Actually, this is one of the best parts. It’s way more complex and more stressful figuring out a storyline. The final rewrite is about punching up jokes, adding gags, and having fun with the script.

The final step in the process is a doozy: feedback with notes, rewrite, group rewrite, actor table read with notes, final rewrite, and shoot it. If you are by yourself, find a way to get a table read done. You could post on social media and quickly organize a read using Zoom. You get a lot of valuable feedback when others read the script aloud.

Punchup writers were consistently the most-paid writers in the industry. Punchup is a big part of rewriting. You can leverage several mechanisms for joke writing:

1. The contrast between the sacred (religion, babies, funerals, and old people) and the profane (sex, violence, and bathroom stuff)
2. Defiance of expectation
3. Escalation
4. Turn
5. Irony
6. Wordplay like puns (careful puns might not make people laugh), alliteration, rhyming, etc.
7. Visual comedy often works better – the reversal of scale
8. Mismatch of the attitude to the situation
9. Freezeframe jokes (things in the background)
10. The rule of three (two good ones and a bad one)
11. Strong sounds in words (plosives, K sounds)
12. Callback (a mechanical and contrived reference to a previous joke)

The cold open must be funny. Just set up a comedic character in a situation. Find the easy path.

The principle of comedy that Brent shared comes from Wayne Federman: C.B.S. (clear, brief, and specific). If you were going to use the word animal in a joke, punch it up with a specific animal. Aardvark.

Whew. We made it through six weeks of classes from Brent Forrester. Each class was dense and compelling. I really appreciate Brent’s enthusiasm and encouragement along the way.

“The act of completing something is miraculous and could be life-changing!”

Brent Forrester

Set a deadline and get something done.

A lot of comedy script drafting is about writing dialogue writing. You are going to be writing a lot of words that your characters are going to say. Tone is important. Comedy writers talk about tone a lot in the writers’ room. What is the tone of your script? Your characters? It is always a good idea to have heart. The tone is a spectrum from artificiality to naturalism. Tastemakers draw a lot of inspiration from The Larry Sanders Show. Watching the Larry Sanders Show is a great way to learn about comedy if you are analytical. Find comedy from the behavior over banter.

Now it is time to turn the outline into a script. Brent uses the Final Draft software to write the first draft of the script. He shows us the process live with one of the outlines from another writer in the class. This is indeed the fun part of scriptwriting.

Start by taking your outline and breaking the chunks down further. The dialogue will be interleaved. A script starts with the cold open. The biggest insight that Brent discovered through teaching this course is to have the cold open introduce a character, their core comedic contradiction, and create a scene that provokes the core comedic contraction into comic behavior. and put them in a scene that provokes them. The cold open does not have to tie into the story. The cold open is a comedy scene. Write dialogue as an improv actor, get into character, and try to say something. Improvise the lines and throw them down. Overcome resistance to get started. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to start writing dialogue. As soon as I started, I got stuck, but then when I got the first line out, I was fine. Give your punchline to the main character. There’s a unit of joke. The shorter it is the punchier it is. When writing a character think about polar opposites. Big words and grammar vs. short sentences. Put everything you are thinking up on the screen.

If you worked at it full-time, expect to take 40 hours to write a half-hour comedy script from the outline. Use the V+2 approach: vomit plus two. Vomit is about speed and quantity, not quality. Try to get from FADE IN to FADE OUT as soon as possible, then make two more passes. Break writing down into writing sessions of two hours at a time. You can get two scenes done in a session.

Endings are critical. They help you write towards a goal. Sitcoms work when there is a fun, family dynamic. The endings help the audience realize that the journey was worth it. So, spend some time thinking about endings before you dive right in. There are common ending types for TV: the heart scene (ahem Full House), the heart scene obscured (low stakes, natural, and unspoken), the device ending (the A and B story resolve together), the voice-over ending (all of Modern Family episodes, common-denominator lessons), the “failed but won” scene (Ted Lasso used it for a season-ending), and a surprise ending (Fleabag did this very effectively for the pilot and the season).

Outlining is transcribing the cards (and their order) to an outline script. The top of the card becomes the slugline.

Brent also tells us to watch the pilot of Brooklyn Nine-Nine for some inspiration. As you watch TV, get in the habit of dissecting the scenes and figuring it out.

