[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: One of our favorite parts of your new book, The Comedy Writer’s Companion, is that you have two questions that you use to create any story.
Can we talk about those two questions?
John Vorhaus, Author/Speaker/Artist/Screenwriter: Sure. The two questions are what happens and how does it make somebody feel?
Okay. With these two pieces of information, you can create a story.
Let’s start by talking about what’s not included here:
-How it happens (We don’t care about that right now)
-What words are we using to describe what happens? (Don’t care about that right now)
-Is it funny how it happens? (Don’t care about that right now)
To find the story, we simply need to ask ourselves what happens and how does somebody feel?
Story Questions book — Now on Payhip here!
I’ll give you an example.
We’re looking at a young married couple awaiting the results of a pregnancy test.
What is happening?
They’re waiting for the results of the pregnancy test.
How do they feel?
It’s easy enough to answer that question just by asking ourselves, if I were in that situation, what would I feel or what range of things might I feel?
Let’s assume for the sake of conversation that they’re both feeling nervous and they both secretly want to be pregnant, but they’re afraid to admit they want to be pregnant because they don’t want to face the disappointment.
Now, we have stakes.
We know what will be exciting about the moment when that new piece of information is revealed.
The new piece of information is something that’s called a pivot.
A pivot is a new piece of information that triggers a change in emotional state.
So, we start out with what happens.
They’re waiting for the…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
BUY THE BOOK – CARTOONS FOR SMART PEOPLE: The First One Hundred
BUY THE BOOK – THE COMEDY WRITER’S COMPANION
BUY THE BOOK – THE COMIC TOOLBOX: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not
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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New book from Film Courage! – See it on Payhip here
New book from Film Courage! – See it on Payhip here
