Hi, I'm Dan, Dan French (French, Dan French, if we're speaking in James Bond). This is going to be a quickie introduction to my new mentoring service, $100 bucks a month to mentor aspiring or working comedy writers (including monologue, talk shows, standup, sketch, sitcoms, screenplays, short stories, columns, feature articles, or books).
I’ve worked as a comedy writer and comedy producer in one variation or another since I was in my 20’s -- from standup to sketch to columns and essays, to late night talk shows like Dennis Miller and The Late Late Show, to sitcoms and films. I’ve worked at big studios in LA (FOX, CBS, CNBC), and private gigs in NY. I've done standup in small North Carolina towns, and Florida biker bars. I've spent years producing and writing live shows and web-series out of Austin, TX. I've even taught TV writing and screenwriting in my prior life as a college professor.
Every place and every job I've done is a different wrinkle, with different opportunities and limitations, but through it all, it's always been comedy, and writing, and producing, and more comedy.
I’ve written, literally, thousands and thousands and thousands -- and thousands -- of jokes (if you think I’m exaggerating my thousands, check out ye olde twitter feeds, @healthycomedian and @danlovesjokes and @danmentors.
I’ve worked as a comedy writer and comedy producer in one variation or another since I was in my 20’s -- from standup to sketch to columns and essays, to late night talk shows like Dennis Miller and The Late Late Show, to sitcoms and films. I’ve worked at big studios in LA (FOX, CBS, CNBC), and private gigs in NY. I've done standup in small North Carolina towns, and Florida biker bars. I've spent years producing and writing live shows and web-series out of Austin, TX. I've even taught TV writing and screenwriting in my prior life as a college professor.
Every place and every job I've done is a different wrinkle, with different opportunities and limitations, but through it all, it's always been comedy, and writing, and producing, and more comedy.
I’ve written, literally, thousands and thousands and thousands -- and thousands -- of jokes (if you think I’m exaggerating my thousands, check out ye olde twitter feeds, @healthycomedian and @danlovesjokes and @danmentors.
It’s a subset of the human race, being this dedicated to comedy. We live amongst the normal, but we're... different. We're the jokers in the crowd, jokers inside our own heads, jokers at our computers, jokers whispering our jokes to friends in the back of the room.
Funny has to be created, whether it’s a street joke or something your grandmother always loved to say (I knew a g’ma who always tagged her goodbyes with “Be careless!”). That's what we do. We create the comedy.
Which is awesome and fun. And getting paid for making comedy makes it even extra awesome. (Groucho Marx once said he only loved two things, making huge groups of people laugh, and getting paid obscene amounts of money. And that he was only happy when those two things happened at the same time. I concur with Groucho.)
Funny has to be created, whether it’s a street joke or something your grandmother always loved to say (I knew a g’ma who always tagged her goodbyes with “Be careless!”). That's what we do. We create the comedy.
Which is awesome and fun. And getting paid for making comedy makes it even extra awesome. (Groucho Marx once said he only loved two things, making huge groups of people laugh, and getting paid obscene amounts of money. And that he was only happy when those two things happened at the same time. I concur with Groucho.)
It’s definitely an odd niche, though, the professional comedy writer/producer. Not many people even know a professional comedy writer. It’s a mystery job, full of questions. How does it all work? How many hours a day do you write? How did you get good at that? What if you’re not in the mood to write comedy? How do you get paid? How do you even apply for a job as a comedy writer?
Great questions. All of which I’ve been asked hundreds of times. Both by people who are just curious, and by people who actively want this job.
So, here’s the deal. There are no simple answers to those questions. Quick, glib, not very useful answers are easy. But deeper, useful, instructive answers that help you make real progress toward your goal, and which are adapted to the specific person asking the questions? Those are not easy. But they're really important if you want to get into this field and succeed.
And so I’ve decided to set up a full-on business where I mentor comedy writers. In a real, professional, organized, focused way.
Meaning three things:
() I plan out an actual career path with you that makes sense, so you can see the best way to get to where you want to go. Most creative people don't understand straight on career skills and planning. But if you want to get paid, you need structure so you can get in with production companies, publishers, TV shows, etc. It doesn't just "happen." Instead of kind of wandering around, doing your thing, and hoping something just happens, I'll help you see the actual landscape of getting paid to write comedy, and we'll put together an evolving map for you to follow into the Magic Land of Money for Comedy.
I'm not sure how many people I'll mentor, but it will have a limit, because I'm still doing the actual writer thing myself. So I can work with some people some of the time, but not all of the people...
The work process will be a little different with everyone, but generally we'll online chat, figure out where you think you want to get to, and put some stuff in place to get you there. We can also Skype, set up some Google docs to work in, email back and forth. We’ll figure out what's really useful for progressing your skills, knowledge, projects, and career.
So if you want to jump into this process, pop me an email at DanMentorsComedyWriters @ gee mail, and we'll talk it over, see if it fits, and get started.
Meaning three things:
() I guide projects so that they get done. And done well. If you want to get paid, whatever you create has to be pro level. Columns and essays should be printable with very little edits, scripts should ready to be produced with almost no changes. You have to drag your stuff out of the flaky stages -- where it's just an idea, or a few jokes, or a half-written script -- to where it's real, and it's good. To make that happen I guide people through the development of the idea, I read drafts, I give advice on what needs to be spiced up, etc. etc. and etc. It's all about helping you make sure your stuff is completed, and it's good.
() I evaluate your current skill levels, and devise ways to make you better. What are you good at? Where do you need to continue to develop? What will help make you competitive with actual pro's who do these things? To make this happen I give you feedback on your writing, and I give you exercises and assignments to help you "see" the difference in what you're doing and what you need to be doing in order to compete at high levels with great writers and producers.
() I plan out an actual career path with you that makes sense, so you can see the best way to get to where you want to go. Most creative people don't understand straight on career skills and planning. But if you want to get paid, you need structure so you can get in with production companies, publishers, TV shows, etc. It doesn't just "happen." Instead of kind of wandering around, doing your thing, and hoping something just happens, I'll help you see the actual landscape of getting paid to write comedy, and we'll put together an evolving map for you to follow into the Magic Land of Money for Comedy.
I'm going to charge for this service, because, well, quite honestly, I'm not sure how else I would motivate myself to do it on a consistent basis. I mean, I love each and every human on the planet, but if all six billion wanted free comedy mentoring, my inbox might get a tad over-wrought.
The plan is I mentor comedy writers, producers, and projects for a straight up $100 a month. People can work on whatever they want with me, which allows enough flexibility to make this useful for a wide range of people.
The plan is I mentor comedy writers, producers, and projects for a straight up $100 a month. People can work on whatever they want with me, which allows enough flexibility to make this useful for a wide range of people.
I'm not sure how many people I'll mentor, but it will have a limit, because I'm still doing the actual writer thing myself. So I can work with some people some of the time, but not all of the people...
The work process will be a little different with everyone, but generally we'll online chat, figure out where you think you want to get to, and put some stuff in place to get you there. We can also Skype, set up some Google docs to work in, email back and forth. We’ll figure out what's really useful for progressing your skills, knowledge, projects, and career.
So if you want to jump into this process, pop me an email at DanMentorsComedyWriters @ gee mail, and we'll talk it over, see if it fits, and get started.
And I'll be posting writer tidbittery on this blog all the time, so keep checking back.
- dan (Nov. 19, 2014)
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