Jason Segal's Tips To Writing Comedies
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 November 2013 05:36
- Written by Lupe Haas
Watch DESPICABLE ME movie trailer
At a recent press conference for DESPICABLE ME in Beverly Hills, Jason reveals he received the best tips to writing from his mentor and frequent collaborator Judd Apatow (The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up). An alumni of Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow encouraged Jason to write a comedy by writing a drama first when he was writing Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "First make a drama then make it funny," Judd Apatow suggested. The jokes would come later, according to Judd, from collaboration with the cast of actors alongside funny people like Jason and himself. Jason explains the approach is what makes Judd Apatow's movies "brilliant," He added, "the reason people will see it again and again, or connect to it is because there is underlying drama."
Movie Clip: Watch a scene from DESPICABLE ME
A second tip from the Get Him To The Greek writer/producer/composer includes writing from "real experience and hitting a "universal theme." Forgetting Sarah Marshall as an example of writing a story everyone can relate to according to the tv and movie star. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall is about how complicated break ups are. Almost everything I've written is somehow tied to something I've gone through. You try to hit a universal theme."
INTERVIEW: DESPICABLE ME's Miranda Cosgrove Wants Tina Fey's Job
Jason's next script will also focus on another universal experience - love and engagement. Also in the works for Jason is his comeback for the Muppet movie franchise with The Greatest Muppets Movie Ever which he is producing and writing for release in 2011.
For more on Jason's writing tips, listen to the interview above.
Jason's DESPICABLE ME is currently playing in movie theaters.
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