Phil Kellard

Instructor Biography:

Executive producer-writer-director; WGA/DGA member whose credits include both drama and comedy from The Wayans Brothers; Martin; Doogie Howser, MD; to Hooperman and The Inspectors. He has written series and pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC, Hulu, The Disney Channel, Showtime, FBC, and Syfy Channel. Mr. Kellard received an Emmy Award for instructional programming and the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award in Screenwriting, and is a contributing author to Inside the Room (Gotham Books/Penguin).

Instructor Statement:

It all starts with the story. We all have one. What is the story you want to tell in your half-hour comedy script? How will you tell it in a humorous way? How will you develop that story in a series of interconnecting scenes? What are the funny events that advance your story? How can you keep your characters believable in this story? Sitcom writing is a very specific kind of writing with its own structure and form. This course gets your story to a detailed scene-by-scene outline. You get valuable insight and a basic understanding of that before moving on to creating your story, and learn how to adapt your idea for that story into the requirements of an existing show. We all work together on your stories much like a real writing staff does, and you hear my experiences in writing for network television. If you haven’t dropped out after that, you may be destined to be a half-hour comedy writer.