I'm currently in the middle of the research/character development stage of my first sitcom, and I've got a couple of questions I'd like to ask those of you who've written sitcoms before.
1. Roughly how long did you spend developing your characters, before you began writing the pilot script?
2. What exercises did you do in order to flesh out your characters and make them three-dimensional?
3. How did you 'know' that you were ready to progress to the next stage?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
You can spend too long 'developing' your characters.
A lot of books ask that you go to ridiculous lengths before you put pen to paper - what's his favourite colour, what did he want to be when he grew up etc etc.
In truth it's far more organic.
You'll have a rough idea of your character - otherwise you wouldn't have a SitCom in mind.
Go with that on your first draft, then retro-fit qualities that help the comedy.
The choices you make as you go along will inform your writing - by the 2nd or 3rd draft you'll be pretty sure who the guy is.
Personally I think all the little 'tricks' are pretty much a waste of time aimed at people who will probably never be writers - it should come more naturally than that.
Get started asap - you can't beat getting pages down for getting to know the world you're creating and the characters who inhabit it.
Too much prep can kill an idea.
Think the 'situation' s important , add few 'likely' characters, the jobs/class money situation should help flesh characters out, of course age and sex. Hope this makes sense?
Quote: Lazzard @ May 9 2012, 6:53 PM BSTYou can spend too long 'developing' your characters.
A lot of books ask that you go to ridiculous lengths before you put pen to paper - what's his favourite colour, what did he want to be when he grew up etc etc.
Thanks - your post has given me some real food for thought.
I've been itching to begin work on the pilot script - however up until now I've resisted this temptation due to being concerned that I wasn't 'ready' to proceed.
Instead, I've been filling in the questionaires which I downloaded from Robin Kelly's website, in order to develop my characters.
Although this has been fruitful to an extent, a lot of the questions are rather mundane and pointless - and the process of answering them has become a bit of a drag.
The status of my sitcom at present, is that I've got a concept which I believe in, characters which I consider to be strong and distinctive and a lot of enthusiasm.
So all in all, I think I will begin brainstorming plot ideas for the pilot episode later this week, and proceed to the first draft soon after that.
I think just write and the characters will develope. Maybe good to make notes as you go though so there are no contradictions - unless of course that is the point of them.
I don't think those questions are supposed to be compulsory; more to help you build a character if you really haven't got one. If you know your character get on with the writing. If they need to be refined, you get to change them between drafts.
Dan
You can over think this. If you get too prescriptive then you lose some of the potential for the character to develop and might write yourself into a corner.
When writing a treatment I got each character to narrate their own description.
Plus answer a few questions; how they got on with the other characters, who they felt was the most powerful etc.
About a page of A4 did the job quite nicely.
All good little excercises and character is important, so it's handy to do from time to time to make sure they're not just flapping around generically like in NGO or most famcoms. Don't forget conflicting characters or you won't have a sitcom.