Done a bit of both. Not a lot of comedy at the moment though I slip the odd line in now and again. A project after June, prose based, will have some comedy in it.
Drama or Comedy?
This the first thread you've started Griff?
I don't think I could take myself seriously enough as a writer to enjoy writing drama.
Besides comedy is a form I'm comfortable with. As a natural cynic I'm always looking to expose those little faults that appear and undermine them.
Drama is about a more positive form of creation.
Does cocaine improve the writing proces?
Quote: Marc P @ May 1 2011, 10:50 AM BSTI slip the odd line in now and again.
Did it help?
Certainly did!
And nice round number there Griff!
Hello, been following the forums for a while and thought I'd chip in with this thread.
For me it's all about fitting the story/concept to the correct medium, Film/TV, comedy drama, series, one-off. When interested in a subject I try to asses what's the best medium for it, what type of arc is involved and what I've been up to recently.
I find the rhythm differences between some comedy and drama too disparate to work together so I tend to block out projects with similar rhythms - comedy scripting, develop comedy feature concepts, drama scripting the opposite.
Sitting down to approach either takes such a different mindset that sometimes I feel that I need reach for the head cupboard.
Just finishing up on a TV comedy project, then moving on to a waited for Feature drama rewrite that is mapped for the sit down, but I might need to go and live in a dark hole far away to get it done.
You're going to get a valet from the valleys?
A tall boyo you mean?
Drama increasingly interests me more than comedy. Sitcom writing seems a bit of a fools errand, especially when you consider how few make a living out of it, let alone how few you actually admire.
Quote: chipolata @ May 1 2011, 11:17 AM BSTDrama increasingly interests me more than comedy. Sitcom writing seems a bit of a fools errand, especially when you consider how few make a living out of it, let alone how few you actually admire.
Yes comedy doesn't have to be sitcom. That whole thing's a crapshoot and there's too many numpties in the way.
Quote: Griff @ May 1 2011, 10:44 AM BSTWith drama you're putting your heart and soul on display. You've actually got to say something about the world and human nature ect ect ect and mean it.
Isn't that the case , to some extent, with all writing?
Even Del Boy falling through the bar is more than just slapstick.
To me all writing should be dramatic - all writing should be an attempt to illicit a certain emotion from the reader/veiwer.
I write drama - just some of it's funny.
The jokes in most sit-coms are only funny because we know the people - we know what makes them tick - we care what happens.
That's good dramatic writing.
And then Trigger pulls a face.
Quote: Marc P @ May 1 2011, 11:31 AM BSTAnd then Trigger pulls a face.
Yeah, well. There is that.
Have to say, the whole Trigger/'Dave' thing did wear a little.
I suppose my point is , I'm not sure what the distinction is.
It's also why I don't get quite so het up about the comedy-drama genre.
Quote: Griff @ May 1 2011, 12:11 PM BSTAfter all Cathy Come Home and The Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar both tackle the problem of homelessness.
Yes.
But only "Cathy Come Home" is funny.
Quote: Griff @ May 1 2011, 12:11 PM BSTMore often than not comedy is a distancing mechanism. Long shot is funny, close up is tragic etc.
Sensitive soul that I am often find comedy more painful to watch than drama; there is something intolerably cruel at the heart of sitcom.
Quote: Griff @ May 1 2011, 10:44 AM BSTAlso why do so few people (apart from some obvious exceptions such as Stephen Moffatt) seem to prosper at both?
I've been increasingly looking at the careers of people like Moffat and Gatiss and thinking how cool it would be to be able to write a comedy, then maybe a horror thing, sci-fi, back to comedy, then a combination. That looks like a good career to follow if you're able to; more opportunities too, obviously, if you're able to write more than just one thing.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ May 1 2011, 12:35 PM BSTI've been increasingly looking at the careers of people like Moffat and Gatiss and thinking how cool it would be to be able to write a comedy, then maybe a horror thing, sci-fi, back to comedy, then a combination. That looks like a good career to follow if you're able to; more opportunities too, obviously, if you're able to write more than just one thing.
Couldn't agree more.
That's why I think it's important not to get hung up on categories.
It's all writing.
[eg 'Life on Mars' - exciting, moving, funny, dramatic...to pull off something like that you need to have a broad range of writerly skills.]
Oh sure, most writers will have things they're better at. Like I say, I'm trying to stretch out a bit and tackle things other than sitcom, but I know for a fact I couldn't write a good episode of a soap, or, you know, Frost or something. I don't have it in me.