I have always been fascinated by using cards for TV show and movie scripts. I follow Thomas Schnauz, writer/producer for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, on Twitter and he occasionally posts the cards for his episodes. This process seems to scale to any level of complexity.

Pitching is about telling the story, out loud to others as many times as you can. The act of saying the story out loud as a pitch will help you understand what is working, what doesn’t work, and what gets a reaction. The story does not have to include comedy at this phase. There are plenty of opportunities to punch up the story. A “Goldilocks” is a written down form of the story. If you are writing a new comedy pilot, first pitch the show’s story by setting up the world and the main characters, then pitch the pilot episode’s story. A new comedy pilot pitch to a network should also include a deck of photos, characters, and visual elements to help establish this world that you are creating and inspire how you are going to make this a series. Spec writers can focus on the episode’s story since it is set in a known world. Be animated during your pitch. You are telling a story, act it out a bit.

Elements of a Story

Story is generally about two people: one with a goal and the other with opposition to the other. There are five keywords to help develop a story.

• Goals – Something that a character wants to do. Need goals to create a story. Clear goals work the best.
• Stakes – To build empathy with the characters, you need to have stakes. Think about how high the stakes can go. Raise the stakes.
• Conflict – Establish conflict between your characters. A story is a conflict between the two main characters and the B story is just another conflict between two secondary characters.
• Escalation – Layer onto the premise multiple times.
• Ending – Twist the audience’s expectations and resolve the conflict.

A half-hour comedy episode has multiple escalations played out as act breaks whereas a comedy sketch is compressed starting with a premise, at least two escalations, and a twist.

Pitching Notes

• Name your main character and use that name in your pitch. Have a few things to say about the character.
• Tell us about the world they are in.
• Find something you like about someone else’s pitch and reflect it back. This makes you a great pitch partner.
• You are writing for performers. Write what they love to perform. Make the contractions “performable”.

Brent taught the first class over Zoom from the Bahamas while being threatened by a hurricane. A lot of people in my circles are hating meetings and webinars on Zoom, but for me, “Zoom” meetings have given me access to folks and training that I couldn’t have pulled off in person. I appreciate what Brent is doing with the class and what a remote meeting can provide.

Here are some notes, tips, and takeaways from the brainstorming class.

Brent wanted us to feel the power of what we were doing. A whole bunch of us decided to meet on Zoom on a Saturday afternoon to learn about comedy writing. He set the context by talking about his origin story. Brent didn’t watch much or any TV growing up. He had a loose connection with Susan Harris who become Brent’s mentor. He got started by creating a writing sample which is a spec script of an existing show.

Three lessons from Susan Harris:

• Silly isn’t funny!
• Write the way people talk.
• Write about what’s difficult for you even if it’s painful and trust that it will come out funny.

Brent’s real education came from joining the writer’s room of The Simpsons. This is where he watched 100 episodes of the show and analyzed why jokes worked. He called this “autodidactic” learning and he just had to get in there and break everything down that others did by himself.

First Writing Hack: Writing is a solo act and this makes the process difficult. Brent recommended that we solve this problem by involving another writer. Having someone else involved in your work will help with motivation, quality, and growth as a writer. Related: involving any other person, writer or not, will help you. Tell that other person the story that you want to write. When you tell the story out loud something magical happens. What is confusing or moving or if there is an ending? The story is important. Also, learn how to be a good partner to others. Really listen to other writers when they are pitching. Reflect back to them something good about someone else’s pitch. Listen closely to the feedback. Be open to critical feedback.

First Writing Choice (for the class): Are you writing a spec script for an existing show or an original pilot script for a half-hour comedy show? The choice is important because you want to be writing about what you want to write about. Writing is hard enough so you should pick something that interests you and that want to explore. This will increase your odds of finishing a script.

Deadline Hack: Set a deadline. Always be writing towards a deadline. You will either be on time, early, or late. Your brain will start to have to wonder how you are going to hit that deadline. You will start breaking down the project into parts and making some progress. Brent asked the class to share a sacred vow. We all agreed to write a script in six weeks. We didn’t agree on quality, funniness, or completeness.

Deadlines are magical.

