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How To Guides

by John Byrne
25 February 2000

John Byrne is a showbusiness life coach, the author of several bestselling career guides for performers and writers and a regular broadcaster on TV and radio.

1) So you think you're funny?

Since sense of humour is such a subjective thing how can you be sure that something you think is funny will get the same reaction from anyone else, whether it's the comedian or TV producer you are pitching your material to, or the audience which will eventually have to endure your efforts?

The simple answer is you can't be sure - comedy writing is a constant process of trial and error with most of the errors being done in public. However you can increase your chances of producing usable work by studying as many examples of successful comedy as possible, preferably in script form and not necessarily just the shows that appeal to you. Once you've analysed why the material works, try coming up with your own script using the same mechanics, and then try it out on people who will give you honest feedback. (In any case, laughter is hard to fake.)

The need for a sounding board is why team writing is such a common feature of successful comedy writing, although equally successful writers such as John Sullivan and Simon Nye do very well as solo writers. If you do decide to work with a partner try to pick one who complements rather than duplicates your own strengths and make sure to agree on how typing chores, copyright and royalties are to be divided up before these issues become bones of contention.

2) Markets

Club comedians and TV sitcoms are obvious markets for comedy writing, but there are many less obvious markets for people with humorous writing ability, which can help you gain experience, and, if you're very lucky, even some small income. (Most comedy writers can expect to work on a part-time basis for quite some time, and many successful ones still hang on to the day job just in case).

In general, try to use the same lateral thinking you use to construct your gags to think of ways to market yourself and your unique abilities. Topical gags are much in demand by everyone from radio DJs to live comperes, while if your talents run to tying humour to serious issues, your work may be of interest to business speakers or politicians (there's no area of communication which isn't getting increasingly showbizzy these days).

As well as comics, magicians, singers, ventriloquists, jugglers can all benefit from good patter, punchlines and heck stoppers - it's up to you to convince them of the benefits of paying you to churn them out. In general, a business like approach, a consistent quality of work and an ability to act and meet realistic deadlines are your best marketing tools. Yes, there are a lot of aspiring comedy writers in the business - but there are few who actually do treat it as a business. Ultimately, the good writer who makes life easy for a producer will tend to get more work than the comic genius who is an erratic pain in the ****.

3) Submissions

In general you'll be submitting two kinds of work when you start out: scripts or gags that you design for a specific performer or existing show and pitch to the appropriate person, and sample comedy material - a new sitcom proposal for instance - which you create from scratch. In both cases it's worth taking some time to polish your work properly before you start sending it around. It's highly unlikely that a large amount of work from an untried writer will make it onto stage or the airwaves in a hurry, but don't let this put you off - used or unused, your sample material is your shop window as a writer, so chop, change, rewrite and improve until you're sure it shows you off to best advantage.

As to where you send your stuff, you can contact individual comics through their agents if they have one, or simply by collaring them when they next play your local comedy club. For Radio and TV work keep an eye on the industry press such as The Stage for new productions or the return of old favourites and start paying close attention to the production credits at the end of shows. Make sure you study every comic or show you pitch to carefully to avoid wasting good material which simply does't fit the style required. It's worth checking with the production office to see if a particular show has its own writer's guidelines.

Lastly, you may wish to get an agent to do your marketing for you while you can find agents in The Writers and Artists Yearbook (A&C Black publishers) who handle comedy writers, the old Catch 22 applies: it's hard to get an agent to make you a star until you are already a star. As always your best chance of persuading an agent to represent you is to show them good strong writing samples.

4) Connections

British Society of Comedy Writers

BBC website with lots of comedy related info including their FAQs on writing comedy

Writing Sketch Comedy that Sells

The 7 Laws of Comedy Writing

For a more in-depth "how to" of comedy writing you may want to purchase: Writing Comedy by John Byrne (A&C Black) which is available from A&C Black, Amazon UK and www.screenwriterstore.co.uk