Kellie Griffin: A Week with TV Comedy Writers

Kellie Griffin has a great laugh and a thing for dog parks. Kellie is also a comedy writer. In the business for nine years, she has worked on The Parkers and recently as head writer on House of Payne - but don’t hold that against her.

Kellie’s newest project, a half hour, multi camera sitcom, based on a real life experience, is one that puts her in the “creator” seat. I can’t exactly tell you what the show is about because I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement and I am not in the mood to be sued. But after spending a week with Kellie and her team of writers, I can tell you the story is funny, clever, and takes a lot of smart folks to pull off.

Kellie was gracious enough to let me sit in on a few writing sessions as she raced toward a deadline to complete five new scripts for her executive producer.

Anatomy of a Writer's Room

First, let me say that comedy writing is an endurance sport. By the end of a long day you are wrung out and punch drunk. Kellie and her team of five writers spend a minimum of six hours hammering out storylines, punch lines, and logic issues. As head writer/creator, she is the captain of the ship and responsible for encouraging fresh ideas, positive energy, and producing a finished product.

Generally each writer is assigned a script after the team has decided on each story and beat out all the scenes that should appear in the outline. Once the assigned writer has written the script it is brought back into the writer’s room and the staff deconstructs each scene and assist in rewriting.

Kellie says that new writers who are exposed to this team approach can struggle during this rewrite free-for-all. But she encourages them to trust the process and know that the team is only trying to create the best possible story. Because it is a collaborative process involving writers, studio heads, network heads, and actors sometimes the script you submitted is not exactly the same one that is shot — so don’t be sensitive. Besides in the end only your name will appear on the final product.

When Kellie starts pulling together a stellar team, diversity is imperative. Of first order is bringing together folks who will gel. When you are spending that much time together it is best that the right personalities share the same space. It is also important to have writers from various walks of life: married, single, film school graduates, self taught, Black, Asian, men, women. Head writers are also striving for balance when it comes to funny and finesse. Pairing writers who can fire off a joke every thirty seconds with writers who can track down the right flow to the story makes for good television.

Once you get everyone into the writers room, there are do’s and don’ts. Pitching (suggesting an idea for the script) is encouraged while trying to dominate the entire process is not. Be on time and stay off your cell phone. Be respectful of other writers’ work and don’t take yourself too seriously. It is all about creating a fun and productive space.

Anatomy of a Comedy Script

The average comedy script is made up of two acts, 8 scenes, a teaser, a tag and approximately 38 pages. Each page equals about 30 seconds of screen time, which produces a show that runs a little under 20 minutes. Commercials make up the difference, although Kellie says air time for television shows is being shortened to make room for more commercials. The first 4-5 pages is the teaser, which sets up the A/B story that will run through the show for the remainder. The first act sets up all the characters and ends with a cliff hanger at the act break(approximately page 20). The second act is riddled with conflict until about page 37, where a happy ending magically appears, and the show is wrapped with a tag on page 38.

In designing these scripts, efficiency is the key. Once the writers get through a massive game of word association to flesh out backstories and depth for the characters, they are always mindful that there are no throwaway lines or fillers. Scenes are tightly packed, driving toward a solution, button, or joke. The primary rule seems to be "end on a joke." And just because the joke made you laugh doesn’t mean it will survive the rewrite. Funny can be trumped by hilarious in a flash.

The Finish Line

Once the scripts are written and rewritten the team takes one more pass before releasing them. It appears the objective is to cut any “fat” that might slow down the story or jokes.

The danger here is the writers might be tempted to go back into the story and try to “make it better.” The head writer usually steps in and makes sure only the housekeeping gets taken care of and then the team is on to the next script (and the process starts all over again).

And that is the life of a comedy writer working on weekly show.

Kellie's Tips for new writers trying to break in

1. Sit in a writer's room. There is no classroom or book education that can replace that experience.

2. Be a sponge — talk to other writers, take classes and seminars, read articles and books on writing and the business of writing.

3. Watch a lot of television. You will need to write a spec script to get on a show you will have to watch enough of that particular show to get a sense of the “voice” and character arcs.

4. Keep writing — writers write. If you are not writing, you are not a writer. (Or at the very least you are not adding to the portfolio which proves that you are serious about writing!)

Michelle

World AIDS Day

BET Multitude of Mercies Clip 2 from johnalynn holland on Vimeo.

Precious: Not a Ghetto Freak Show

The buzz is at a fever pitch for this movie and for good reason. At least a couple Oscar nominations are guaranteed for this amazingly painful and compelling tale of adversity and ultimately survival.

Based on the 1996 award-winning novel Push by Sapphire, the story, set in 1987 Harlem, follows the tortured and dark life of Clarisse Precious Jones. The obese, illiterate, and pregnant (for the second time by her AIDS infected father) 16-year-old somehow still gets up every morning and makes her way to school, even when her abusive and clearly mentally ill mother thinks she would be better served spending her time at the welfare office.