Brent Forrester

Where to start? A great comedy must have at least one great character. So, what is a great character? David Brent from The Office was inspired by a real-world boss who thinks he was great, but he was not. The character was created to mock this guy. Observation is a great way to find a great character. A great character In one word is a contradiction. A single, interesting contradiction. Tony Soprano, for example, is a mobster but in therapy.

Brent’s trademark formula is to find a character’s core comic contradiction. The three C’s. A comic character that is trying to come across one way but comes across another way. Then, you can layer onto the character by adding to the core contradiction. These are layers that make the character interesting. Write some background details about your character to provide a large pool of inspiration for the script and interactions. And, by the way, big funny moments by comedy actors are when they go from extremes in a split second.

Secondary characters exist to trigger your primary characters. They provoke the core comedy contradiction of your main character. Brent talked about King of the Hill. Hank Hill is the main character. Every other character like Bobby Hill, Hank’s son, is there to provoke Hank and challenge Hank’s viewpoint. All of the comedy comes from Hank believing one thing and then being pulled out of it by the other characters.

Structures of half-hour comedies:

• Central comic character model
• Center and eccentrics model – observation from the inside

A Promise from Brent: Writing gets fun the further along you are in the process. Brent promises.

Homework: Write a document about your primary and one secondary chracter. Watch two episodes of a half-hour comedy show that you like. Write down one of the scenes verbatim and tease it apart. Be analytical. Try to figure it out. Why is it funny? Why do you like it? Why is it funny?

Also, I learned that I need to watch Veep.

Here’s an outline of Brent Forrester’s TV Comedy Course:

• Class One: Brainstorming
• Class Two: Pitching
• Class Three: Cards
• Class Four: Outline
• Class Five: Draft
• Class Six: Rewrite

What sold me?

I happened to upon Brent Forrester’s talk from the WGFestival 2021: Fundamentals of the Comedy Pilot. It was a motivating session and compelled me to look closer at Brent Forrester’s method for TV comedy.

About Brent Forrester

Brent Forrester won his first Comedy Writing Emmy at age 25 for his work on “The Ben Stiller Show.”  He went on to write for “The Simpsons,” helped launch “King of The Hill,” and was a writer, producer, and director at NBC’s “The Office” for seven seasons.  He’s written for “Late Night with Conan,”  HBO’s “Mr. Show,” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” and continues to work as a Head Writer on Netflix shows like Judd Apatow’s “Love” and Steve Carrell’s “Space Force,” along with Amazon shows like Greg Daniel’s “Upload” and “People of Earth.” 

When Brent was running the Writers Room at “The Office,” he began developing a system to get a script from “concept” to “shooting draft” in three weeks.

Part of my journey

I will share my journey as I take the comedy writing class. I am not sure if I will write a TV comedy pilot, but I am furthering my commitment to write every day. I identified as a writer for about 10 years and realized that I wasn’t writing very much. About three years ago, I changed that. I started writing every day no matter what. Sometimes I wrote jokes or philosophical musings, but I wrote something. I also committed to blogging here every week. I am not writing for an audience, I am just making writing a habit.

Writing is hard.

I have been fascinated with Bernie Wrightson’s artwork and style. Some time ago, I started collecting all of the cards released by FPG Cards back in 1993 through 1996. I have nearly a complete collection of Bernie Wrightson’s FPG Cards… I recently got a sealed box of More Macabre cards at a thrift store. I recorded a timelapse video of George and I openning all 36 packs looking for a rare metal card or a signature card. But. I digress.

In 1983, Marvel Comics and Bernie Wrightson released an illustrated version of Frankenstein with an introduction by Stephen King. This book has been reprinted several times and is my favorite way to read Frankenstein. It’s a great pairing of the original text with dark illustrations. I like Bernie’s take on Frankenstein’s monster. It feels true to how Mary Shelley described the creature and its construction.

Here’s a two-minute TL;DR version of the book:

Now, you can start talking about some of the actual plot points, but you may not be able to talk about what it all means. There seem to be a lot of layers to the book. I have enjoyed watching and discussing the text to see how the metaphors and symbolism play out in real life and how the book has affected culture and movies. Another way to understand what’s going on with Frankenstein is to understand a little bit more about what was happening to Mary Shelley and what was happening when Mary Shelley was writing this novel.

