September is National Sketch Writing Month

Exposition is ammunition

…is a phrase that applies to all narrative forms. The idea is that we never want to waste our audience’s time with flat exposition. In plays, we don’t want a narrator telling us about events we don’t see; in stories, we don’t want lengthy paragraphs without action; in sketches, we don’t want you to lay out your premise without playing it.

It is, in other words, another way of looking at ‘show, don’t tell.’

If you think your sketches are boring, check and see if you’re using your exposition as ammunition. Are you starting by explaining the premise, or are you starting in the middle of things? Do you feed the audience information as it becomes necessary, or are you starting off with a lot of details?

For example, this is a bad first line for a sketch:

VO: Welcome to the first International Summit Wherein All Nations Submit to China. As we all know, World War 3 ended a week ago as China beat all other nations to become the world’s last remaining superpower. As a show of mercy, the glorious nation of China will now allow each country a month to learn Chinese before they begin the grueling process of enslaving mankind. Oh, and as we see now, President Obama is kissing the feet of Earth Emperor Hu Jintao.

It’s just too much information. You can (and should!) have all these specifics throughout the scene, but give it to us bit by bit. It allows us to digest it easier.

A really good opening starts with a line, action, or some combination thereof that clearly establishes the situation of the sketch. We, as an audience, want to know what’s going as soon as possible. Once we have a grasp on that, then we want to know what about this scene is funny—the premise. Then we want to enjoy the premise—play the game.

We don’t want to drown in exposition. It should keeps us afloat, not drag us down.

post by loserbeam