Director Lee Daniels takes on the challenge of bringing this blistering story, with the help of screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, to the screen. Author Sapphire reports that she initially turned him down when he approached her about making the book into a film, but changed her mind after she saw his 2005 directorial debut “Shadowboxer”

Daniels is no stranger to bringing less than attractive, and more often than not, challenging allegories to audience’s attention. Over the last ten years he has tackled issue of racism, pedophilia, and assassins engaged in pseudo incestuous relationships; so one could easily concede that Push was a natural fit in his portfolio.

An Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, “Precious” stars Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz.



Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, in the role of Precious, has everyone talking. Mostly about how different she is from the character that she so convincingly plays. Discovered during an open audition, Sidibe embodies every inch of Precious. Her face seems to easily transform into this blank, but painful mask that barely hides the despair that hangs over her on a daily basis. But it is her three hundred pound body that makes her a target of street hoods and her predatory father. Sexually abused since age three, and pregnant for the first time at 12, it seems the bigger she gets the more her humanity is disregarded. She copes the only way she knows how by constructing fantasy worlds where she is adored by “light-skinned boyfriends” and gets to walk red carpets in beautiful dresses, where she is the center of attention. Daniels uses these fantasy sequences liberally, and at times preemptively, as if trying to shield the audience from what must be experienced if they are to truly connect with the pain and degradation that Precious endures.



The primary architect of that pain is her mother Mary Jones. A shoe in for more than a few awards lists; comedian Mo’Nique is devastating as Mary. Her fans use to her big girl sass and playfulness will find none of it in this boa constrictor tight performance. Mary is cruel with a marksmen precision. Reminding Precious everyday that she is useless and will never be more than the “dumb, fat bitch” that lumbers around their dilapidated kitchen and waits on her mother hand and foot. Her performance also reminds the audience that everyone that has a uterus doesn’t necessarily make a good mother. Mary reeks of pain, which she desperately transfers on to Precious in every encounter. You want to look away, but Mo’nique presents this damaged woman in such a compelling manner that you can’t take your eyes off of her. When Precious brings her newborn son home from the hospital, the audience rightfully dreads what Mary will do once she gets her hands on the baby, because Mo’Nique has artfully convinced us she is capable of anything. For those cinephiles interested in seeing where Mo’Nique first showed potential for compelling characters, check her out in “Shadowboxer”, as the now ironically named Precious.

Of the three major actors, Paula Patton’s performance is the weakest. Her Blue Rain is lifeless, stilted, and unconvincing. Which is a shame since her role as a teacher (who happens to be a lesbian) who goes above and beyond to save this girl is not one we have seen on screen before. By the time Precious is dumping her every thought into her journal you can’t help but wonder how we are supposed to believe she learned anything, and ultimately transformed, as a result of her relationship with this anemic version of Ms. Rain?

Much has been made of Mariah Carey’s diva-free performance as Precious’s social worker Mrs. Weiss. For all those still holding a grudge because of Glitter, I think here is where she makes full restitution. Mariah is believable and accessible. In many ways she is the surrogate voice of the audience, expressing disbelief and outrage at the indignities that has been Precious’s life, and does of fine job of asking the hard questions.

Precious finally meets her light-skinned knight in the form of Nurse John, played by Lenny Kravitz, when she is rushed to the hospital to give birth (her first child was born on her mother’s dirty kitchen floor). Nurse John does the subtle work of convincing Precious, whose world is populated with mostly women, that you can have a grown man in your life that understands boundaries, doesn’t want anything from you and will treat you with respect.

Believe it or not, there are some light moments in this sea of darkness. Precious’s spirited and equally lost classmates, with standouts Xosha Roquemore as diva rapper Joan and Chyna Layne as the wise Jamaican dance hall queen Rhonda, provides the laughter and friendship, however tenuous, that Precious is in desperate need of.

Many cultural critics have come down hard on this little film, especially around the issue of whether putting these long held stereotypes on screen really helps educate mainstream audiences or just validates for them who they believe black people are. I think they are barking up the wrong tree on this one. The performances here are fine tuned and realistic. Daniels and his actors have done the work to make these characters compelling, if not sympathetic. Ask twenty social workers if they have at least one Mary Jones on their case load and 20 Preciouses and they will answer with a resounding, YES! Just because it is difficult to watch doesn’t make it not true. To reduce “Precious” to some ghetto freak show is to do it a disservice - because it has more gravitas than that.

Michelle

A Day at the Library

I know it's not like a celebrity sighting, but I was in the mood to get a library card and spend a couple hours roaming the stacks at the Glendale Central Library.

As a kid I loved the library and would walk over a mile to go hang out in the Little Falls Library. OMG! I sound like when your grandparents tell you they walked a mile in the snow, with no shoes, to school. Anyway. I've been trying to get back to the simple things in my life and I've always enjoyed a good book.

And just so you know - the Dewey decimal system is alive and well:) Check out my quick video below and go get yourself a library card if you don't have one.

Film as Reflection

Last month my friend Allie showed me an article about some adoption advocates that were considering calling a national boycott of the suspense movie Orphan. The movie centers on a husband and wife who recently lost their baby and as a result adopts a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.

