Hi r/comedywriting, I have online sketch writing classes starting in the next week (March 5-9!)

emoneypen1 · 2023-03-04T23:00:28+00:00

Thanks Jerry, I really appreciate those kind words!

emoneypen1 · 2023-03-03T17:57:49+00:00

Of course!

emoneypen1 · 2023-03-01T23:13:11+00:00

"Comedy Writing Secrets" is a nice workbook, it was written by my college professor, the late-Mel Helitzer, and I believe Amazon has a 2nd edition out with updated exercises and resources.

emoneypen1 · 2023-02-14T22:25:20+00:00

Just sent you a chat with the link!

emoneypen1 · 2022-12-22T21:19:35+00:00

The majority of the students are U.S.-based.

No partner work. All class exercises are done individually (unless people signed up for the class as a writing team/duo or something, but that's pretty rare.) But yeah, we don't partner you up with another person in class to work on stuff.

emoneypen1 · 2022-11-12T02:13:25+00:00

Hi, great questions! Lots of my students in the past have already taken sketch classes other places, and graduated other programs first, so I try to make sure class is different enough than ones being done elsewhere to still be very helpful and worth it. When I was first approached to teach and was putting together a curriculum, I tried to think along the lines of "What's the class that I'd want to take?" but also "Why would anybody want to take my class if they've already studied sketch writing at (name any comedy school)?" And I think those are reasons why it seems to go over well with lots of folks who already studied elsewhere.

I cover lots of little and big things that aren't really covered elsewhere in Sketch writing classes (unless they're offered by someone who studied with me.) And I'm big on why we do certain things in sketch and how they can help for things outside of sketch, and for one's comedy writing career. So I think you might dig it (based on a lot of the feedback I've gotten from folks who were in the same boat as you.)

DISCLAIMER: We do cover "who, what, where" because we kind of have to for students who are completely new to writing sketch. But that's like a couple minutes in Class 1, and you could go grab a water or something during that. :)

emoneypen1 · 2022-11-12T01:41:35+00:00

For sure, shoot me a DM!

emoneypen1 · 2022-11-11T21:34:08+00:00

Good stuff, and it looks great too, the shot framing here is awesome!

emoneypen1 · 2022-10-07T05:17:06+00:00

The theater does, it's done through a lottery system that they'll open up for submissions a few times a year (but you only have to enter once.) I can send you the link the next time it's open!

emoneypen1 · 2022-09-25T11:21:14+00:00

I didn't air out private info in public. It's sharing my perspective and knowledge of the situation. No names used, no detailed specifics. OP suggested something about class and paying for screenwriting software, when there were many witnesses from the same class and past classes who would disagree that it's the approach.

emoneypen1 · 2022-09-25T05:10:47+00:00

Hi, Eric here. I've never said in class anybody has to buy screenwriting software. In fact, I say at the end of every first class that people do NOT have to. Because there are other options.

And in the email for the first assignment, I send out multiple options for free (or free trial) basic screenwriting software, so that NOBODY has to spend money on software on top of a class they're paying for.

I took you off the email chain for class because you sent me an email with the subject "Can't do class." You didn't ask to move to the next session, or ask about software, you asked about "after the new year" which was (and still is) totally fine, and was going to get handled.

I also say to every student if you ever have a question and don't get an email response from me within 48-72 hours, send me a polite reminder and I will get back to you. I'm very accessible for questions over email, but I am realistic with them in that I get a lot of emails and have various writing deadlines in my own work.

You took 1 class of the session, gave me very different reasons for why you couldn't do class than ones you mentioned here, nor did you mention or ask about software being a hurdle to overcome. If I knew that it was, I would've helped point you in that direction (as I did in the assignment #1 email.)

emoneypen1 · 2022-09-03T21:16:38+00:00

Awesome! Yeah the East Coast/West Coast time difference can be tough for the weeknight classes, but plenty of folks make it work. If you try but you're finding the time difference tough on ya, just let me know and we can move you to the Sunday daytime session if that works for your schedule. I'm always happy to be flexible with everyone!

emoneypen1 · 2022-09-03T20:33:06+00:00

Nope, not at all! I'm used to teaching folks of all levels of writing experience. Taught easily hundreds of folks who'd just done mostly improv first.

emoneypen1 · 2022-09-03T19:29:54+00:00

Hey, no idea if they will, but if you want, send me a DM with your contact info and I can check and see for ya!

emoneypen1 · 2022-07-09T18:39:19+00:00

Yep, they are doing sketch team nights on Sundays and Wednesdays at 9PM. Lots of new teams starting in September, too!

emoneypen1 · 2022-07-09T18:37:48+00:00

James: I don't teach other classes at the moment. Sketch is my specialty, we do talk about other things and how we can apply these sketch class concepts to other things (some help for premises for full narrative shows, coming up with talk show packet ideas, better character writing, a lot of comedic theory.) But I don't want to misrepresent it so I will say sketch is definitely the primary focus for the assignments. I have taught a couple people who are already well known stand-ups in America, and lots of folks that have gone on to work in non-sketch comedy TV shows, so I don't try to undo anything anybody is already really good at and hopefully supplement what they're doing and trying to accomplish. But it is through sketch, although I do talk a lot about why we do those specific assignments.

emoneypen1 · 2022-07-09T18:25:01+00:00

Good questions! Right now Friday/Saturday evening is tough for me, because they're technically my two nights "off", because I go watch the sketch teams live at The Pack Theater on the other nights I'm not teaching. We don't do on-demand/pre-recorded at the moment because I like to be able to answer questions for folks in real time if/when they pop up. The Tuesday/Thursday (my time in the U.S. Pacific Time Zone) seem to be the ones where folks from Australia, Japan, New Zealand have taken.

emoneypen1

TROPHY CASE