As a literary novelist turned comedy writer turned drama writer, I have a vested interest in believing the more skills you bring to the table, the more valuable a writer you’re going to be and the more interesting a product you’re going to produce. It’s exciting for me to see my beliefs confirmed by the careers of high-profile showrunners below, all of whom started as comedy writers and went on to create beautifully layered and complex dramas. These dramas are the result of the keen sense of timing, structure and wit writers learn in comedy rooms. A mentor taught me that a great dramatic scene is structured like a good joke: you give it a set-up and end it with a punchline, you go in clean and go out clean, you make it as brief as necessary to be effective. I truly believe that comedy training makes for better dramatic writing, and not just to punch up the jokes.
“I don’t know a lot of writers who went from drama to comedy; to go the other way is a lot easier,” Fresco says. “It’s hard to be funny. Many late nights are spent trying to be funny. You need the same skill set for both — to break stories, understand character and write things that humans actually do and say, but then in a comedy you additionally have to make it funny. We try to create real human relationships and things that could happen, and then funnyize them, which is harder than it sounds.”
A number of comedy writers have enjoyed high-profile careers in drama –Alan Ball (from “Cybill” to “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood”), Marc Cherry (from “Golden Girls” to the dramedy “Desperate Housewives”), Shawn Ryan (from “My Two Dads” to “The Shield” and “The Unit”), Marco Pennette (from “Will and Grace” to dramedy “Ugly Betty”) and Denis Leary and Peter Tolan (from “The Job” to “Rescue Me”).
One is hard-pressed to think of writers whose career went in the other direction; one of the closest is Rob Burnett, who wrote for “Late Show With David Letterman” and then created the dramedy “Ed.”
Kurt Sutter, who worked as a standup comic and created “Sons of Anarchy,” observes: “Over the years, the lines have gotten blurry with the different types of comedic shows that have come out. You need writers who can do both. I love writing the comedic stuff in the show. It’s a challenge and fun. Everyone wants to play in everybody else’s backyard.”
via Emmy-nommed writers jump genres – Entertainment News, TV News, Media – Variety.
