Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
106
Copyright 2012 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Complimentary copy--not for distribution
are amply explained and illustrated, little attempt is made to follow through on explaining how one writes inappropriate dialoguean important subject due further exploration. In part 2 of the book, the author switches gears to focus on character development. He begins by illustrating how [c]omedy is inherently the fools journey (47), giving examples of how characters drive stories by pursuing inappropriate goals; some act the fool on the inside by making bad decisions, and others act the fool on the outside by also behaving in odd or silly ways. Giglio goes on to explore character arcs and the distinction between a characters goals and his or her psychological need. Having established that inappropriate choices can make a story funny, the author segues to a section on building characters by going through a list of physical, psychological, and social-status traits and then offers a list of familiar character archetypes that populate modern comedies. The last chapter in part 2 talks about story structure, quickly touching on the conventional three-act model and more thoroughly explaining ways to develop funny scenes. The author also briefly introduces his concept for adapting the decades-old sequence approach writing method as a means to map out funny stories. This last topic then becomes the primary focus of part 3 of the book. Many film writers have used the sequence approach to plot out stories. This system, simply described, employs perhaps forty index cards to construct eight dramatic sequences of five cards each, which translates into roughly fourteen film-script pages per sequence. (One can use actual index cards pinned to a board or virtual cards generated by screenwriting software.) Made popular by such screenwriter-teachers as Frank Daniel and Paul Gulino (author of Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach), this method converts the traditional story development process into creation of a sequence of eight mini-movies, short segments that some writers find easier to manage than one full-length story. Giglios version of the sequence approach incorporates
his inappropriate-goal story engine and identifies opportunities to build comedy into the plot. After explaining how his method works, the author walks the reader through the eight comic sequences by devoting a chapter to each, explaining how to assign plot points and critical scenes to the different cards for each sequence. Along the way, the author covers basic screenwriting conventions that the writer needs to address (e.g., major turning points, subplots, exposition) and shares personal insights on comedy writing. Part 3 ends with a chapter that hurriedly mentions a variety of craft and business topicsfrom scene length and script format to landing an agent or managerbut spends too little time on most topics to provide more than a heads-up that the subject needs attention. Such loose ends are probably the only real shortcoming of this book; often, a chapter introduces an interesting topic but does not explore it fully, with inappropriate dialogue being the most notable missed opportunity. Otherwise, the criminally brief genre review in part 1 of the book is unique and instructive, and the numerous craft and business insights sprinkled throughout that sectioninsider information that only a successful screenwriter could offerhave great value for any comedy writer. Part 2 of the book is less helpful because it covers mostly familiar territory, focusing on character design, growth, and archetypesnot new material, but still necessary in a guide such as this. Part 3 tackles the most important and difficult part of the comedy writing process: constructing an organically funny story. Giglios version of the classic sequence approach offers writers a newand for some, an easierway to do this. Though this method would not work for everybodyno method doesall who want to write comedy should at least investigate it. For this reason more than any other, it is recommended that you add this book to your shelf. EVAN SMITH Newhouse School, Syracuse University
107