Conforming (a short) to a genre?

[JonathanLB]

I set out to write this very simple comedy short, an idea I came up with just last week, and I never write anything soon after I come up with it. Usually I let it sit for many months, if not years, and make sure I still like it. But I couldn't sleep one night, so I outlined it, and wrote it a few nights ago.

Now I'm having a problem, basically, because I like how I wrote it, I like the way this character is developed and fleshed out pretty fully for only a 6 page script (you know what's at stake, who he is, etc. within 2 pages), but my issue is that I don't find it that funny. Are there funny moments? Yeah, definitely. But it seems to be more of a quirky relationship drama with some humor, rather than being a short comedy. I just got done directing / writing a short comedy this year that played at Dances With Films (and accepted to Action on Film in Pasadena, now today accepted to Sacramento Film and Music Festival), so this is definitely a genre / style of writing I enjoy and know what's funny.

The issue is kind of weird, though, because at the same time I'm saying it's not that funny, I'm going to say it actually turned out better in writing than I thought it would be in outlining it. Somehow, it seems less like a one-joke gag, and more like a real character study, which is the type of thing I love. My last short was much like this in the sense that I saw it more as a character study than a comedy. It wasn't trying to be ha-ha funny, it was just about this character whose job and the situations that arise are naturally funny.

I guess I'm writing a similar thing here, but what do you think, does a short film have to conform (if it wants to be good, successful, get into festivals, etc. -- the goal) to a genre or can it be kind of character sketch with different elements? I think the potential exists to make this funnier, but I worry that those solutions would make it more slapstick / ridiculous and less meaningful / well written. Or if I went more the drama route, that may be the way to go, but then is it too short? It's 6 pages and there is no ending written, i.e. the last scene, so it could be about 7.5 pages or so.

I think it's highly dependent on a strong ending, perhaps something somewhat out of left-field, because it needs punch, it needs to be clear what the point of this short film was, rather than just being a one-joke pony it needs to be a significant moment in our main character's life, where some lesson is learned or progress made. That... is the part I haven't figured out yet.

If it's still unclear what I'm asking, put simply, when you sit down and write a short script let's say, do you know clearly what genre it is and try to conform to that genre specifically, without it being hard to classify?

 

[Cassius]

does a short film have to conform (if it wants to be good, successful, get into festivals, etc. -- the goal) to a genre

No.

It might sell better if people can identify a specific grouping for it quickly, but if it's well written it's well written. That's all that matters. Especially for lower budget indie stuff playing at festivals, the demographics tend to be more against conforming to a certain formula, which is essentially what changing you screenplay to fit expectations comes down to.

[edit]
To be clear, I use 'sell' as a generic term that doesn't necessarily involve the transfer of money.

 

[JonathanLB]

Hey,

Sure, that makes sense. I've seen quite a bit of quirky shorts at festivals that were a bit tough to classify. The main thing that made them work, for me, was originality and execution. If it's weird, different, not really commercial or mainstream, but it's very well executed and original, that is enough for me to be happy with it provided the pacing is good (i.e. I don't want something weird to drag on for 17 minutes).

I just finished the short script like 2 minutes ago, it's just onto the 8th page, so I don't think it should be much longer than about 7 minutes, or that's the idea at least.

The ending makes sense, it's one of those endings where 1) The character changes, grows as a person, 2) Is kind of shocking, but when you look back at the short you realize it makes perfect sense and is consistent with the events leading up to it, and 3) Adds a nice bit of comedy to end. The end line actually is fantastic, lol, reminds me of my first short where I really liked the final line, it was just poetic. This one is great too.

I now think that it's basically a quirky drama where the CONCEPT is funny, but the execution is more dramatic, so it's probably 70% drama and 30% comedy. It's just very weird, I'm not even sure what I think of it, because if you describe the basic idea people are going to laugh and say, "That's funny man, I want to see it!" But the script itself is more about one character's growth as a man, standing up for himself, and regaining his individuality. So far from being the one-joke skit that it almost set out to be, it became something more, somehow. I'm not sure if it'll work.