Course Title: Television Comedy
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term1 2007
Course Code: COMM7186
Course ID: 033728
Course Title: Television Comedy
School: 345T Creative Media
Program Code: C6045 - Advanced Diploma of Arts Professional Screenwriting (Film,Television and Digital Media)
Course Contact : Brendan Lee
Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 4368
Course Contact Email: brendan.lee@rmit.edu.au
Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff
Tim Fergusson
Nominal Hours: 136
Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.
Pre-requisites and Co-requisites
- Introduction to Screenwriting
- Writing for Television
- TV Script Analysis
Course Description
This course aims to develop the skills needed to create narrative comedy for television.
National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria
National Element Code & Title: |
VBB506 Television Comedy |
Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate the requirements for a broad variety of television comedy formats and genres
2. Identify the essential narrative elements in television situation comedy.
3. Demonstrate narrative and character development in television comedy.
4. Develop sustaining characters in a comedy-driven television series.
5. Develop themes in a television comedy genre.
6. Develop a television script in a stipulated comedy genre using a range of comedy writing techniques.
Overview of Learning Activities
Details of Learning Activities
While students will be introduced to concepts and theories by way of short lectures and viewing examples of narrative comedy, much class time will be devoted to exercises and workshopping
Teaching Schedule
WEEK 1
Introduction to course and assignments.
WEEK 2
Sitcom Genres
- Choosing your show’s world
- Choosing your theme/s
- Closed-world –v- On-going narrative
- Genre Hybrids
- Genre workshop
WEEK 3
Character
- Characterisation, character development
- Character durability
- Archetypes
- Character workshop
WEEK 4
Principles of comedy and narrative comedy
- The Nature of laughter
- Comedy writing for the un-funny writer
- What makes a good Catchphrase?
- Joke workshop
WEEK 5
Character Combinations
- Character status
- Matching multiple characters
- Character development workshop
FIRST ASSIGNMENT DUE
WEEK 6
Morality in comedy
- Using your characters to make your point
- Women in Sitcom
- Character workshop
WEEK 7
Structure
- Character & pressure
- Raising the stakes
- Structure workshop
WEEK 8
Comic Structure
- Farce
- Melodrama
- Constant Redemption
- Crime & Punishment
- Structure workshop
WEEK 9
Scene Structure
- Making a scene
- Scene Structure workshop
WEEK 10
Story Structure
- Sequence Structure
- Closed-world narrative structure
- On-going narrative structure
- Story Structure workshop
SECOND ASSIGNMENT DUE
WEEK 11
Multi-narrative Structure
- Dovetailing/resolving multiple narratives
- Structure workshop
WEEK 12
Style & Tone
- Political Correctness
- Poignancy in comedy
- Knowing your audience
- Style & Tone workshop
WEEK 13
Building narrative
- Matching the right stakes with a character
- Mixing stakes for multiple narrative
- Resolving the stakes
- Structure/Character workshop
WEEK 14
Comedy-Drama
- How to be Arthur and Martha
- Audience expectation –v- a new idea
- Structure workshop
WEEK 15
History of TV Comedy
- From Punch & Judy to Kath & Kim
- Standing on the shoulders of giants
- Old stories / new characters
- Structure workshop
WEEK 16
Animated TV Comedy
- The limitations and possibilities
- Structure/Character workshop
THIRD ASSIGNMENT DUE
WEEK 17
Selling Narrative Comedy to Dummies
- What networks need to know before they buy
- What they don’t need to know
- What they will never know
- Pitching workshop
WEEK 18
Review
Overview of Learning Resources
Learning Resources
Prescribed Texts
References
Other Resources
Suggested reading material will be provided in class by teacher.
Handouts provided in class by teacher
Internet access through RMIT Library
Final Draft program on several computers in RMIT Carlton Library and Main Library
Publications & dvds/videos through RMIT Library, community libraries, video libraries and other sources
Overview of Assessment
1. Character Creation 30%
2. Structure 30%
3. Story 40%
Assessment Tasks
1. Character Creation 30%
- Devise 3-6 major characters
- Devise 2-4 minor characters
2. Structure 30%
- Put your characters into action in one 2-3minute scene/sequence
3. Story 40%
- Create a 1,000 word synopsis for a half-hour episode of your narrative comedy
Course Overview: Access Course Overview