[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Author/Speaker/Artist/Screenwriter John Vorhaus: If he can escape to the Ozark and get away clean, that’s good for him, but it’s not much of a story. There’s no story if we don’t make the bad situation worse, that’s why we make the bad situation worse because it drives story.
Film Courage: Why is it important for a comedy writer to get in the habit of making a bad situation worse?
John: When we look at what happens on the level of a joke or a level of a comic scene, we’re trying to figure out how to build the story, how to advance toward a moment of truth toward an explosion of new understanding and the strategy that gets you from the beginning of the story to the end of the story is making bad situations worse over and over again. This will sound like an oddball example, but you can look at Star Wars as an example of a story that’s built on making a bad situation worse.
Luke is all alone on the planet hanging out, everything’s okay [then]:
-His parents are killed
-He’s taken off his home planet
-He’s under threat
-He’s being attacked
-His life is in danger.
Finally he finds his way into the rebel alliance and he discovers The Force but he doesn’t want to use the force. He doesn’t know if he can. In the moment of truth he tries not to use the force and then he uses the force. All of the pressure that’s been put on him from the…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
John Vorhaus is best known for his comedy-writing classic, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. He has taught and trained writers in 37 countries on five continents at last count, and created TV shows of his own in Nicaragua, Romania and elsewhere. His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and some two dozen works of non-fiction. His latest book is the little book of STANDUP. Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He lives in Southern California and secretly controls the world from JohnVorhaus.com.
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