How to Make a Funny Commercial

TV commercials can build rapport in seconds.

Commercials on television and the radio can make us laugh and build rapport in as little as 15 seconds. Producing a funny commercial takes careful planning, with humor developing from real-life situations, conflict and resolution. Real-life people, speaking real-life dialogue can deliver laughs that grab the attention of the viewer or listener.

Things You'll Need

• Product or service
• Script
• Editorial review
• Casting
• Production budget

Instructions

Television

1. 

   Commercials can feature products, people or animals for laughs.

   Select a real-life situation to give a context for the product or service being promoted, and remember: "Humor is not just jokes...there is humor in every scene, just as there is in every situation in life," writes author Michael Shurtleff in the book "Audition." Write the conflict between the characters to illustrate the problem needing to be solved. Review the treatment and first draft script and ask "Is it realistic? Skewed? Satiric?" asks casting director Stuart Stone in his book for actors, titled "Acting Out."

2. Write a treatment of the commercial that starts with basic information, like a person pouring dressing on a salad or a wife trying to open a jar lid. Add an exaggerated quality: the person who eats the salad dressing has a bursting smile and comes up with a brilliant idea for her business; or the husband who opens the jar using a rubber gripper turns into a superman. Create "memorable characters," advises screenwriter Lew Hunter in "Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434." (See References 3). Rely on key visual cues, not just dialogue, to focus on the story, such as a diminutive husband opening the jar using the rubber gripper. Use little dialogue and let the images tell the story. Compare the obvious with the less obvious: a bearded man who looks like a football lineman struggles to open a jar with a frowning spouse watching, while a split screen shows the low-key, weak-armed, slightly balding, middle-aged dad using the rubber gripper and "wowing" his wife.

3. Cast real people using actors from local talent agencies, community colleges or theater groups. Audition the performers to ensure they can deliver lines conversationally and not in overarching theatrical postures. They should simply deliver the lines and reveal a depth of personality.

4. Set a budget for camera, audio, directing, basic makeup and editing. Purchase liability insurance and film permits for the city where the shoot takes place.

Radio

1. Introduce the context in one sentence lasting about 10 seconds or dialogue between two characters lasting about the same length of time. Write in a real-life conversational voice. Focus on a specific outcome for the ad or ad campaign, like Los Angeles-based mattress manufacturer Sit 'n Sleep did with the company founder and accountant Irwin, who complained about the low prices, noted on Dailybreeze.com in July 2009.

2. Cast actors who have voices that stand out as quirky or matter-of-fact, with timing to deliver a twist. Use sound effects to illustrate the situation occurring, whether an explosive sound for a brilliant idea or a rooster crowing instead of an alarm clock. Or use sounds to create comparisons, like a galloping horse outrunning a car.

3. Repeat the product name two or three times, the website address of the client or the phone number if one is used. Try to end the ad with one tag line that can be repeated in future commercials.

Tips & Warnings

• Start first with the characters and the situation that involves them.

• Do not use puns.

References

• "Audition"; Michael Shurtloff; 1978
• "Acting Out"; Stuart Stone; 2003
• "Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434"; Lew Hunter; 1993
• Dailybreeze: Businesscolumnists: Business Casual Sit 'n Sleep's New Ad Campaign

Resources

• Dick Orkin's Radio Ranch
• 411 Publishing