What is the problem with most spec sitcom scripts?
It’s not the characters.
They’re often interesting, quirky, recognisable or funny.
It’s not the overall situation.
After all, it doesn’t even have to be original. You can set a sitcom in a bar, police station or school. They’ve all been done before, which kind of prove the situation works. Maybe you’ve got a unique spin on it. Or your sitcom is set somewhere obviously funny, like the lair of a Bond villain.
It’s not the jokes – or lack of them.
Quite often there are jokes in a script. People are saying and doing funny things.
But the truth is your script might have some interesting characters in an original situation that feels fresh – but the script is no good. Why not?
It’s the plot.
There isn’t one.
You can’t really tell if the characters are interesting or the situation has potential if the plot doesn’t work. If the plot is working, the characters come alive and interact. The situation comes into its own.
You can’t really tell if a car is any good if the engine doesn’t actually make the thing run. Some sharp lines and automatic headlamps that appear from the bonnet are all very well. If you can’t drive the car home, it’s no good. No deal. It’s the same with sitcoms.
Let’s stick with cars. Let’s say you have a sitcom about two brothers who set up a car-repair business.
In your pilot script, one brother goes off in search of a rare stamp for his collection while the other one sits around eating junk food waiting for someone to bring in a car to fix. The dialogue could be really funny. But the script is doomed, as the plot fails to show the relationship and how that works out in the situation. Plus one brother is just sitting around doing nothing.
Sadly, that example is not as far-fetched as it sounds.
I’ve read hundreds of scripts in the last five years – and I just spoke to someone who also just read a huge pile of sitcom scripts. This person confirmed that the main problem with the vast majority of the scripts was the plot.
And before we’ve even broken down the plot and figured out the beats of the story, there’s one lesson to learn right here. The plot might be dead on arrival. You need another plot. In fact, you need lots of plots so you can choose the right plot – and sub-plot – for your pilot script.
But more help is at hand for an absurdly low, mostly-voluntary price.
I’m running a webinar about plotting. It’s going to be a hands-on session in which you can participate so you don’t make these mistakes again in the future.
Sign up for Writing your Sitcom without Losing the Plot on 24th April at 6pm UK time. Book now as spaces are limited.
The Interactive Bit
A week or so before the webinar, you’ll receive a sitcom situation with some characters – and you can have a think of some plots, and submit them in advance. You don’t have to do that, of course. But if you some of you do that it means that we’ve got a big long list to work through in the session and choose from.
Don’t worry. I’ll be talking about some plotting mechanics and some ways of thinking about it – covering beginnings, middles and endings. There’ll be plenty of practical advice.
Then we can roll up our sleeves and plot an episode or two together like it’s a writers’ room. – although I’ll do most of the heavy lifting to show how it’s done, or at least, how I’ve been doing it with at least some moderate success for the last twenty years. How does that sound?
Do join us on 24th April at 6pm UK.
Pay What You Like
It’s a pay-what-you-like session, with a very low minimum. It would be great if you could pay more than the minimum so that sessions actually cover the time it takes to put this sessions together – including writing what you’ve just read, setting up the sales page, making the graphics, tinkering with the email that’s auto-sent - discovering typos and then correcting them - thinking up a random sitcom (that I don’t actually want to write professionally!) with some characters and sifting the plots you submit and having a think about them before the session.
To be honest, the actual 90-minute session is the easy bit! So I’d appreciate a contribution to that if you are able. This, in turn, makes me more like to run another session in the future.
Hope to e-see you there!