COMEDY LAB: SITCOM SPEC SCRIPT

This class runs every Saturday from 12-3PM CST for 8 weeks starting October 25th (with no class on Saturday November 29th for Thanksgiving). 

Create a spec script of a current show suitable for submission to literary agents, TV producers and/or network executives!

In this 8 week class, students will work to write in the voice of a show from television featuring characters that have already been established by other writers, and storylines appropriate for the series. Students will spend their time thinking and outlining and writing and rewriting and re-rewriting to create something that epitomizes their style and knowledge of the show's form. At the end of the eight weeks, students who attend the classes and do all of the weekly assignments will have a completed spec script, and know how to use itas a tool to obtain representation.

Class One:

Students choose a current half-hour show and create six pitches.

Class Two:

Students create two separate page-by-page outlines—one of an existing episode, one of their favorite pitch.

Class Three:

Students compile a classic sitcom outline for their favorite pitch.

Class Four:

Students begin the first half of their first draft.

Class Five:

Students finish the second half of their first draft.

Class Six:

Students receive their first set of notes.

Class Seven:

Based upon the notes they’ve received, students embark upon their second draft.

Class Eight:

Students participate in a one-on-one phone appointment with the instructor.

About The Comedy Lab and the Instructor

The Comedy Lab was created by Michael Clayton McCarthy twenty years ago and based at the iO theatres in Hollywood and Chicago. Kim “Howard” Johnson began teaching with Michael in 2013, and the two of them worked together happily until Michael became ill in 2018. At that time, Howard took over the full load of writing courses, which continues to this day. When the iO was forced to close in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus, Howard took all of the writing classes online. To his surprise, the writing program rapidly expanded, thanks to students from across the nation and around the world who had long wanted to study with The Comedy Lab. Thanks to the pandemic, students found they were able to pursue a comedy writing career from the comfort of their homes. 

Kim Howard Johnson is a founding member of the Baron’s Barracudas (the first house team of the ImprovOlympic–later the iO), co-wrote Truth in Comedy with Charna Halpern and Del Close, and wrote The Funniest One in the Room: the Lives and Legends of Del Close, the biography of his longtime friend. He began to teach writing when his good friend Michael McCarthy invited him to join the Comedy Lab writing classes at the iO Chicago. He is a longtime friend and associate of Monty Python, working on Monty Python’s Life of Brian in Tunisia, writing numerous books on Python, and serving as personal assistant to John Cleese. He is the only person to perform with the Baron’s Barracudas, his Monty Python friends at the Hollywood Bowl, legendary improvisational troupe The Committee, and written with comedy legend Jonathan Winters. He is excited to pass along what he has learned over the years to his students. 

“When you spend years sitting across a desk from comedy icon John Cleese, if you’re paying attention, you tend to learn a lot about comedy writing. And when you spent years studying with Del Close, you learn even more. But, I didn’t know how to best utilize my knowledge until my good friend Michael McCarthy offered me the opportunity to start teaching everything I have learned over the years.”