Book review: "The Hidden Tools of Comedy"

For more than a decade, Steve Kaplan has been a sought-after expert on comedy writing. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale, and other top universities, Kaplan created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program, and Manhattan Punch Line Theatre.
     He has served as a consultant to such companies as DreamWorks, Disney, Aardman Animation, and HBO. Steve has taught his Comedy Intensive workshops to thousands of students across the globe. Now the guy has written a book, The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny (Michael Wiese Productions, 2013).
     I have read other books on aspects of comedy—constructing a standup routine, and how to tell a joke, in particular—but this is the first book I've read that uncovers the secrets of making movie or TV comedies work. If you're a funny person, and you've made a comedy short film or webseries, then had no one laugh at the screening, hurry out and buy this book. I think you'll find the solution to your problem in there.
_______________________________________________________________________

As usual, here are some favorite quotes from the book to give you a taste of his style.

• What's funny is whatever makes you laugh.
• Comedy is the art of telling the truth about what it's like to be human.
• Drama helps us dream about what we could be, but comedy helps us live with who we are.
• The art of comedy is the art of hope.
• That's how you can shape the arc in a romantic comedy: in the romantic moments, the heretofore clumsy or obnoxious Hero becomes more sensitive, more mature.
• The first tool in comedy is do what you need to do in order to "win."
• You don't need to invent a conflict in comedy. Comedy is conflict, because people are conflicted. 
• Story and character first and comedy will follow.
• Comedy demands that you show a person at, if not his worst, then at his not so good.
• When your characters give up hope, that's when you have drama. But until they do, they're bumbling around creating comedy.
• Your characters have to be the master of their own disaster, the cause of everything bad that happens to them. Your characters have to create their own dilemmas.
• Oftentimes writers try to find the most original turn of phrase, the brilliant bon mot. But comedy is based upon quick recognition and telling the truth about life.
• Writers, please watch out for your parentheticals. (laughs hysterically) Just write it and trust that if it's well-written, the actors will get to where you need them to be.

_______________________________________________________________________

In the following video, Connie Martinson talks to Steve Kaplan about writing the book.

Facebook    The Hidden Tools of Comedy    Twitter    Website

"Pockets"

Pockets is a short film by the team DANIELS (which includes Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan). It was part of the Channel 4 Random Acts series.

Pockets may be handy for storing stuff, but they can become a battleground when the wrong paws try to cop a feel.

    Tumblr    Twitter    Vimio    Website   

Heroic movie posters

Did you know that most blockbuster movie posters are based on a 19th century painting? This one:

“Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,” by Caspar David Friedrich, 1818

MaryAnn Johanson's FlickFilosopher recently ran an article highlighting some of the film posters that have been based on this painting. It's an interesting read.

_______________________________________________________________________

Facebook    Rotten Tmatoes    Twitter    Website

"Ikea Heights"

Ikea Heights is a melodramatic webseries shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store during the day, and without permission.

Created by Paul Bartunek and Dave Seger, Ikea Heights is a town. A bunch of soap characters lie, cheat on each other, find lost siblings, search for buried treasure, and get murdered, all whilst confused shoppers wander around trying to ignore them.

Stars Matt Braunger, Randall Park, Whitney Avalon, Tom Kauffman, Jess Lane, Wade Randolph, Abed Gheith, Delbert Dean Shoopman, and Dean Pelton.

Facebook    IMDb    Twitter    Website    Wikipedia    YouTube
 

William Froug: 1922-2013

William Froug, 91, has passed away. He worked as a radio playwright, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher of screenwriting.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was adopted by a family in Little Rock, Arkansas, graduated from the University of Missouri, before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943.

He is an Emmy award-winning American television writer and producer. Shows he worked on include: The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Dick Powell Show, Charlie's Angels, and The New Twilight Zone.

Froug has also written numerous books on screenwriting, including Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade, Zen and the Art of Screenwriting (I and II), The Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter and How I Escaped from Gilligan's Island.

Froug founded the writing program at UCLA film school, and finished his teaching career with screenwriting workshops from 1994-1995 at Florida State University's film conservatory.

