How To Work With A Comedy Writer

It doesn't matter if you're a comedian, entertainer, business leader, professional speaker, or cartoonist, the chances are high that you will need to work with a comedy writer at some stage in your career and/or business. It's important to have a good understanding of what a comedy writer can do for you, what you should expect from him or her, and how to select the best comedy writer for you.

What can you expect from this hub? As someone who works as a comedy writer you are receiving up-to-date information, someone who has extensive experience working in different genre's of comedy, and someone who has fostered successful partnerships with industry leaders. I hope this hub helps you in finding and fostering a working relationship with a comedy writer.

But first, what can a comedy writer do for your career and business? Whatever industry you're in, polished comedy will gain you attention from your audience and potential clients, and your message will be remembered when you use appropriate humour. People love to laugh, and will love you and remember you if you make them laugh. Funny people are more popular and successful. Great for your career and business, giving you more work and higher fees, and your products and services will get more attention. So it makes perfect sense to work with a comedy writer.

How to find a comedy writer that's right for you. If you want good material, expect to pay top dollar. Writers expect and deserve to be paid top fees. Too many publications and performers will expect a writer to work for free or for very low fees. Before working with someone you need to respect the written word and the writer, who works hard to produce the best possible outcome for you. It's the best start you can have when working with a writer.

Don't expect someone to write a brilliant first draft. A piece needs to be written and rewritten over and over until it's polished and, of course, funny! You will want to have a close working relationship with someone who is willing to workshop and brainstorm the material with you, and be a second ear when you perform, and be able to attend creative meetings in person or via conference call. The same is true if you need humour for any published material, including web content.

To find a good comedy writer, let everyone know you are wanting to hire someone to write for you by networking, contacting writing organisations, and asking people in the comedy industry if they can recommend someone. I would then audition the writer by inviting them to your show or send them a CD or DVD. If you need humor for a publication give them samples and a premise of what you want them to do. Get them to spot strengths and weaknesses, and ask them to come up with comedy where they they think it's needed. This is a try out to see if you both like each other, and whether the person is funny. You want to know if he has a comedy brain. That he has a sense of comedy, and knows what he/she is doing.

How much is this going to cost?Now this all depends on what you want and how much you are willing to spend. If you just want a few jokes for your act it might cost you $5 or $10 per joke. A humorous article might be from $10 upwards, depending on circulation. A five minute routine might cost anywhere from $1000 to $2,500. For instance, I charge $125 an hour to write jokes for professional speakers with a minimum of 4 hours work. I don't charge for rewrites, and my guarantee is that I will keep working on the material until they're happy with it.  It all depends on what you want. If you want someone who can write good material, go to your shows and meetings, give you feedback, criticism, develop and rewrite your material until it's just right, then it's probably a good idea to put them on a monthly retainer. How much you pay them is up to how much experience the writer has and how much you want them to do. For beginning writers you might pay them $100 a month to write and rewrite etc one page of jokes per week. Others with more experience you might pay $100 per week as long as they write 4 pages of jokes, including all the other jobs you want them to do.

I hope you got good information from this hub, but if you have any questions please just leave a comment and I will get back with you as soon as possible. Watch out for more hubs on comedy writing.