Writing Treehouse of Horrors w/ Dan McGrath (The Simpsons, SNL)

At this point, The Simpsons has been around for a loooong time. But there was a time (way back in the Pleistocene) when it was undeniably fresh and exciting…that’s when I (Dan) had the pleasure and privilege of doing the show, in its sort of punk-rock days. And we always loved writing the Halloween specials because they were reckless and a bit crazy.

What we’re exploring in this session is how you can integrate your own point of view by aligning it with the established voices of some very famous characters. Then, use that discipline (and all the tropes and vocal features of these famous characters) to turn it into a hurricane of a Halloween ghost story where all the rules go out the window… who knows what you’ll come up with.

Are you in?

Homework: Come to class with a basic funny conceptual story premise, (e.g. Bart becomes a vampire in the romanticky --"Twilight" sort of mode, but he keeps annoying Robert Pattinson who is trying so hard to be a "good" vampire).... a one-sentence "elevator pitch". From there, the room will flesh it out, break & card the scenes, and then pitch it out to first draft.

Prerequisite: Completion of one full-length writing / sketch / characters course at BCC or any major comedy theater.