Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay

Author:   Andrew Horton
Publisher:   University of California Press
ISBN:  

9780520220157


Pages:   230
Publication Date:   03 January 2000
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay


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Overview

Whoever wrote ""Make 'em laugh!"" knew that it's easier said than done. But people love to laugh, and good comedy will always sell. With the help of this complete and entertaining guide, writers and would-be writers for film and television can look forward to writing comedy that goes far beyond stereotypic jokes and characters. In Laughing Out Loud, award-winning screenwriter and author Andrew Horton blends history, theory, and analysis of comedy with invaluable advice. Using examples from Chaplin to Seinfeld, Aristophanes to Woody Allen, Horton describes comedy as a perspective rather than merely as a genre and then goes on to identify the essential elements of comedy. His lively overview of comedy's history traces its two main branches-anarchistic comedy and romantic comedy-from ancient Greece through contemporary Hollywood, by way of commedia dell'arte, vaudeville, and silent movies. Television and international cinema are included in Horton's analysis, which leads into an up-close review of the comedy chemistry in a number of specific films and television shows. The rest of the book is a practical guide to writing feature comedy and episodic TV comedy, complete with schedules and exercises designed to unblock any writer's comic potential. The appendices offer tips on networking, marketing, and even producing comedies, and are followed by a list of recommended comedies and a bibliography.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew Horton
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780520220157


ISBN 10:   0520220153
Pages:   230
Publication Date:   03 January 2000
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction PART I Comic Elements and Exercises 1 Elements of Comedy That Writers Should Know 2 Exercises to Nurture the Comic Muse PART II A Writer's Overview of the Traditions and Genres of Comedy 3 From Stage and Page to Screen: Anarchistic and Romantic Comedy 4 Physical Humor: From Commedia dell'Arte and Moliere to Vaudeville and Silent Screen Comedy 5 Sound Comedy: American Screwball Romantic Comedy, Then and Now 6 Comedy and Television: Stand-up, Sitcom and Everything in Between 7 Comedies from around the World 8 Comedy and the Documentary Impulse PART III Close-ups on Comedies 9 Feature Film Comedies 10 Television Comedy: Seinfeld and The Simpsons PART IV Writing Comedy 11 The Fifteen-Week Feature Comedy Screenplay 12 The Seven-Week Half-Hour Television Comedy Pilot Script Beyond Happy Endings: Toward a Comic Conclusion Appendix 1 A Recommended Viewing List of American and Foreign Feature Comedies Appendix 2 Networking, Marketing and Making Your Own Comedy Appendix 3 Food, Recipes and Comic Screenwriting Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Andrew Horton, the Jeanne H. Smith Professor of Film and Video Studies at the University of Oklahoma, is author of the popular Writing the Character-Centered Screenplay (California, 1994) and other books. Most recently he coedited Play It Again Sam: Retakes on Remakes (with Stuart McDougal, California, 1998) and wrote the introduction to Three More Screenplays by Preston Sturges (California, 1998).

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