Encouraged . . . Perhaps.

OK, so I'm so new to this whole pursuing a career in writing (see post from earlier this week), specifically, comedic writing, that I have no one in a peer sphere (oh, classic, lame, rhyming humor) to bounce ideas off of (what am I doing ending a sentence in a preposition? I am an English teacher at). Yeah, and first I need to get ideas.

I've been devising some exercises that I can do on a daily and weekly basis to start honing my skills and get used to writing both single camera, sitcom, and sketch comedy shows.

FIRST: Write something every single day. As a Creative Writing major, nothing was more important. The only way to stay sharp and productive is to grit your teeth and put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) for at least ten to thirty minutes each day. I've found an excellent site for free-association writing called oneword.com. It provides you with one, randomly generated word and then you have 60 seconds to write whatever you can come up with about that word. It's been great fun, and perhaps if I get brave enough I'll start posting some here. I might not, though, for the purpose of this blog is not to assault your brains with my writing endeavors, but instead to keep you up to date about the most current events in my personal life. And if you don't want to know those, then don't worry. Just unfollow, no hard feelings.

SECOND: Watch, and study, one of each of those shows per week. By study, and here's where you are going to cry out "super nerd," I mean actually take written notes about an episode of a single camera comedy, a sitcom, and a sketch show. Don't know what those mean? Let me help.
  
Single Camera Show: These are the large majority of shows on TV. Filmed without a studio audience, these shows are easy to spot by how much the camera can maneuver. Do the shots actually follow the actors around a set, include closeups, and a musical soundtrack underneath important moments? Then it's probably a single camera show. Examples include Scrubs, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Glee, and Community. Side note: A show like The Office uses multiple cameras at once to preserve the "documentary" feel, but is still closest to a single camera show.


Sitcom: You know a sitcom when you see one. The lighting is always pretty even across the board. No interesting shadows to be found. The format is almost always a half hour. The dialog is always quick and snappy. And there's either a studio audience or a laugh track. That darn laugh track. Sitcoms have sort of lost their status among TV watchers, but they still pull consistent viewership (and a few aren't bad). Examples include Roseann, Friends, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Cheers. Side note: A lot of sitcoms today are terrible, however. Two and a Half Men, anyone?


Sketch show: A sketch show covers a broad range, but what I'm looking for is mostly a show that fills at least 50% of its air time with sketches, scenes, or comedic monologues. This definitely includes the most established of sketch shows, Saturday Night Live, but also branches out to things like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Mad TV. This could even include shows like The Late Show, or The Tonight Show, because the guests actually only take up about 50% of the show, and the rest is filled with jokes, monologues, and skits. Side note: My main goal is to write for SNL. I'll just put it out there. If for some crazy reason God decides to give me a knack for writing comedic sketches, then I will get on that show come hell or high water. But I've never tried before, so now we're going to put it to the test.

THIRD: Start going through my work and finding my strengths. Sure, it would be great to be that kind of writer that can write anything and everything, but the truth is, most of us have one or two great talents in the writing arena. I mean, that's why TV shows have a writing staff. It's not because they want to rotate things around; it's because each member of the writing staff is talented in a different area, creating a stronger and more versatile writing team. If I can find my strength, I can begin to figure out a way to market that strength.

FOURTH: Don't let myself forget. I'm going to write it down. I'm going to post my big goal somewhere important. I'm going to post my smaller goals there as well, step-by-step. I'm also going to start keeping a writing log to make sure that things get done. I have ambition, and it's awesome. But if I let that ambition just sort of fester and don't give it an outlet, it'll just die. An outlet will either fuel my ambition or let it run itself out. I don't know which of those two will happen, but I've got to see it through.

As a last thought, I got a text message from a friend this evening that said I was one of the funniest people he knew--right up there with George W. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but since I was wondering earlier today if I had a grasp of comedy at all, I'm going to count myself encouraged.