It's all improvised, dontcha know

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on August 15th, 2007

An item on MTV.com says that scriptwriters will no longer be necessary in the wonderful, new world of movie comedy.

Why not, we say?! They’re in the process of eliminating them in television. The sitcom, as you know, is dead. The genre is in decline. Reality TV and game shows are where it’s at. And, if we must suffer through a sitcom, it had better be “unscripted.”

Unscripted comedies are fresh, funny, inventive, edgy and wildly entertaining. Fat Guy/Hot Wife is in TV’s rearview mirror. Put the pedal to the metal– we’re headed for uncomfortable silences, authentic conversation and quirky camera angles! Gimme The Office, but set it in a pet store! Let’s re-develop Arrested Development, but this time, make the characters more likeable– and for God’s sake, have them be more… diverse!! How many times will they be burned by Curb Your Enthusiasm meets ER, meets Dawson’s Creek before Fat Guy/Hot Wife makes a comeback and once again sweeps the Emmy nominations?

Now, it’s comedy movies that are all made up on the spot.

“We made up all our lines,” Seth Rogen remembered of Apatow’s 2005 flick, “The 40-Year-Old-Virgin.” “A lot of the stuff was just us talking to each other and trying to make each other laugh, knowing that we had the freedom to say whatever we wanted. It looks very natural, because we honestly didn’t know what we were saying until we were saying it.”

What is the cause of this disease? The answer might be in the first paragraph:

The word “improv” not only gets as many projects greenlit these days as “Spielberg,” but it also connotes mysterious images of comedians working with no net, screenwriters banned from the set and pop-culture-catchphrases dropping from the sky like tender snow-farts.

Pay special attention to the word “greenlit.” Folks are telling the suits that the projects are “largely improvised” or “totally unscripted” because, apparently, the suits are all hot and bothered by the idea and are all too willing to say yes to such projects. (And all too willing to be a part of “a revolution that favors awkward silences instead of traditional “setup, punch line” comedy.”)

You weren’t aware that there was such a revolution going on? Where have you been for the past half-decade? (That’s how long it’s been going on, according to Larry Carroll, the author of the piece. An entire half-decade! That’s a looooong time!)

We get worked up about this foolishness on occasion. Like here when we groused about the trend on March 1, 2006. (Followed by an especially spirited round of comments.)

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