• Writing
• Online
• £135
• Next: 5 x Monday evenings (UK time) from Monday 24 June, 7pm - 9pm (UK time)

Course leader

Chris Head

Watch Chris talk about the course

Note: I am running two TV comedy script writing courses in spring/summer 2024.

This SITCOM & COMEDY DRAMA - ESSENTIAL WRITING TOOLS course  starting in June is more exploratory. Learning and trying out techniques, writing scenes, developing characters, finding your world - you can even try more than one idea. You'll leave the course with strong characters, story ideas, scenes and a toolkit of techniques to create comedy, setting you up to write your script.

The other WRITE YOUR TV COMEDY SCRIPT course starting in April is focused on getting the actual script written, with a close focus on getting the structure and rhythm of it right. For this you need to have your world and characters figured out and at least a rough outline of a story ready to go. 

Any queries please contact chris@chrishead.com

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SITCOM & COMEDY DRAMA - ESSENTIAL WRITING TOOLS

7pm-9pm UK time
8pm-10pm European time
11am-1pm Pacific time (PDT)
2pm-4pm Eastern time (EDT)

Weekly live Zoom sessions led by Chris Head with a friendly group, featuring TV comedy clips that are analysed and discussed with a Trello board of notes from each session and catch up videos of the classes.

"I can't speak highly enough of how positive I've found the sessions with Chris. The sessions have changed how I view comedy and have given me real insight into how to better turn ideas and funny thoughts into character driven narrative comedy. It's also great to learn remotely and know I can ask questions through the Trello board and rewatch sessions. If you've ever wondered should I give it a go the answer is yes and do it!" SM

This online course will equip you with the essential tools for writing sitcom and comedy drama. Note: I also run the Write Your TV Comedy Script course - for that one you need to be ready to write your 30 mins (so with characters, situation and story mapped out to a decent degree.) This course is all about exploration, acquiring writing tools and getting to the point where you are ready to write the script.

You might have:

- an idea in mind already that you want to develop and write,

- a draft of a script that you want to rewrite and enhance

- or even no specific idea at this point. (If this is the case, the course will definitely give you ideas!).

Here are the main tools you'll acquire or sharpen on the course (and there are more!)...

* TOOL: Bosses, strivers, fools and foils for developing characters and relationships.

* TOOL: POV - how to create comedic points-of-view and how the unreasonable/ reasonable POV dynamic can fuel your comedy scenes.

* TOOL: 'Stuck-in-the-middle' - a classic comedy character dynamic where a character is caught between two extremes.

* TOOL: Dramatic irony - this is a classic dramatic tool and absolutely essential for comedy.

* TOOL: SREP (set-up/ reveal, escalationa and payoff) for creating and structuring comedic scenes.

* TOOL: 3 levels; bringing three levels to a scene to add dynamism and comedy.

* TOOL: Dialogue shredder! Writing dialogue that's naturalistic and believeable by cutting back what you've written.

* TOOL: Bathos. Bringing in serious topics and using bathos as a way of finding the comedy in dramatic or serious situations.

* TOOL: Pathos. Positive emotions in your script and characters making each other feel better in sad situations (comedy is so much about conflict but this flip side can bring heart and pathos to your show).

* TOOL: Montage. A classic narrative tool and how you can use it in comedy drama and sitcom.

* TOOLS: Three act structure, multi plotlines. Learn about story structure and working with multiple plot-lines.

As well as providing you with a complete set of essential tools, on the course you will write a lot of funny scenes with your characters without worrying initially about where they’ll slot into a story. You'll simply be working with that week's tools. This freedom will allow you to make discoveries of scenes and situation that will be highly useful to your script and will take your characters places you’d never considered. If however you have a much clearer idea of where your script is going from the outset, you can use the tools in the places that are most relevant for your developing story.

And it's not only for beginners. More experienced writers (and two TV comedy producers!) have done the course and have appreciated the fresh perspectives and also the greater clarity on tools they had been using but without such a clear understanding of what they are and why they work. And, whether new or not, it will get you writing a whole load of new scenes and creating situations and comic scenarios that you wouldn't have thought of without the stimulus of the course.

Be inspired by watching, analysing and discussing short excerpts showing the tools in action from Fleabag, IT Crowd, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Atlanta, Royle Family, Modern Family, Detectorists, One Foot in the Grave, This Country, Alan Partridge, Father Ted, Gavin & Stacey, Friends, Ghosts, Detectorists, Motherland, Mum, Flowers, Friday Night Dinner, Catastrophe, This Way Up, Black-ish, Derry Girls, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Mighty Boosh.

On the course you can either:

Work on an existing idea and develop the characters and world, creating new scenes, scenarios and stories. 
Or you can start on an entirely new idea.

Either way, you'll be working closely on the one show idea thoughout the course while learning the tools that you can apply to any idea.

"Really liked the combination of very well chosen comedy clips, practical exercises and discussion. The sessions flew by, and having weekly homework kept me focused, gave me structure and kept me writing. The course was packed with useful tips and information from beginning to end. Having previously studied creative writing, it was great to think specifically about comedy writing and learn about some of the common techniques and devices that are commonly used in a comedic setting as these are very different from the hero's journey! " JH

How it works

Each class is made up of weekly 2 hour Zoom sessions which are supported with follow up notes and discussion on a Trello board. The online classes are fully interactive and creative. Relevant comedy clips illustrating the tools are shown, discussed and analysed. You'll undertake creative exercises tailored for the online environment to explore the tools and techniques we're working with. There are also breakout periods for you to create something to bring back and share with the group. Throughout the classes you'll receive immediate, helpful and inspiring feedback on your developing work. The sessions end with homework being set and then you have the week between sessions to work on the comedy writing task. You submit your work in advance of the next session for personalised feedback. You will also receive detailed notes on the topics covered after each session.

"This course was so useful for guiding me through the process of developing a comedy script for television. Each week we were set different homeworks that got me into the rhythm of writing much more regularly. Chris has a great manner and clearly many years of invaluable experience in the industry. The fact that it was online made it much more accessible, as we were able to all be in different cities, countries even and share our ideas. I highly recommend this for anyone serious about developing a treatment and script for TV. " JM

"I came to the course with a genuine interest and passion about situation comedy, but no experience in writing it professionally. I found that the course built my confidence, particularly with the homework exercises and feedback, and opened my eyes with regards to structure and the approaches to building up scenes into a world of relatable characters. I now feel I have the tools to work on a pilot and treatment to eventually send out to producers. That's quite an achievement for one course!" PF

"Chris had us learning about our characters by putting them into scenes from week one. There’s none
of the usual tedious prep work of writing character lists. Instead we spent time analysing clips from sitcoms – each week we were given a homework task which usually involved writing a scene inspired by those that we’d watched in class. The feedback on these scenes was very useful! Chris knows how to alter a scene to make it funnier or just make it work – and by the end of the course, you will too!" CR