Day 4: Generating New Material

[York99]

Justin York’s Philosophy on Improv
Day 4
Today’s Topic: Generating New Material

If you haven’t already, please read my post from Friday June 16 in the Classes section titled “So you think you know more about improv than Del Close, do you?â€

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

as someone who does both improv, sketch and other types of writing, i have to say...this doesn't work for me. I'm not saying it never works for anyone or to ignore all of this nonsense. Just offering a different point of view. Improv for me is great because it's like this immediate alchemy of my two great loves, writing and acting. I'm essentially doing both at the same time and it's really fulfilling. But because of that, my mind works in a different way when i'm improvising and when i'm writing a sketch. Improv has more immediacy, less permanence...which is awesome. It's what i love about improv. But not what i love about sketch. My sketch writing process is much more akin to when i'm writing a play. Hitting the emotional beats, playing with rhythm and structure, lyricism and language in a much tighter and cleaner way. Improv is wilder, rawer, less refined. To me, it'd be like a bunch of jazz musicians sitting down and improvising a set...riffing and combining and creating incredible music there in that moment. There might be a phrase or two that you really dig and want to lay down on a track later, but if you tried to take that session and transcribe it...listen to it, clean it up, write out the sheet music and what not and record it...you'd lose a lot of that magic. That's the key difference to me...improvisation and composition each have their strengths and weaknesses, and they can be interwoven occasionally to great effect. But mistaking one for the other, or using one as a full out means to the other is a disservice to both.

I think you also put a bit of pressure on the improv if you do it with the set out goal of "we're going to make this into a sketch or a TV pilot or...whatever!" Suddenly, it's leant an air of possible permanence which can confine and restrain a lot of the mad creative energy that makes prov so great. If you do a show and something in it inspires you to write it down or use some of it, great. But i don't think it's a good idea to set out with that goal.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule...so there must be even moreso when it's just a jackass like me theorizing on the internet. For instance, the Sicks developed a few good sketches using improv as a tool (Untouchable Love was written out of an improv scene between Jon and Smiley, and Hidden Nemesis and the finale to Revenge of the Sicks were basically me and Ben sitting around riffing lines off of one another and then refining them...though that's less improv and just me and Ben being goofballs). So as always, use whatever tools are necessary to get the job done and don't feel confined by maxims or philosophies, not even your own. Especially not your own. I guess all I'm really trying to say is the notion of improv as just a means to an end doesn't sit well with me. And I know that's not what Justin's advocating here, but i figured it couldn't hurt to provide some counterbalance in the other direction just to be sure.