How To Create Comedy Characters

Comic characters work best when they are built from a simple base. Simplicity is the chief imperative, whether you’re inventing a character from the ground up, or applying new attributes to an ancient archetype. True, comic characters may present complex combinations of warring attributes, and comic delivery can range from the subtle to the painfully…

Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry

MAKE ‘EM LAUGH, MAKE ‘EM CRY – an essay by Tim Ferguson [First printed in Lumina Magazine] The Imperatives of Writing Drama screenwriters must have a working knowledge of comedy before they can truly call themselves writers. This may seem an incendiary comment, but the two masks (known as ‘Sock & Buskin’) symbolising Western theatre…