Now, will you watch these two videos about Frankenstein? What do you think so far?

Table of Contents

Primary Card Sets

FPG published four primary card sets from 1993 to 1996 featuring the artwork of Bernie Wrightson: Master of Macabre (1993), Frankenstein (1993), More Macabre (1994), and Bernie Wrightson Stockers (1996). The primary card sets included cards that you could collect by buying packs of FPG cards.

1993 Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre

This card set includes 90 cards of which 45 cards are original to FPG and 45 cards feature classic paintings from Bernie Wrightson.

1. Lazarus Syndrome
2. Foul Harvest
3. Resurrection
4. Stalemate
5. After Midnight
6. The Premature Burial
7. Hangover
8. Knights of the Living Dead
9. Late Caller
10. Just Before Dawn
11. Tapeworm
12. Mudslide
13. Parole Review
14. The Prize
15. Heads Up
16. Moving Day
17. Taproot
18. Larva
19. Theo and Roger
20. First Frost
21. Panthera
22. Centaura
23. The Kiss
24. Cosmic Volleyball
25. Exterminatrix
26. Out All Night
27. Night’s End
28. Unrevokable Invitation
29. All Freaked Out
30. Avenger
31. The Black Cat
32. Masque of the Red Death
33. The Cask of Amontillado
34. Murders in the Rue Morgue
35. Sleepy Hollow
36. Heads, You Lose
37. Lower Berth
38. Free Fall
39. Amphibious Indigents
40. Freaks
41. Visitor
42. Badtime Stories
43. Hanover Fiste
44. Moonpool
45. The Barbarian
46. Spellbound
47. Drop In Any Time
48. The Oz Effect
49. Exterminator
50. Mausoleum
51. The Very Devil
52. Newts to You
53. Indecision
54. Distant Thunder
55. Gesundheit
56. Ramone and Escamillo
57. Lost in the Woods
58. Creeper
59. Purgatory
60. Technicolor Yawn
61. Harry, The Happy Headsman
62. Orthodonty 1
63. Soft Soldier
64. Gentlemen of Adventure Wear Arrow Collars and Shirts
65. The Quagmire
66. Siegfried
67. Amphiuma
68. Loggerhead
69. Under Distant Moons
70. Up For Air
71. Stegosaurus
72. T-Rex
73. Snapper Attack
74. Seventh Inning Stretch
75. You Can Never Find Godzilla When You Really Need Him
76. Amphibious Assault
77. Fish Sticks
78. Devolution
79. From Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Leggedy (Beasties and Things that Go Bump in the Night, May the Good Lord Deliver Us.)
80. Taking No Chances
81. Defender of the Keep
82. Guardian of the Well of Souls
83. Vitus and Hjalmar
84. Rude Noises
85. Stormdrain
86. Indigestion
87. Midnight Snack
88. Eels
89. Mementoes
90. Checklist

1993 Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre (Frankenstein Subset)

The Master of Macabre card set also included 45 black and white cards featuring Bernie Wrightson’s best Frankenstein artwork.

1. The Unexpected
2. Wretched Condition
3. In Search of Secrets
4. The Lecture
5. Deep in Study
6. Dirty Work
7. Failure
8. Recourse to Death
9. The Creator
10. Eye of the Beholder
11. His Eyes Were Fixed on Me
12. A Flash of Lightning
13. My Imagination Was Busy
14. The Scaffold
15. Confrontation
16. Fear My Vengeance
17. The Maw of Death
18. The Brook
19. Escape
20. Despondence and Mortification
21. A Hideous Reflection
22. Close Attention
23. Perpetual Exile
24. The Leather Portmanteau
25. Accursed Creator
26. Ready, Aim, Fire
27. Descending the Mountain
28. Strasbourg to Rotterdam
29. For the Sake of Information
30. A Filthy Process
31. The Laboratory
32. Never Again
33. Cast Into the Sea
34. Discovery
35. The Coffin
36. Bitter Tears
37. Lifeless
38. Utter Exhaustion
39. The Journey
40. Mountains of Ice
41. With a Feeble Voice
42. Departure
43. Where Can I Find Rest but in Death
44. Abandonment
45. Frankenstein Checklist

1993 Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre (Hologram Cards)

Three hologram cards were randomly inserted in the Master of the Macabre packs of cards.