Read a review of Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade here.


 

"Hollywood" magazine

Over the years there have been many magazines with a focus on Hollywood and the movies. One such was "Hollywood," a monthly magazine published from 1911 to at least 1943.

For 5 or 10 cents, you could learn the answers to such pressing questions as:
Can a Woman Love Two Men at the Same Time?
Is Success Ruining Katharine Hepburn?
Are Pretty Girls Safe in Hollywood?

You could also learn about:
Mae West's Personal Beauty Secrets,
How to Hold a Husband in Hollywood, or  
The Man in Garbo's Past.

________________________________________________________________________

This appeared on "The Publisher's Page" in 1934.

________________________________________________________________________

January 1934:  Fame and Romance in Hollywood.
It's amazing just how far a few yeast tablets could take a girl in the old days.

________________________________________________________________________

Back issues of this magazine, from 1934 to 1943, are available online here, courtesy of the Media History Digital Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jim Jarmusch’s 5 Golden Rules of Moviemaking

I first noticed Jim Jarmusch as the writer/director responsible for Broken Flowers (2005), with Bill Murray. In that film, a middle-aged man first contemplates, then confronts, his past. Then I noticed how that had become a theme for older actors around that time. Steve Martin made Shopgirl (2005); Jack Nicholson had earlier made About Schmidt (2002); and Dustin Hoffman made Last Chance Harvey (2008). Jim Jarmusch was in his early fifties at the time. So was I. Maybe that's why I noticed.

When I looked him up, I remembered having also watched Stranger Than Paradise (1984) on TV. That's a low-grade B&W film in which a guy breaks out of his boring routine in New York and travels to Florida with his cousin, only to end up back where he started. It's not quite Sullivan's Travels (1941), but still an interesting exercise.

Anyway, I was fascinated to see in MovieMaker magazine five rules for filmmakers, promulgated by Jim Jarmusch. Naturally, the first rule says there are no rules, but read it for yourself.
________________________________________________________________________

Rule #1: There are no rules. There are as many ways to make a film as there are potential filmmakers. It’s an open form. Anyway, I would personally never presume to tell anyone else what to do or how to do anything. To me that’s like telling someone else what their religious beliefs should be. Fuck that. That’s against my personal philosophy—more of a code than a set of “rules.” Therefore, disregard the “rules” you are presently reading, and instead consider them to be merely notes to myself. One should make one’s own “notes” because there is no one way to do anything. If anyone tells you there is only one way, their way, get as far away from them as possible, both physically and philosophically.

Rule #2: Don’t let the fuckers get ya. They can either help

you, or not help you, but they can’t stop you. People who finance films, distribute films, promote films and exhibit films are not filmmakers. They are not interested in letting filmmakers define and dictate the way they do their business, so filmmakers should have no interest in allowing them to dictate the way a film is made. Carry a gun if necessary.
    Also, avoid sycophants at all costs. There are always people around who only want to be involved in filmmaking to get rich, get famous, or get laid. Generally, they know as much about filmmaking as George W. Bush knows about hand-to-hand combat.

Rule #3: The production is there to serve the film. The film is not there to serve the production. Unfortunately, in the world of filmmaking this is almost universally backwards. The film is not being made to serve the budget, the schedule, or the resumes of those involved. Filmmakers who don’t understand this should be hung from their ankles and asked why the sky appears to be upside down.

Rule #4: Filmmaking is a collaborative process. You get the chance to work with others whose minds and ideas may be stronger than your own. Make sure they remain focused on their own function and not someone else’s job, or you’ll have

A production assistant who is holding back traffic so the crew can get a shot is no less important than the actors in the scene, the director of photography, the production designer or the director. Hierarchy is for those whose egos are inflated or out of control, or for people in the military. Those with whom you choose to collaborate, if you make good choices, can elevate the quality and content of your film to a much higher plane than any one mind could imagine on its own. If you don’t want to work with other people, go paint a painting or write a book. (And if you want to be a fucking dictator, I guess these days you just have to go into politics...).

Rule #5: Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration

or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
________________________________________________________________________

You can read the whole article here.