Is this the formula for a good comedy screenplay?

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OK, so maybe that’s not the formula after all…But here’s one solid tip for a good comedy screenplay:

Give your characters a strong attitude or emotion. It can be anything: greed, paranoia, anxiety, naivete.

That attitude will tell you how they respond to any situation and then you can find the humor in their response.

For instance, let’s say your character is mugged. How he responds will depend on his primary attitude. Here are some options:

If he’s greedy, he might offer to help the mugger perfect his technique in exchange for a commission on all robberies.

If he’s paranoid, he might start saying he knows who sent the mugger–it was Larry Cominsky from high school, who never forgave him for being elected valedictorian instead of Larry. He knew someday Larry would take his revenge.

If he’s very anxious he might have such a strong panic attack that it makes the mugger nervous.

If he’s naive, he might offer to try to find a real job for the mugger.

Obviously there are may other elements (possibly including the word “pickle”) in a good comedy, but a protagonist with a strong attitude is a great starting point.