Think Again

Producer Carl Cooper on writing to a brief and the genres featured in the first series of The Show What You Wrote

Carl says:

Don’t go with the first idea that you think of. That’s something you hear a lot when people give advice about writing comedy. If it’s the first thing you come up with, Chances are it’ll be the same thing lots of other comedy writers come up with it too. And with a show like this receiving so many submissions, that’s a lot of the same sketch that we’ll be reading.

That said, the first reaction to a writers brief isn’t to think of jokes, it’s usually mild panic and procrastination. It’s very easy to find an excuse to not write something. I’ve been not writing this for a week now.

My first reaction to having to write this thing was to go on the Internet where I came across something about first and second stage thinking. Hours later I’d read numerous articles, bought two eBooks, priced up a sonic toothbrush but still hadn’t written a word. I did however have the germ of an idea though, that I could use some of that second stage thinking on.

First stage thinking is more instinctive and impulsive and second stage thinking is more logical, apparently. We do first stage thinking when we’re working out what we’re looking at and second stage thinking when we’re working out what to do about it.

Finding an excuse not to write is ok at first; everyone does that. Writing is hard. Procrastination and thinking “if it weren’t for … I’d…” is very common behaviour if you’re trying to justify not doing any work. I read that in one of the eBooks I downloaded when I was getting round to writing this. But that’s not going to get you a sketch written. That involves sitting down and thinking. Twice.

Right, so you’ve got over your initial reaction and sat in a chair with a blank, correctly formatted document and your Show What You Wrote brief, what do you do now? Look at the themes.

One of the ones from last series was Sci-Fi and Fantasy. If you’re not a Sci Fi person, you might think that episode isn’t for you. First stage thoughts about that subject can be off putting, but five minutes looking it up can bring up some interesting stuff. For example, Sci-Fi is about ‘alternative possible worlds’, it says on Wikipedia. Loads of sketches could be in alternative possible worlds.

In the list of the top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy films, as well as space ships, robots, aliens and dystopian futures, there’s also talking pigs, time travel, superheroes, ghosts, and magic singing nannies who dance on the rooftops with that bloke from Diagnosis Murder.

Loads of stuff there. Not just the limited first couple of thought that the word Sci-Fi would conjure up. This second stage is where you can use the first stage procrastination to your advantage. Reading around your subject will eventually spark something if you let it. (I think we had more interesting material for The ‘Kitchen Sink’ themed episode in the first series because a lot of people had to look it up and read around it, as they didn’t know what it was.)

Also, you might already have an idea for a normal sketch that you can Sci Fi up a bit. Most writers have written a sketch about someone being difficult in a shop (Parrot Sketch, Four Candles…). Looking down the film list you might make a connection when you see Gremlins and remember that guy trying to buy a Mogwai. Well what if he was really pedantic and he hassled the Chinese fella about the feeding instructions? “… After midnight… technically it is always after midnight…” That could be a sketch. Not could be, it actually was. Someone wrote that and we recorded it and put it on the radio.

For this new series the themes are Art and Literature, Sport and Leisure, Geography and Science and Nature. You may recognise these categories from a famous board game. If you’re looking for sketch ideas, why not get your old edition off the top of the wardrobe and have a riffle through the questions? I’m doing that right now.

We’re not getting that many Geography sketches sent in so let’s have a read of… here you go… Blue - Geography… ooh, these have dated… Yugoslavia, that’s not there anymore… Most common Spanish surname - Garcia, doh, should have got that … Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, bit clingy, maybe that’s why America is quite stand offish with them now… Ahh, that’s where the word Vandal comes from… China has the largest pig population… Girl from Ipanema ba ba ba do do do do da da da da… Rio de Janeiro… Three quarters of the world pineapples are grown in Hawaii… Wonder if we’ll get many volcano sketches…

…Right, that’s half an hour I just lost there. But I learnt a lot about flags, national anthems, national flowers, currency and that Mount Fuji is the most painted and photographed mountain in the world. That’ll come in handy. Those things didn’t immediately spring to mind when I thought of Geography.

Also, remember, you don’t have to obey every word of the brief. Those themes were there as a stimulus and so that each show had a different feel to it. There is a fuzzy line between breaking the rules in the brief and being creative. If you’re creative with the brief, we can be creative with the show; comedy is usually better if you get the funny first and work out the other stuff later.

Now stop reading this and go and think of something funny. Then scrub that and think of something else.

Ba ba ba do do do do da da da da Girl from Ipanema da da da da…..