Friday, July 24, 2009

A Couple of Thoughts from the Comedy Writing Panel




My buddy Rob Sheridan (the one with the horns, right) kindly invited me to watch him pontificate as the "token Canadian" (his words) in a panel of comedy writing luminaries at the Just For Laughs Comedy Conference.

The thought that jumped out at me came out of a question about how it's different breaking into comedy writing now. Back in the day, you'd write a spec. These days, you still need a spec, the panelists felt. (And there's no real point being a p.a.) But what you really need to stand out is a short comedy film. The reasons being that (a) comedy works best when it's brought to life by an actor and (b) what's your excuse not to do a short? Back in the day, making an 8 mm or 16 mm film was a serious chore. Now getting your hands on a decent camera and Final Cut is not too difficult. And you have to find a way to stand out.

(Photo courtesy Matthew Cope)

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