TV FORMAT FUNDAMENTALS: MULTI-CAM SITCOMS

Here in the WGF Library, our aim is to help you hone your ability to study TV shows (and their scripts). After all, it’s through this rigorous study that one hopefully becomes a better, more thoughtful writer. With this in mind, we offer a new blog series that explores the background, elements and style of a handful of scripted TV formats. Welcome to TV Format Fundamentals!

To foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for TV writing craft, with each new post we’ll take a glance at a new TV format, delving into its peculiarities on the page.

First up: The multi-cam sitcom.

While multi-cam sitcoms are a rare sighting on TV today, they represent some of the most popular shows in American television history. The DNA of even the most current television comedy can be found in I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Good Times… Having a solid grasp on the origins and architecture of the multi-cam in your writerly toolbox will only make you a more viable storyteller… no matter your preferred format or genre.

Let’s begin with a question you might already know the answer to:

What is a situation comedy?

Let’s define sitcoms as shows in which a specific group of characters find themselves in a new, ridiculous situation with each episode. The humor occurs as they struggle to get out of that situation. 

When we refer to a sitcom as “multi-cam” we mean that this particular sitcom is captured—usually over the course of one evening—in front of a live audience (like a play) using multiple cameras. It’s useful to note that while a single cam sitcom can be filmed using multiple cameras at a time, it’s the live studio audience that makes a show “multi-cam.”  

What we now know as the “multi-cam sitcom” became codified in the 1950s with I Love Lucy, the first television show to be shot on 35mm film in front of a live studio audience with multiple cameras. 

Over the years the format hasn’t evolved much. Why tinker with something that works?

Lucy’s scheming for fame gets her (and usually Ethel) into trouble… and she spends the rest of the episode trying to get herself out of it, much to the chagrin of her sensible husband Ricky. 

Much like radio scripts/shows of the era (the purpose of which was to sell sponsors’ products), I Love Lucy delineates in its scripts a place for a middle commercial and a closing commercial. 

Over time, the commercial breaks became act breaks. Multi-cam sitcoms have more or less kept the same two-act format over the years. The characters get into trouble in the first act and struggle to get out of it in the second act. 

Some shows adhere strictly to the two-act structure, like All in the Family (and many of the Norman Lear-produced shows from the 1970s-80s), Designing Women, Diff’rent Strokes, Married… with Children…

The Honeymooners uses three acts….

Some shows add a cold opening to the two acts, i.e. - Cheers, A Different World, Ellen, Mad About You….

Some shows add a tag, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Family Ties…

Some shows add a cold opening AND a tag, i.e. - Girlfriends, How I Met Your Mother, The Nanny, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The George Lopez Show…

Some shows add a cold opening AND a tag to the Honeymooners three-act structure. After all, on network television there are many more commercial breaks these days! (Examples include: One Day at a Time on Pop! and the new seasons of Will & Grace)

The nature of filming in front of a live studio audience necessitates certain things of a multi-cam sitcom script.

The more multi-cam shows you watch (or scripts you read), you’ll notice that most shows rely on one or two centralized locations, where frequent “situations” are likely to arise. Also, with one or two locations, the set doesn’t have to be changed out very often. These primary locations are often homes or places of work.

Within the centralized location is one core group of people — family, co-workers, friends, found family — who occupy the space.

Much like a play, multi-cam sitcom scripts are very, very lean and economic in terms of description, which is always CAPITALIZED.  The dialogue is always double spaced, making the script 2 times longer than a single-cam comedy script.

Let’s take a look at how all of the elements coalesce in a classic sitcom script. We’ll look at a first-season episode of Living Single.

CASE STUDY

LIVING SINGLE “BURGLAR IN THE HOUSE”

Written by Becky Hartman & Yvette Lee Bowser

Whenever we hand this particular script to a patron, without fail a few minutes later, we hear them trying to stifle giggles in the silent library as they read.

After all, Living Single has a great sitcom world: Three roommates in a Brooklyn brownstone, their guy neighbors who occupy the second apartment, and their lawyer friend Max. The latter three enjoy coming over uninvited.

New, comedic situations are endless — arising from everyday apartment crises to petty roommate spats and much, much more.