• H1 – Rude Awakening
• H2 – Uninvited
• H3 – Late Arrivals

1993 Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre (Gold Hologram Cards)

Three gold hologram cards were randomly inserted in the Master of the Macabre packs of cards. The card indicates that there are 2,500 gold hologram cards for each promo.

• H1 – Rude Awakening – Gold
• H2 – Uninvited – Gold
• H3 – Late Arrivals – Gold

1994 Bernie Wrightson Series II: More Macabre

1. Undead
2. Till Death Us Do Part!
3. Full Throttle
4. We’re Back!
5. Dead Tired
6. More Bad News
7. Cemetery Club
8. Return Engagement
9. Nobody in Particular
10. Bad Boy(s)
11. Visitation
12. Curiosity Killed …
13. Why Was I Not Made of Stone Like Thee?
14. Moonrise II
15. Malpractice
16. Tarman
17. Stereo Burps
18. Long Pig
19. Woody
20. Familiar Face
21. Asparagus Dream
22. Don’t Axe
23. Tendrils
24. Wetlands Sunset
25. Bad Hair Day
26. Mossum
27. Uprooted
28. Nowhere to Hyde
29. Feeding Frenzy
30. Headquarters
31. Heartburn
32. Queen of Hearts
33. Heartbreaker
34. Big Mistake
35. Bridal Suite
36. The Tryst
37. Overbalanced
38. Facetious Tamahto
39. Hieeyaaah!
40. Auntie Social
41. Salamandra
42. Avenger
43. Slim Odds
44. Nocturna
45. The Scout
46. Alice Saurus
47. Spell That Again
48. Damp Cellar
49. A Garniture of Gargoyles
50. Club Members
51. Reptile Ride
52. Berserker
53. Death Throes
54. F’Pete’s Snakes
55. Mugging in the Moonlight
56. Prowling
57. Leap of Faith
58. Defenseless
59. Moonrise
60. Mine!
61. Lycanthrope
62. Kindling
63. Bloodlust
64. Sunburn
65. Guess Ooze Coming to Dinner?
66. Bubblehead
67. Subterrestrial
68. C-Section
69. Vermin
70. Eat Explosive-Tipped Lead!
71. Quick Changes
72. Final Encounter
73. Amphibious Assault Again
74. The One That Got Away
75. Moray Pattern
76. Breaching
77. Blood Tide
78. B.F.T.
79. Exterminator
80. Night Surf
81. Stargazers
82. Bad Girls
83. Lucinda
84. Allosaurus Fragilis
85. Bong!
86. Punkin Ladies
87. Resurrection Revisited
88. Boys’ Night Out
89. Highway to Hell
90. Checklist

1994 Bernie Wrightson Series II: More Macabre (Metallic Sternn Cards)

Five Metallic Sternn cards were randomly inserted in the More Macabre packs of cards.

• MS1 – The Intrepid Captain Sternn
• MS2 – The Soft Drink Conspiracy
• MS3 – Noble Mission
• MS4 – Let’s Eat
• MS5 – Running Out of Time

1996 Bernie Wrightson Stickers

1. Undead
2. Lazarus Syndrome
3. Foul Harvest
4. More Bad News
5. Soft Soldier
6. Sunburn
7. Purgatory
8. Woody
9. Uprooted
10. The Prize
11. Mugging in the Moonlight
12. Prowling
13. Moonrise
14. Out All Night
15. Tapeworm
16. B.F.T.
17. Indigestion
18. C-Section
19. (no name)
20. Why Was I Not Made of Stone
21. Heads Up
22. Technicolor Yawn
23. Stereo Burps
24. Auntie Social
25. Under Distant Moons
26. Newts to You
27. (no name)
28. Nowhere to Hyde
29. Headquarters
30. Free Fall
31. (no name)
32. Lucinda
33. Stegosaurus
34. Allosaurus Fragilis
35. T-Rex
36. Stalemate
37. Guardian of the Well of Souls
38. Devolution
39. Mementoes
40. Midnight Snack
41. Highway to Hell
42. Resurrection Revisited
43. Full Throttle
44. Nocturna
45. Familiar Face
46. Wetlands Sunset
47. Asparagus Dream
48. Club Members
49. Spellbound
50. Slim Odds

