  

-  McDonald’s is trying to rehab it’s image.  Well, first they’re going to have to stop some of the parties their characters have been throwing [pic of hamburgler and grimace, drunk with hookers and rappers]

4. McDonalds is moderinizing its menu. It’s also modernizing its image by removing a murderous clown as its spokesperson.  

-  make this conversational  -- mcdonald’s is modernizing it’s menu.  Hey, you know what would modernize your menu?  Dumping the murderous clown.

5. Mickey D’s is revamping it’s fatty menu and dated stores. From every store, they’re removing the Ronald McDonald Basement to be less creepy.

6. McDonalds is slashing its food options. With less to choose from, the Hamburgler is getting his old job back as convict #3 on “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou”

-  good mix of odd stories, this would make a good visual

-  oh, brother a bit of a dated reference

7. McDonalds menu gets updated. Also, the Fry Guys on roller skates will be replaced with Guys-Gobbling-Fries on Segues.

- make the set-up speakable, “McDonalds is updating its menu.”

8. McDonalds restaurants are getting a hip...inside each is a remorse room where you can quietly sob after eating six cheeseburgers and a milkshake.

-  they obviously wouldn’t do this one, so make it your suggestion instead.  “Hey, I have a suggestion, open a Remorse Room where…”

9. McDonalds menus and restaurants are now modernized. While kids are at the playland, parents can now sulk in the new age “Shame Sanctuary.”

-  good name, clean the joke up so it can be spoken naturally

10. McDonalds is changing toward healthier menu options.  The unhealthy Fry Guys in rollerskates are replaced with...Guys on Roller Skates [old guy jpeg, gay guys jpeg

-  pick on image or the other to suggest, don’t want to give two options/images or they’ll compete at the punch moment
- i think the gay guys is the stronger graphic

11. McDonalds is cleaning up its image. First to go is the Hamburgler...one of many at McDonalds with a criminal history.  

-  suggest the graphic:  Ronald in cuffs, of behind bars, in a mug shot, etc.

How to Produce a Comedy Series

I did a talk for the Austin Film Meet yesterday (Nov. 13, 2014), a group that works to connect media people here in Austin.  These types of organizations bring together people at different levels of the media business so they can network, job seek, learn, and generally get to know more and more people (an essential activity in the ever-unstable world that is media).

We met at CreateScape, a cool little facility here in Austin that hosts people who need workspace.  They also have a common area for meetings, which adapts nicely to a workshop or teaching space.

There were 20-25 people, a big range of ages (15 - 60’s?), some actors, some writers, all of whom were interested in creative work, storytelling, and, ultimately, in getting paid.

Which I guess in some ways is always my thing.  Yes, creativity, absolutely, crank that up as far into the stratosphere as you can.  But always, always, always get yourself paid.  It’s the difference between being able to sustain a life in any creative arts or going really, really broke.

The talk was essentially about producing comedy -- specifically, in web-series, or TV series.  Which means it could focus on how to be a producer, how to work specifically with comedy, how to get a series up and viable on the web, or how to break into TV comedy series.  Lots of stuff in all of that, so after we went through my background as a producer, we kind of just popped along according to questions people had that applied to what they’re doing now.  

One area that I thought was useful was going over how I approached things as a producer, what a producer brain sees when it comes upon a project.  Being a producer is different than being a writer, or director -- a producer is a blend of creative vision with project management vision.  The project manager role requires that you make sure every element of the project is done well, all the way from development of the concept, to hiring/firing, scripting, marketing, pay, legals, insurance -- you name it, the producer is supposed to be on top of it.  This in addition to having enough creative soul to see what’s good and what isn’t, and to help the core creatives on the project bring something to life that is actually good, or even great.

That’s a lot.  And it’s why producers are absolutely essential in media work. And great producers are golden.

So, that’s a little overview of what went on during the talk, next week in my post I’ll lay out the specific creative and project management elements I look for in a comedy web series.  In the meantime, thanks to Judith Ruder for setting up the talk, thanks to Cherdon Bedford of Humblebee Media for running the Austin Film Meet, thanks to Keller Davis of Createscape, and check out two of the web-series put together by attendees, The Local Fix, produced by Jimmy Preston, and The Pantless Detective, produced by Dipu Bhattacharya and Tom Chamberlain.

