Over the last eleven years, the Funny Women Awards have been a major stepping stone for some of the comedy industry’s funniest women to make their mark. However, not every writer is a performer, and it’s easy to forget that there’s a huge number of talented women making their mark outside the spotlight.
The Comedy Writing Award is a chance for those happier behind the scenes to shine. Presented this year in conjunction with award-winning comedy production company The Comedy Unit and leading news platform The Huffington Post, the winning script will receive a £500 script option fee for a 12 month development period, which will include three weeks intensive mentoring with a professional script editor to develop the 30-minute script to an industry standard.
If you’ve got a script tucked away in your brain that’s bursting to get out, we want to hear from you. Our partners, the Comedy Unit, have a list of tips to bear in mind when you’re writing your script, but here in the Funny Women office we’ve come up with our own top five…
1. Write what you know.
Last year’s winner, Sarah Courtald, wowed us with her script – she scooped our top prize and went on to win the 2012 BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Award too. Her entry, The Slush Pile, was a brilliant office comedy loosely based on her own experiences in the publishing industry.
Sarah’s story is a great example of how important it is to write something that feels personal to you. That doesn’t have to mean using your own career or experiences as a starting point for your script, but it’s important to tell the story that you want to tell. People have different tastes in comedy, so don’t write something just because you think other people will like it! Give us something genuine, with your own personal voice – and more importantly, something you’d want to see on television yourself.
2. Writing is rewriting.
It’s old advice but its true – never underestimate the importance of a second draft (and a third, and a fourth…) Give us the best version of your script you possibly can. Don’t be afraid to go back, tweak things, or even rewrite big chunks – and give both yourself and others time to read it and give genuine feedback.
If you’re feeling like you’ve hit a wall, don’t worry: some of the best ideas come when you allow a script to breathe. Do something to shake it up – what happens when you add or take away a character, change your setting or throw an unexpected twist into the mix? Be willing to experiment and take a few risks; you might create something new and even better. And back up your previous drafts, just in case …
3. Read it out loud.
It’s always worth remembering with any kind of script or screenplay that its eventual aim is for performance. Think of it a blueprint – a list of instructions for actors to get it on their feet. Long character descriptions and stage directions might seem useful for a reader, but you’re writing something that’ll hopefully translate from page to screen – what we see outside the lines themselves is largely the directors job, so keep it brief!
You never get an idea of exactly how something comes across until you get it on its feet, so get friends to read your script out loud to sift through what works from what doesn’t. If you can’t bear the thought of showing your work to your nearest and dearest early on, record your first couple of drafts yourself and listen to them back to help you rework subsequent drafts. If you’re as horrified by the sound of your own voice as I am, do what I did with my first script and lock yourself in the shed.
4. Research, research, research.
This sounds more boring than it actually is. You’re writing a comedy script, so this is the perfect opportunity to watch a lot of comedy. Watch good comedy – you’ll learn from it. Watch bad comedy – you’ll learn even more. It’s sometimes much easier to know what not to do, rather than being given a big list of all the things you COULD do.
What trends are emerging in comedy at the moment? How is our society and culture being reflected? What stereotypes or stock characters seem to be springing up? What comedy programmes, past or present, particularly inspire you – and why? Watching as much comedy as you can is a good way to understand what works for you and what doesn’t when it comes to developing characters, style and your own personal voice.
Make a cup of tea and whack on BBC iPlayer. It’s career development, after all.
5. Comedy and drama: know the differences and similarities.
We’re looking for a comedy script – not a hard-hitting drama. A winning script will ideally make us laugh, both on the page and, hopefully, onscreen. It’s very easy, once you’ve got characters that you care about and a situation brimming with potential to serve up a fantastically written script but forget entirely to put in any jokes. Remember: the aim here is comedy. Jokes are important.
However, that’s not to say that comedy and drama exist as two separate genres. Some of the best comic moments have brilliant moments of pathos of them too, and vice versa – remember, even Hamlet cracks the odd joke! Who could forget the final rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” in Monty Python’s Life of Brian? Making light of crucifixion: it’s hard to do, but it’s gone down in history as one of the greatest comedy moments of all time.
Don’t underestimate how much humour can be found in the bleakest moments of human experience. Being funny can be a coping mechanism, a way to alleviate embarrassment or a tool for managing a difficult situation. A script that’s full of jokes will make people laugh – but writing a script that gets its audiences to see the humour in a very human situation and care about characters is a real art.
So there you have it – our five winning tips! If they’ve left you desperate to enter, be sure to check out our awards page HERE, which will give you the full competition details including criteria for your script and details of how to send it to us. We can’t wait to read them – here’s hoping this year’s Comedy Writing Award uncovers some of the comedy writing stars of tomorrow!
Pictured: Comedy Writing Award, 2012 winner Sarah Courtald.