Like all the great sitcoms, Living Single gets exceptional mileage and effortless laughs from the outrageousness of its characters. Archetypes and stock characters have been at the root of comedy for millennia. Here, Khadijah is the level-headed center, trying to keep peace and stay sane with her guileless cousin Synclaire, materialistic Regine, brash Max, pompous Kyle and sweet, simple Overton.

“Burglar in the House” is a particularly effective sitcom episode in that it utilizes just the one main location and no big guest stars, relying on the friction between roommates and friends to generate story and laughs. In general, Living Single utilizes the teaser, act one, act two, tag format.

Let’s look at how this 42-page gets its characters into trouble in the first act and gets them out of it in the second.

TEASER (1.5 pages)

The teaser sets up the ordinary world. The girls are at home, eating diet food… as Kyle and Overton sit with them and watch. Note the formatting: every scene lists the characters present with a parenthetical. Almost all multi-cam sitcoms do this.

This teaser ends with a catalyst. Regine comes home wearing one shoe to announce that someone snatched her purse on the subway.

ACT ONE / SCENE A (4 pages)

Different sitcoms put their own spin on the traditional formatting. Note how Living Single underlines its act and scene headings and always reminds the reader of the act number up near the page number.

At the end of this first scene, the situation presents itself. The person that mugged Regine now has her wallet, knows where she lives and could track her down. Simply put: The girls get into trouble at the start of act one.

ACT ONE / SCENE B (5.5 pages)

The comedy arises from Khadijah trying to find a reasonable solution to this problem…. and everyone getting in her way.

At the end of the scene, the girls decide all they can afford for security is fake alarm stickers and “Doberman in a can” to scare off any potential burglars.

ACT ONE / SCENE C (5 pages)

Because they’re scared, Synclaire and Regine insist on sleeping in Khadijah’s room. While they’re all trying to sleep, they hear someone break in downstairs.

Note the joke: Khadijah is the logical one, but asks for her NUNCHUCKS to protect herself… where Synclaire grabs a shoe and Regine grabs a bible. The idea of the women taking on a burglar with these items is hilarious.

ACT ONE / SCENE D (1.5 pages)

Here, at the end of act one, the girls are fully in trouble. Someone has just burgled their apartment… and they weren’t able to stop them.

ACT TWO / SCENE E (4.5 pages)

Now, at the top of act two, the roommates try to get out of their situation… Poor Synclaire and her Spoons of the World collection!

As the level-headed one, Khadijah not only must deal with the antics of her roommates and neighbors, but also with the complete ineptitude of the police detectives looking into the case. Note: the hilarity of Kyle referring to Max as a gargoyle.

ACT TWO / SCENE H (2 pages)

The roommates lament their inability to find a solution to their problem. Note: Regine’s rejecting the idea of getting a gun is a perfect triple.

Setup: “…one of us could get hurt.”

Setup #2: “I could get hurt.”

Pay-off: “We live with Synclaire.”

ACT TWO / SCENE J (3 pages)

Overton tries to help the girls by installing an alarm… this, too, isn’t very effective.

ACT TWO / SCENE K (4 pages)

Because this is Living Single and it’s a show about how this group of friends takes care of each other like family, Kyle and Overton stay with the girls despite being scared. There’s a sense of having and gaining something despite the material losses — and it’s a nice, warm feeling to have as a viewer/reader.

ACT TWO / SCENE L (6.5 pages)

The warmth and sweetness dissipates as THE BURGLARS ARE BACK! Note: the joke pay-off of Khadijah asking for her nunchucks again!

As it turns out, this time the “burglar” is just Regine in the kitchen, eating a snack. The girls realize they are scaring each other and decide they can’t live like this… and thus resolve their situation. Like every great sitcom episode, the reaction to the problem is ALWAYS bigger than the problem itself. That’s where the humor comes from.

TAG (1.5 pages)

Living Single has a fun gimmick for a lot of its tags, wherein the characters are heard off-camera while we see a particular visual. In this case, Synclaire gets her attack pig after all.

Learning to identify and articulate this episodic structure and why it’s funny might help you in building your own comedic and script-drafting muscles… No matter what you write!

Knowing the big tenets of multi-cam comedy can also help you if you decide to spec a show down the road. As we always say, you can’t build a car unless you first have a solid understanding of how a car runs. The same thing goes with scripts.

Until next time, happy writing!