Planet Ant Training Center

Welcome to Sketch 1!

With our sketch program, you’ll get to write the kind of comedy YOU want to write. Our classes leave what’s funny up to you. You’ll get a litany of tools, vocabulary, and techniques that will make it easier to get the sketch comedy results you want. In addition to being taught by experts, our small class sizes allow everyone to have lots of class time spent on their work.

Each week, class-submitted sketches are read aloud and are followed by honest, workable feedback with class discussion led by your instructor. You’ll learn how to do pitches, beat out concepts, generate scene ideas, and get those pesky words on your page to do what you want. Every class, you’ll get the feeling of being in a comedy writing room as you hear and discuss hilarious original sketches while honing your skills.

Each level of our unique Sketch Program builds on the previous one and culminates in a 2-weekend full-stage production. Your class gets to decide everything about your show: The poster, marketing, concept, props, characters, sketches, choice of actors, sound effects, video, and stage direction are all up to you!

Additionally, if you take all 5 levels of the course and complete all the assignments, you’ll have a portfolio of 30 written works in various styles that are worthy of submission to a professional comedy writing gig.

Sketch Program Overview
Sketch 1: The Basics (THIS COURSE): This course focuses on establishing all the basics of sketch writing as well as vocabulary and idea generation.
Level 2: Comedy Styles: This level takes the students through all established styles of sketch, allowing them to identify and write all types of comedy.
Level 3: Satire: Satire is the focus of this level. Both political and social satire are explored and discussed. By the end, students will not only have written multiple satire-based sketches, but will also have a solid understanding of what satire is and how to mine the news and life experience for sketch ideas.
Level 4: Group Writing: In this series of classes, students will be given multiple assignments that get them to write with other class members. The challenges of group comedy writing are identified as well as the benefits. By the end of this session, students will have tools at their disposal that will allow them to collaborate without friction.
Level 5: The Production: At this level, students will script, audition, cast, rehearse, direct, and run a sketch comedy production in any style that the group decides.

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STUDENT HANDBOOK

Planet Ant's regularly updated student handbook offers students a central location for all the information you need to know about our classes, policies, and more.