Starts up this Saturday, January 8th and Sunday, January 9thREGISTER NOWMichael McCarthy’s Comedy Lab is a series of four seven-week courses currently being offered at The iO West Theater in Hollywood, which are dedicated to giving each student exactly what he or she needs to both acquire literary representation and begin (or reinvigorate) a career in television comedy writing. As Michael says, “It’s what I wish someone had told me when I got to town.” As previously mentioned, The Comedy Lab is comprised of four classes, which can be taken in whatever order the student wishes (depending upon his or her expertise); but it’s generally advised that beginners start with the TALK SHOW PORTFOLIOS class, because of its renown emphasis on straight-ahead joke writing, establishing a firm foundation for the other three, more sophisticated courses of study: SNL SKETCH PACKETS, SITCOM SPEC SCRIPTS, and TV PILOT PRESENTATIONS (a more detailed description follows). Michael is fairly unique when it comes to teaching these things because… he’s actually done them (most recently as a staff writer on the CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly”).
CREDITS: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565258/
http://www.facebook.com/comedylab.usTALK SHOW PORTFOLIOS, this seven-week course begins Saturday, January 8th at 11:30am in Studio Two of The iO West Theater. At a cost of $350, the goal of this class is a four-page, state-of-the-art talk show portfolio suitable for submission to both literary agents and TV producers alike—and to that end the student has complete access to all that The Comedy Lab and The iO West has to offer, including the performance of his or her material on stage every Sunday evening from 8:30-10pm in The Del Close Theater. Here’s how it shakes out week-to-week: the student learns to write jokes based on the news (1st week); to expand those jokes into character and commentary monologues (2nd week); to pitch concepts for desk pieces (3rd week), remote ideas (5th week) and various segment ideas (6th week); to create two parody sketches (4th week); and to critique, assess and rewrite a rough version into a final draft (7th week) toward the goal of getting an agent, starting first with the opportunity for the student to see his or her material performed before a live audience.
SNL SKETCH PACKETS, this seven-week course begins Saturday, January 8th at 3pm in Studio Two of The iO West Theater. At a cost of $350, the goal of this class is an SNL sketch packet, comprised of at least eight separate sketches, suitable for submission to literary agents, TV producers, as well as SNL itself—and to that end the student has complete access to all that The Comedy Lab and The iO West has to offer, including the performance of his or her material by The Comedy Lab Players (a rotating cast of 15 talented sketch actors), every Sunday evening from 8:30-10pm in The Del Close Theater. Here’s how the course shakes out week-to-week: the student learns to write jokes based on the news, as well as a cold opening sketch (1st week); those jokes are then expanded into two separate host-type monologues, as if the student were hosting and as if a hero of the student’s were hosting (2nd week); to create a streamlined version of Weekend Update (3rd week); to create two commercial parody sketches and one digital short (4th week); to write for the live performance of a sketch that parodies an existing TV show, and a current film (5th week); to write a sketch that incorporates an existing character within the current ensemble (6th week); to write a cast scene comprised of six or more characters, to prepare for the student’s live show and to develop a business plan (7th week), toward the goal of getting an agent, etc… that starts with the opportunity for the student to see his or her sketch performed before a live audience.
SITCOM SPEC SCRIPTS, this seven-week course begins Sunday, January 9th at 11:30am in Studio Two of The iO West Theater. At a cost of $350, the goal of this class is a sitcom spec script of a currently running show, whether single-camera (network), four-camera, single-camera (cable), or animated—suitable for submission to literary agents, network executives and/or TV executive producers; and to that end the student has complete access to all that The Comedy Lab and The iO West have to offer, including a live staged reading of the student’s complete script Sunday evening from 8:30-10pm in The Del Close Theater. Here’s how it shakes out week-to-week: the student chooses a show and creates six pitches (1st week); a single pitch is chosen and then partially outlined (2nd week); a detailed, scene-by-scene outline is completed (3rd week); special focus on the cold opening, the act break and the tag (4th week); completion of the first act (5th week); completion of the second act (6th week); brutal rewrites, developing a business plan (7th week); all of which starts with the opportunity for the student to stage a reading of his or her spec and solicit audience reactions.
TV PILOT PRESENTATIONS, this seven-week course begins Sunday, January 9th at 3pm in Studio Two of The iO West Theater. At a cost of $350, the goal of this class is a collection of deftly written documents: treatment(s), character descriptions, episode scenarios, promo script, pilot script--the overall goal being a thoroughly thought through concept from beginning-to-end that can be read and defended in a pitch meeting, and to that end the student has complete access to all that The Comedy Lab and The iO West has to offer, including a live staged reading of the student's completed script Sunday evenings from 8:30-10pm in The Del Close Theater. Here's how it shakes out week-to-week: a concisely written treatment composed of three separate descriptions of the students concept in the form of a log line, a paragraph and a page (1st week); a studied list of the proposed series' characters (2nd week); an equally studied list of at least six episode scenarios (3rd week); a two-to-three minute script designed to promo the concept of the show, as well as the outline for the pilot script (4th week); first half of the pilot script (5th week); second half of the pilot script (6th week); brutal rewrites and, developing a business plan (7th week), all of which starts with the opportunity for the student to stage a reading of his or her pilot and solicit reactions from a live audience with an eye on a more concise final draft.
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