How to write a sitcom

Situation comedy, abbreviated to “sitcom”, is quite explicit about its content. The objective is to create a comic scenario from a single situation that constitutes the narrative basis of each episode. Sometimes varying these circumstances very slightly from one episode to another. Here are some tips on how to write a sitcom.

1)     When you write a sitcom: know your characters

Create a gallery of characters. When creating new characters, it’s important to know everything about them. This include what they look like, how they talk, what makes them funny, what they do for a living, what quirks they have, and what kinds of things they’re likely to say. For a sitcom, it is advisable to create between four and eight main characters who appear in each episode.

2)     When you write a sitcom: choose your genre

Choose your genre and your audience. You can have science fiction, adventure or something as simple as the misadventures of two friends (also known as a slice of life).

3)     Be a little crazy

A sitcom needs a certain eccentricity in its subject matter. This necessary craziness leads to the feeling that everything is fine in our personal world, that our problems are not as big as we think and that nothing is really insurmountable.

4)     Write your scenes

Write acts one and two of your script, which should include three to five scenes in each act. In Act One, you will begin each of your two or three plots by introducing one or more characters with a problem, challenge, or obstacle. Act Two will see the continuation of your plots and show the progress the characters make in overcoming these problems or obstacles. The third act features the resolution of all your major storylines.

5)     When you write a sitcom: humor is king

What the sitcom proposes is nothing more than the resolution of a conflict in a humorous way. But the comedy is not necessarily about the characters, the situations or even the conflicts. In fact, it is a particular behavior that drives the characters. They behave in a selfish, navel-gazing way in solving their immediate problems. They then make the wrong decisions while trying to achieve certain goals.

The sitcom is one of the five main genres of the television series, the most popular and the most widespread in the audiovisual landscape, because it is the most easily definable serial genre since it is the most coded. When you write a sitcom, remember to have fun.