Sorting out a stalemate

Hi guys,

Firstly hello - and am I glad to find all of you here! Me and my writing partner have been doing this all alone till now!

Anyway, my question is this:

When you and your writing buddy come to a complete impasse on, say, the punchline to a conversation, how do you resolve it?

Comedy is subjective, so if each of us sincerely believes that our line is best and won't back down it becomes difficult. What we need is a specific method for resolving the issue.

I did consider comedy tokens... each of us has one per episode and we can use it to win such a discussion if we believe in a line strongly enough. But that turned out to be a stupid idea.

So what do you do?

Just to let you know, i saw this in my email and replied from there.

Yeah, thanks so much for the email. I sent messages to a few of the writing partnerships and then suddenly realised it might be easier to post it as a forum question.

So far we haven't had any problems. But I know that when the stalemate occurs we'll both end up so entrenched in our view that it's bound to lead to some negative feeling!

I did like the point you emailled about considering if it's possible to use both lines, by way of one character topping the other. So obvious really, but hadn't occured to me.

So if you see a sitcom where every joke has two punchlines - you'll know it's ours!

No prob - if you want to paste the email here, i'm fine with that.

I suppose that I am lucky in that SlagB and me never argue, although we disagree over the best lines, it's never strong. Sometimes after a few days of working on another section, it's obvious which is the funnier line when we revisit it. Sometimes we just keep brainstorming until we get 'the' line.

In my email to SlagA the question I asked was the same as the one I posted here, but I fleshed it out by adding the following example:

When you and your writing partner come to a complete impasse on, say, the punchline to a section of dialogue, how do you resolve it?

For the sake of a crap example. If the line was: "How many Californians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?", I might honestly believe that the best response is: "Five - one to screw it in and four to sit in the hot tub and discuss the environmental impact." However, the guy I work with might equally love his answer: "Six. One to screw it in, one for support, and four to share the experience."

This is the response that he was kind enough to send:

"It seems odd to say but it never really occurred with us so far. If one of us really hates a line then it'll get pulled out, like a veto. But in a situation where both consider a funny line better than another, we either write it so that both lines get mentioned. In the example you gave, the answer is supplied and then someone else chimes in "well, i thought it was..." and gives the alternative. If it isn't practical for both then we keep one in store for later episodes / projects.

It's a novel idea, the comedy tokens.

I think you answered your own question in a way. Comedy is subjective so whatever version you run with, some audiences would think it was a great punchline, others would hate it. Only we as writers would be aware of the possible other punchlines and if we'd used the alternatives instead, different groups would think it great.

I guess the truth is that you have to decide who your audience is and tailor it to them. If it's a show aimed at switched on green adults, they may hate the 'environmentalist' line, for example. you have to ask who the 'target audience' is and who is the 'butt' of the gag. They shouldn't really be the same group. People laugh at the misfortune of others but not their own misfortune (or people that remind them of themselves). As it's too close to home.

This is just my opinion. You may devise a better solution."

Hi Rich

Me and SitcomMate are like SlagA/SlagB in that we rarely disagree!

However, when reviewing each other's drafts we go through it together and will say 'Why is that there?' quite critically and the other has to justify its inclusion. If the justification is quite shoddy ("I thought it was funny") and doesn't stand up to the other's opinion ("No, it isn't") then it usually gets pulled or, more likely, rewritten in a funnier way.

As SlagA said above, if it's two punchlines by separate people we'll try and combine them. If that fails, the more relevant of the two will get used. Probably no help as we've usually had a line that is obviously more relevant and not had the stuck in the mud problem with two people arguing so much!

When it comes down to it, I think the general rule is: if there's a disagreement, I win ;-)

Dan

Violence solves everything. i write on my own but when ever i disagree with myself i always solve it with a fight but i always lose.

I don't write with a partner, but I've heard/read a couple of partnerships say that if a line doesn't get approval from both of them it doesn't stay in, no matter how much one of them likes it.

My writing partner and I are so rubbish we haven't come up with a punchline yet

Miranda - interested to hear your take on Jam/Jerusalem thread (if you've seen the prog) as yet again F&S seem to be fixated on portraying west country folk as utter dimwits which of course is not true as they all live near me.