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| Introduction | |
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| Writing Premise-Driven Comedy | |
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| The Game Plan | |
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| Career Paths | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| First, Some Theory | |
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| The Mechanics of Laughter | |
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| Characteristics of Comedy | |
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| The importance of Tension | |
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| Putting Theory into Practice | |
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| Seamless Humor | |
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| Consistency | |
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| Comedy Output | |
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| The Traditional Approach to Sitcom Writing | |
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| Level One: Premise-Driven Comedy | |
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| A Different Approach: Comedy in the Story Premise | |
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| Predicaments | |
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| Character Mix | |
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| Style of Comedy | |
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| Casting | |
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| Level Two: Comedy in Sequences and Scenes | |
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| Compound Story Predicaments | |
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| Stir Up the Character Mix | |
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| Mix and Match | |
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| Three Things to Remember | |
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| Level Three: Comedy in Dialogue and Actions | |
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| Building Jokes | |
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| Setups | |
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| Punchlines | |
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| Funny Actions | |
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| Miscellaneous Comedy Tips | |
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| About All of These Labels | |
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| Finding Your Comedic Voice | |
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| Writing a Professional Script | |
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| Doing Your Homework | |
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| Which Series to Pick | |
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| Researching the Series | |
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| Studying the Premise | |
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| Developing an Episode Premise | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| Dreaming Up Stories | |
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| Picking Your Best Ideas | |
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| Turning Ideas into Springboards | |
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| High-Concept Stories | |
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| Developing the Story | |
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| Creating a Beat Sheet | |
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| Story Structure: Linear vs. Thread | |
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| Story Threads vs. Subplots vs. Ensemble Stories | |
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| Stories Without Endings | |
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| Serialized Stories (Story Arcs) | |
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| Dramatic Structure vs. Broadcast Format | |
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| Story Tips | |
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| Comedy's Impact on Story | |
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| How the Production Process Affects Your Script | |
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| Nail the Story, the Rest is Easy | |
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| Creating Funny Characters | |
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| Remember the Mix | |
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| Character Arcs | |
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| Character Types | |
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| Visiting Characters | |
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| Writing An Outline | |
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| Writing to Sell, Not Educate | |
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| Building an Outline | |
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| How it Should Look on Paper | |
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| Stylistic Tips | |
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| Rewriting an Outline | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| Writing the First Draft | |
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| Just Do It | |
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| Writing Scenes | |
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| Harvesting Comedy Built into the Premise and Scene Levels | |
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| Professional Script Format | |
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| Writing Scene Descriptions | |
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| Writing Dialogue | |
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| Miscellaneous Tips | |
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| Planting Exposition | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| When That First Draft is Finished | |
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| Rewriting the Script | |
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| When Rewriting by Yourself | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| Once the Script is Finished | |
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| A Battle Plan for Launching Your Career | |
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| Step One: Developing a Strategy | |
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| The Job Market | |
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| How the Writer Fits In | |
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| A Writer's Workweek | |
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| Writing is a Business | |
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| Ageism | |
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| Putting Food on the Table | |
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| Must You Live in Los Angeles? | |
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| Step Two: Landing an Agent and/Or Manager | |
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| Developing a Hit List | |
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| Before Picking Up the Phone | |
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| Prepare a Phone Spiel | |
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| Making the Call | |
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| Submitting Your Material | |
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| Testing the Waters if You Don't Live in LA. | |
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| Following Up on Submissions | |
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| If you Fail to Land Representation | |
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| You Get an Offer! | |
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| Signing the Contract | |
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| Once You've Signed with Someone | |
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| Step Three: Getting Your Work Out There | |
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| Scouting the Market | |
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| Hiring Windows | |
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| Working with Your Rep | |
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| Which Scripts to Send | |
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| Being Picky about Jobs | |
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| Cold-Calling Producers | |
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| Other Strategies for Reaching Producers | |
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| Keep Writing | |
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| Writing in Teams | |
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| Rejection | |
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| Dealing with Writer's Block | |
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| Protecting Your Work | |
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| Who Keeps the Copyright? | |
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| The Writers Guild of America | |
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| Step Four: Pitching for Assignments | |
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| The Call Comes In! | |
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| Preparing for the Pitch | |
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| The Pitch | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| What Might Happen | |
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| The Contract | |
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| The Money | |
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| Step Five: Landing a Staff Job | |
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| Becoming a Staff Writer | |
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| Office Politics | |
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| Roundtable Writing | |
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| Advice from Our Producers | |
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| Staff Job Contracts and Compensation | |
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| Step Six: Climbing the Ladder | |
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| The Care and Feeding of Reps | |
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| Taking a Development Deal | |
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| Creating A New Series | |
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| Creating a Series Format | |
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| Writing a Pilot Script | |
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| Selling a Pilot | |
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| Going in to Pitch | |
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| Producing a Homegrown Pilot | |
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| The Money | |
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| Time to Wrap Up! | |
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| Script Format Guidelines | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Endnotes | |
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| Index | |