Writers summit with Paramount! - COMEDY WRITING
Recently I had the honour of being invited to Paramount HQ in London, for a screenwriters summit, where I met with many amazing writers and distributors for networks tied to Paramount such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Channel 5, Milkshake and more!
One of the speakers was a woman who worked in Distrubution for Comedy Central and MTV, and from her, I picked up a bunch of helpful information about the process of getting your work picked up, and I thought I'd share! This is particularly helpful if you're interesting in writing comedy!
★ - when you send through your scripts and pitches, it'll be in there with a lot of others. They will have a designated script reader who's job is to read everything that gets sent in, and they will select the ones that have the most likely chance to get picked up. These will get sent off to commissioners.
★ ‐ channels like CC and MTV are always looking for fresh and new voices and characters. If you think something is too different, send it anyway! You never know.
★ - there are SO many reasons why certain works get rejected. I.e. shift in budget, or similar ideas are already in the works. It's not always because the ideas aren't good.
★ - with this in mind, do not let go of rejected ideas. They will likely remain on file. So it doesn't mean no permanently. It just means not now.
TIPS FOR GETTING INTO WRITING COMEDY
★ - writing sketches is a great way to get into comedy writing! (I personally recommend brandon rogers' comedy sketches, but for something more tame, asian parent AI with Uncle Rogers is a good one!)
★ - punch up scripts are good! this just means filling it with jokes upon jokes (1 joke per page at the least)
★ - "ck" sounds are funny! (fuck, duck, shuck[s], etc etc)
★ - funny/unexpected words at the end of lines are likely to get more laughs.
HOW TO CREATE GOOD PITCHES
★ - usually a good pitch will already have talent attached to it, i.e an actor that is known, a writer (or co writer) that is known. It makes the process easier if there is a known name attached to your pitch.
★ - distinctiveness is key. Make something that stands out. Something you don't often see. Something that the scriptreaders and commissioners are likely to remember.
★ - personally connect with your characters! make them relatable to you. People love seeing relatable characters, so write them.
★ - authenticity. Write something authentic to you. Write about your ethnicity, your culture, your experiences, the people in your life. It makes it more distinctive to write comedy about something that isn't a standard white american sitcom.
★ commissioners and scriptreaders can ALWAYS tell when somebody isn't connected or authentic to the background, stories, or characters they've written.
I hope this was helpful! These were all tips given by a commissioner and writer for Comedy Central and MTV!