A boycott wasn’t wishful thinking for these advocates because they had already gotten Warner Brothers to delete what they considered offensive “anti adoption” language from a trailer. These protectors of children-looking-for-parents absolutely believe in the power of film and didn’t like that it was not shining a positive light in their direction.

As a side note: You do have to wonder about potential adoptive parents, who watch in horror as the celluloid orphaned bad seed goes about causing chaos and bashing in nuns' heads, and then change their minds about adoption. Do they deserve to adopt a child, bad or otherwise, if they consider the gruesome thriller appropriate research on the topic?

After much eye-rolling Allie declared, “It’s just a movie, people.”
But we can’t pretend that movies don’t have a profound place in our society. It might be through a movie that a kid in India sees a picture of the earth for the first time or girl discovers that she, too, can become a spy. Movies assist in closing gaps and creating common understandings. Movies made a big-eared, black boy from Philadelphia an international film star and maybe made the way for another big-eared, biracial boy from Hawaii to be accepted around the world.

What are movies after all but a filmmaker’s vision of what the world is or could be? For Steven Spielberg it is a world filled with aliens and mystery. For Kevin Smith life is filled with fart jokes and good friends. And every weekend we happily crowd into theaters and join them in their fantasy world.

So, that got me to thinking. The marketplace seems to bear all kinds of films. From the over-the-top gruesome to the delightfully frothy comedy, why wasn’t it seeing the potential in LGBTQ films? The celebrated Milk, starring Sean Penn, showed that a film prominently featuring LGBTQ characters not only makes money but garners awards. But for the most part LGBTQ films are relegated to the film festival circuit, then off to DVD. There are even fewer films that feature black, gay characters in the mainstream consciousness.

Patrik-Ian Polk’s feature film Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom did make it to movie theatres, in limited release, and primarily in indie and art house venues. The film, based on the LOGO hit comedy series Noah’s Arc, focuses on the life and loves of four black, gay friends in Los Angeles. Often compared to the HBO series Sex and the City, the movie was landmark in that no other feature film, with four openly gay, black characters, has ever received a theatrical release.

What was actually more surprising to me about this film was the number of straight black women who went to see it. My very straight family friend Brooke went to see it a grand total of four times, dragging friends to discover the quirky and fun world of Noah, Alex, Ricky and Chase. Of course, I had to ask her what about these gay, black men spoke to her - to the tune of $40.00 worth of movie tickets. Brooke disclosed that she never really knew gay people before (clearly I didn’t count) and certainly did not know they could be so “cool and interesting” (clearly I don’t count). I think what Brooke was really saying was that gay people that look like her had never been put in a “regular” context for her. I don’t mean three-piece suit or mowing their lawn in the suburbs regular, but struggling and loving and making mistakes like everyone else. That is what Polk’s film did for her.

Black LGBTQ filmmakers need to continue to add our stories to the film canon. Take the risk like Debra Wilson, Tina Mabry, and Cheryl Dunye of creating compelling, funny, outrageous narratives that allows us to see and celebrate ourselves, and ultimately for others to do the same. Don’t listen to the naysayers or negative nellies. Movies get made because someone believes the story must be told.

I, for one, recognize and embrace the power of film and its ability to shine light on unique stories or even promote tolerance. Look at how it has improved the PR for vampires.

Blog Talk Radio Interview!

Had the opportunity to be a guest on Sippin' On Ink and chatting with host extraordinaire Kat. We talked about GirlChild Press, the future of publishing girls and women, and following your dreams!
Check it out and leave some comments.

Daddyhood: The Movie

Tagline: Fatherhood is going to make a man out of Eric Matters whether he likes it or not.

No there is no bun in the oven! And if there was there would be a lot of explaining to do. The guy to the left is the extraordinarily talented Matthew Brown of Brown Medius. We became friends a couple years ago (he did the final edit on my first short film Spoiled) and now we are both living in L.A.

Last summer Matt got a hold of me and asked me to write him a feature length comedy script. He was interested in directing a mini budget feature that would display his eclectic and versatile skills. He wanted the story to happen in a day, feature a male protagonist, and be funny. This call came at midnight east coast time so I thought I was hearing things. By now Matt had seen my portfolio of work and nowhere in there was male, funny, or situational. But he seemed to think I was a good enough writer to pull it off. A week later we had a treatment we agreed on and I went about the business of constructing the world of "Eric Matters" and the cast of characters that inhabit the Cresten Pine Mall.

Daddyhood is a cross between Friday and Clerks. Our protagonist is a reluctant young father, who is faced with taking care of his infant daughter for the day when his frustrated ex-girlfriend unexpectedly drops her off at his job. During the course of the day Eric discovers what it takes to be be father and how far he will go to fulfill that responsibility. It is a PG-13 film and has a nice feel good ending (after all the madcap and unexpected adventures).

It was a fun story to write and I was surprised how easy. I am now working on a rewrite and Matt is in talks with a "name" actor to take on the lead role. We spent a few hours together yesterday mapping out how we would pull this production off and what it would take to get our quality story on the screen. MONEY!

But besides money we are putting together a package (name actor, budget, production time, audience, etc) that we think will attract investors. So if you have a million or so laying around - hit us up:)

Michelle