And, as always, if you want to check and see if a monthly professional mentoring service ($100 flat rate for whatever you want to work on) is right for getting your projects to completion, developing your creative skills to a competitive level, and plotting your way through both sales and a creative career, pop me a note at danmentorscomedywriters@gmail.com.

- d

Client Stories: Doing Great Local Work

Everyone needs different things as they dig and claw their way up comedy writer mountain.  Some people are trying to figure out how to become full-time comedy writers, if that’s realistic or not, given their life situations, their talent level, their connections, their samples, the state of the industry, etc.  Others are trying to figure out what exact types of comedy writing they’re good at, and if they’re good enough at those to get paid, and/or compete with pro’s, and, if not, how do they get good enough at it.  Still others just want to write jokes, why all this talky talk, let me make fun of celebrities, that’s all I really like to do!

And round and round the mountain we go, monkey’s chasing career weasels, waiting for Pop! goes the weasel (whatever that song means. Is it a good thing that the weasel pops?  How even does a weasel pop?  Why do we teach these odd acid-stories to our children?).

So, as an example/template for what’s possible, I’m just going to lay out one of the first conversations I had with a client, so you can see one variation of how someone approaches their comedy writing career.

The client doesn’t live in Los Angeles, or NY.  But does live in a city that has improv, standup, theater, classes, and even some film and TV production going on.  He has gotten out and involved in the local scene, done standup and taken standup classes, gone through improv training and done a couple of years of group improv, acted in a local TV news parody show, written sketches that have been produced on that show and which now live on the Internet.  

That’s really not a bad little resume for someone who does this in his leisure time while running a “real life” business as his main occupation, and having a family (w kids, even).  It shows he can be productive even when circumstances aren’t perfect (that’s a pro criteria).  He’s motivated, works hard.  He works across a lot of different comedy forms.  And he gets things done, actually produced and on “air.”

Excellent.  

But like a lot of people who progress locally, you come to standstills.  Ends of the local roads.  You’ve done those, know what they are.  Now what?  How do you keep progressing, learning, evolving, and, most important to so many people, can you get paid to do this as a job, can you somehow, some way, do it full-time?  

So, here are some questions we’re working on as I figure out how to “mentor” this client.  

()  Is what he has learned applicable to professional media?  He’s done a lot, but all in an amateur setting.  If he was suddenly on a pro show, would he feel totally under water, or would he be generally okay, able to pick things up quickly and be useful, productive?  Pro shows move fast -- very fast -- and there’s not much room for someone who has to process and learn.  How close is he to that level?

()  Can he rearrange his life to get to a city that has a professional comedy industry -- production companies, television work, film work, even paid internet work?  Or is he anchored where he is, period?

()  Is what he has done high enough quality?  This one’s a problem.  It’s a problem for anyone who is learning, and wants to leap up into the pro ranks.  Your stuff has to be FUNNY.  It has to be professionally funny -- meaning pro scripting, pro actors, pro shooting, pro directing, pro editing, etc.  It’s so hard to get amateur things to actually work (hell, it’s hard to get pro things to actually work).  You end up with produced samples that took a ton of work -- which is impressive -- but end of the day, they aren’t funny when compared to great pro work.  So the real question in job-seeking becomes can your samples compete with fully produced LA or NY comedy?  And, even more importantly, can it compete with not the bad or mediocre product in those cities, but can it compete with the stuff that really, really works.  People often look at mediocre work and think, “I can do that good.”  But do you look at the absolute best stuff and think, “I can hit that level.  Consistently.  Even better than that.”

It would be great if the answer to this last set of questions is a big old “Hell, yes.”  And you had amazing stuff to point at that blew doors open.  That’s the dream scenario.  But unless you get lucky and find a young actor who’s freaking amazing and overcomes all the production issues that happen in amateur productions, or you get lucky and get in with a nice little production company that will basically for free make a great product with you because, well, just because (maybe your brother runs the place), unless you get some stars to align, your produced samples aren’t going to compete well.

So we go to the next step back.  Are your written samples amazing?

I’ll talk about that next time.