How to write a great Chort
We asked renowned comedy coach, director and script editor Chris Head to give some advice for people writing Chorts comedy scripts.
But first, for those not down with the latest comedy lingo, you might be wondering what Chorts are exactly.
Chorts are teaser videos, max 2 minutes in length, that showcase a comedy character or characters. They should be funny in their own right, and show potential for further development. They are the new way to test out your comedy ideas.
The best Chorts are screened at festivals and events. You can check them out here
So back to the advice.
We asked Chris some questions that crop up for many creators when writing a Chort script. The advice is fantastic and very detailed. This is worth a read whatever type comedy script you are writing. Or even if you just want to learn some comedy writing essentials.
Here it is.
How can I create a comic character?
Think about developing comedy characters from these starting points:
INDIVIDUALS
TYPES
YOUR SELF
INDIVIDUALS
Here you are basing your character on a specific person. A real person whom you think has rich comic potential. You’ll be looking at people with:
Hypocrisy
Neuroses
Incompetence
Delusion
You start with someone real then fictionalise and exaggerate. Remember that it is the negatives and dysfunctional aspects of the character that are the funny stuff. And remember to distance your version of the person from the real starting point. Often this can work if they are the wrong person to be in a particular role or if they are behaving badly for their situation.
TYPES
Here you’re creating a character that is a recognisable type in society. Eg: Bouncer, cab driver, university lecturer… You are probably amalgamating a number of examples of the type that you have come across in the real world; people that you have encountered or seen in the media etc… It needs to ring true with how the audience view that type.
The danger of starting with a ‘type’ is that it ends up being a one-dimensional stereotype.
Three dimensional stereotypes are okay! By this I mean that people do exist who are basically stereotypes. As long as your character is as fleshed out and rounded as a real person then it doesn’t matter if they are a stereotype and comedy often uses stereotypes. It’s also a quick way into the joke of the character as we get what they are about already.
The major opportunity here is that if you nail the type you can get big laughs of recognition.
YOUR SELF
Here you are using yourself as the starting point for the character. It is a similar process to the individuals process, but instead of shining the light outwards, you are shining it within. This needs a lot of self-awareness and an ability to laugh at yourself and show your dysfunctional sides.
What do you need to consider when writing for a single actor and a single camera?
Remember the shot is likely to be framed quite tightly on the upper body. So picture your character in a portrait setting. Write in some physicality that will come across within those confines. For example, say how they’re sitting or if they keep running their hands through their hair.
Make sure you write speech. Don’t write it like a short story or a newspaper column. Try and capture the feel of someone speaking spontaneously. A way to approach this is to write a draft of your monologue (or of their dialogue responses to the off-camera voice), turn it into bullet points and then record yourself speaking it aloud with only the bullet points to guide you. Play back this recording and you will have a more natural sounding, spontaneous version. Use this recording as a basis to rewrite the original text.
Ask yourself:
What is the context in which the character is speaking?
Who are they speaking to?
Context:
The viewer needs to know very quickly where the piece it taking place. Here you need to set up the context in the words. Don’t assume the piece will be filmed in a relevant location so giving us visual pointers. (It might be, but don’t rely on it.) Make sure the words give us the context. Don’t leave the viewer confused as to where it is.
They could be:
In a social context, just talking as if to a friend or family member.
In a work context, as if addressing colleagues or a client.
In a media context where they would address a camera – eg, reality TV, news, sport, documentary.
Or it could be a dating video or a charity appeal or a Skype call, or a phone call…
Who they are speaking to:
There needn’t be a second voice – but if there is, it needs to have minimal input and for the focus to be on the main character. A simple approach would be if we the viewer don’t hear the off-screen voice (as in a phone call). But you need to be clear in your own mind what they are saying and what your character is responding to. It also opens up the potential for jokes when we discover through your character what the other person has just said.
If it is just a monologue, still think about who they are talking to. Even if they are just addressing the viewer ask yourself how they are speaking; is it as if to a friend or to a professional colleague.mAnd crucially ask yourself what they want. Why are they speaking? They must want something. Be clear about what they are trying to achieve, even if it’s only to get something off their chest. Whatever it is, being clear where they are, who they are speaking to and why will help enormously.
Any tips or “must dos” for showing off a comedy character in 2 minutes?
Be clear about what the central comic idea is; what is the game of the character? Eg, they are a nerd who is trying to be really cool. Or they are a teacher who doesn’t know anything about their subject. Structure your two minute piece in this way:
SET-UP – preparing the ground – the who/ where/ what
REVEAL – where the central comic idea is revealed – you need to be clear what the main joke is about the character and introduce it here. This is the ‘game’ of the character.
ESCALATION – You now build the absurdity of the central comic idea.
PAY-OFF – Give it a twist at the end.
For example:
SET-UP – The person is a therapist. They are doing a phone consultation.
REVEAL – They don’t listen and are not at all sympathetic.
ESCALATION – They get more and more dismissive and unsympathetic
PAY-OFF – We discover they are talking to their spouse.
A key thing thing to keep in mind is the gap between how the character sees themselves and how the audience see them. Essentially the character has a better opinion of themselves that they are projecting. So in the above, the therapist will think they actually are helping but we the audience clearly see they aren’t. This is dramatic irony – we the audience get something the character doesn’t. You can think in terms of persona/shadow. The persona is how they want to come across and their shadow is all the negative things that leak out and undermine the impression they are creating. This is a key to comedy characters. The bigger the gap, the more absurd they are. A classic example of this is Alan Partridge.
One way to achieve a persona/shadow effect in writing is to switch abruptly from a positive to a negative statement, or from nice to rude switching. Dame Edna is a great example of this. And she is also projecting friendliness and bonhomie (persona) but this is constantly undercut by snide comments (shadow). You could think about switching from/to:
Nice/nasty
Clever/stupid
Informed/ignorant
Sophisticated/crude
The end result you’ll try and make look chatty but with a pretty tight rhythm of setting it up (statement A) and paying if off (statement B).
Common mistakes when writing a monologue for a character
The main mistake to avoid is making it unclear or confusing. I watched some of the films from the original Chorts initiative with a group of students. We picked a small random selection. We discovered that some didn’t work because they were simply confusing. The performance was often okay, even intriguing. But we didn’t understand where they were, what they wanted, who they were and what the joke was meant to be. The ones that worked had a clear set-up and a clear comic idea. It showed how important it is to be clear with the set-up, then reveal the joke (or the game of the character), then escalate the idea, then finish it crisply.