Promo Cards

• 1992 – Master of the Macabre – Advance Comics – Mudslide
• 1993 – Master of the Macabre – Previews Magazine – Frankenstein Hologram
• 1993 – Master of the Macabre – HWDC – “Monster chasing woman” (3.5″x3.5″ card)
• 1994 – More Macabre – (P3) – “Two men running” (black back)
• 1994 – More Macabre – (P4) – “Tree monsters” (black back)
• 1994 – More Macabre – (unnumbered) – “Swamp thing” (white back)
• 1994 – More Macabre – (unnumbered) – “Werewolf” (white back)
• 1994 – More Macabre – #17 – Feeding Frenzy (on left) / More Bad News (on right) – (5″x7″ card)

FPG Binders

FPG offered two binders to hold all of the cards in the Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre and More Macabre card sets. Each binder includes artwork from the sets, a pocket for a promo binder card, and rings to hold three-ring card sheets.

Master of the Macabre Binder

More Macabre Binder

FPG Binder Cards

There were two promo cards only offered with the FPG three-ring binders. There is a pocket on the inside of the binder to display the promo card.

Display Boxes

Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre

The first series of Bernie Wrightson’s Master of the Macabre cards from FPG came in sealed, numbered boxes of 36 packs of 10 cards. Each box has a unique number on its seal out of 90,000.

Bernie Wrightson Series II: More Macabre

FPG released Bernie Wrightson: Series II More Macabre cards in sealed boxes and didn’t include a unique number for each box.

Bernie Wrightson Stickers

Promos

Advance Comics

A promo card was made for Advance Comics featuring artwork from the Master of Macabre card #12 – Mudslide. The back of the promo card is marked with the Advance Comics logo and a copyright date of 1992.

The Advance Comics Promo card was bundled with the March 1993, Number 51, issue of the Advance Comics magazine.

Previews Magazine

A promo card came attached to the cover of the March 1993 issue of Previews Magazine.

Previews Magazine Promo Sheet

Previews Magazine Cover Card Set

Previews Magazine released a set of cards featuring the covers of their magazine. Series I of the cards included a card of the cover image of the March 1993 issue of Previews Magazine.

Previews Magazine Panel Insert

To promote a new set of cards, Bernie Wrightson – Series Two: More Macabre, FPG included a 5″x7″ promo art panel in the August 1994 issue of Previews Magazine.

San Diego Comic Con 1993 Six-card Panel

San Diego Comic Con 1994 Five-card Panel

Comic Images / Previews Promo Card Set #1

Comic Images released 5,500 sets of cards featuring 21 cards: 16 regular cards, four chromium cards, and one surprise hologram card. The surprise hologram card is the Frankenstein hologram card included on the Previews Magazine cover of the March 1993 issue.

Uncut Sheets

Advance Comics Promo Cards

HWDC Promo Cards

28″x20″

Bernie Wrightson Master of the Macabre Cards

Frankenstein Cards

27″x40″

Bernie Wrightson Series II: More Macabre

Metallic Sternn Cards

20″ x 14″

Binder Cards

20″ x 7.5″

Searching For Answers

I am trying to collect as much as I can from the FPG line of cards featuring the artwork from Bernie Wrightson. I research eBay, card lists, blogs, and websites to find some new things. I still have some remaining questions and looking for a few items. Contact me if you have some info or want to trade.

• I am looking for the “Gold Hologram” cards from series one. I have opened a lot of packs and have never come across one.
• I am looking for an uncut sheet of The Master of the Macabre series of cards from 1993.
• What were the HWDC Promo Cards made for? And, why are they 3.5″ x 3.5″ cards?

References

• Jeff Allender’s House of Checklists – Bernie Wrightson: Master of the Macabre FPG – 1993
• Jeff Allender’s House of Checklists – Bernie Wrightson II: More Macabre FPG – 1994
• Jeff Allender’s House of Checklists – Bernie Wrightson Stickers FPG – 1996
• FPG Universe – Bernie Wrightson: Master of the Macabre
• FPG Universe – Bernie Wrightson: More Macabre