Students living away from one of the Second City Training Centers can still study comedy sketch writing! In Sketch Writing 1 students receive individual instruction through online correspondence, exploring the fundamentals of character development and theatrical scene structure. Exercises include a variety of comedic genres, from “Simple Yet Impossible Goal”…

Building on Online Sketch Writing 1, students will continue to learn the universal comedy techniques used in mainstream media as well as focusing on satire, character development and rewriting.

Major Concepts: Short history of sketch comedy, relationship, game and blackout sketches.

Class Work Examples: 2-Person relationship sketches aren’t…

In Online Sketch Writing 3 you will continue building the blocks of a sketch revue! Explore sketch structures that “break the rules”, including blackouts and clothesline scenes. Expand your ability to collaborate with other writers as you learn the structure of a Second City sketch revue.

Major Concepts: Specialty…

The culmination of the Online Writing Program allows you to strengthen your own voice as a writer as you explore concepts of satire founded in historical and personal events. Gain new tools for rewriting your sketches to strengthen the point of view. This term includes special workshops in songwriting and…

Character Cocktail Party is a character-focused sketch writing course where you’ll explore one specific character in many different situations/sketch types. This is a chance to start thinking about how a character can have a personality independent of one specific sketch idea. We’ll work on creating these sustainable characters and practice allowing…

Learn to turn your opinions into hilarious satirical sketches. In part one of this two-part advanced course, you’ll have a safe space to express your opinions, learn how to give them a comic twist and tools that will bring them to life on the page.

Satirical Sketch Comedy Writing is open…

Political satire is the name of the game in part two of this two-part course. Using parody and clash of context, students will put government, politics, and politicians’ feet to the fire.

This workshop is not offered every term. If you would like to be informed when it becomes available, please…

In Writing Strong Women you will create memorable female characters that DRIVE your piece. Writers (women AND men) will create sketches, monologues, stories and character pieces through writing exercises, analysis of text and a variety of writing assignments.

This workshop is not offered every term. If you would like to be…

Over this four-class intensive, learn to write short, satirical pieces in the style of McSweeney’s, The Beaverton, Reductress, Shouts and Murmurs, and The Onion. Explore the elements that make for especially powerful, smart, memorable and ~funny~ humour writing as you and your fellow students workshop…

This class teaches a solid, fundamental approach to acting that can be applied to any style or genre of material. After establishing a core process, put it immediately into practice by tackling different styles of scripts each week. Students learn and discuss key elements in scripts, as well as submit…

In Online Intro to Comedic Songwriting you will learn to turn a strong point of view into a great comedic song. Work with classic song structures to strengthen your lyrics, and discover how melody and musical style can influence your songwriting. In this four-week online course, you will receive specific,…

Take your comedy songs to the next level as you delve deeper into the craft of songwriting. Learn to make your jokes funnier, embrace song and style parody, and be a better collaborator. And dip your toes into writing for musical theater! Perfect for anyone who writes music and lyrics,…

Do you love Book of Mormon and Urinetown? Want to try your hand at writing the next Avenue Q or Drowsy Chaperone? Jump into the deep end with this crash course in writing the comedy musical. Learn about the nuts and bolts of character and musical theater story structure, and…

Develop yourself as a solo comedic performer by writing and workshopping your own material. By understanding how earlier stand-up comics evolved, students experiment outside their comfort zone and experiment in a variety of styles until discovering their own unique style. Students will be encouraged to perform in local open mics…

Have you been bitten by the storytelling bug? Live, true-storytelling is both a trendy new performance form popularized by public radio shows and creative community events, and one of the oldest forms of performance there is. Storytelling has been used to teach, inspire, entertain and galvanize since before the written…

A sellable screenplay = quit your day job. This class will help you create characters, understand structure & learn to pitch. You’ll end this course with an outline of your [awesome] screenplay idea as well as the start of your script.

This workshop is not offered every term. If you would…

Go from fleshed out idea to finished screenplay by getting immediate and expert critique on your writing, ultimately preparing you to not just finish the script, but market it.

This workshop is not offered every term. If you would like to be informed when it becomes available, please click here.…

In Online Writing for TV & Film students familiar with the Second City model of comedy writing will explore visual writing, story structure and character in preparation for creating longer works for TV and film. The class will read existing scripts, view film and television selections, and write and workshop…

You’ve been talking about your sitcom idea forever already. Make it happen! Learn what the market is looking for (seriously, what are they looking for?), how to present your idea, and make them laugh in the room. You’ll end this course with an original pitch packet – from log lines…

Write monologue jokes, desk bits, remote segments, sketch and more for shows like Fallon, Conan, Kimmel, Seth Myers, Colbert, Corden, Oliver, and Ellen. Pitch monologue jokes, brainstorm, explore and heighten material in this collaborative Writer’s Room environment. Create original material to strengthen your writing samples, and produce the elements to…

Building on Online Writing for Late Night TV and Talk Shows 1, this class will consist of joke maximizers for monologue jokes, finding the angle for your joke, monologue jokes with visual punch lines, bits or mini sketches within a monologue, rants on a topic like John Oliver/Seth Meyers, coming…

Students of this class do not need to log in at a certain time or day for streaming sessions, as content, exercises and assignments are on-demand.

According to agents and managers, in order to break into Hollywood, it’s useful to have a spec script, an original pilot, a screenplay (if you’re…

In this online course, students will write, produce, and record original content meant to be listened to in podcast format. Using free audio editing software Audacity, students will learn about and experiment with a variety of different styles of pieces and podcast formats. There are writing assignments as well as…

The Second City’s approach to playwriting is focused on two elements: improvisational writing and storytelling structure. In the first course in this program, students will gain the skills to generate from abundance, create three-dimensional characters and explore their stories. Over the course of this eight-week class, students will develop several…

You’ve mastered improvisational writing—now you’re ready to get deep, messy and metaphorical. Within the first few weeks of this course you will write several short plays which will be read and critiqued by your fellow playwrights. You will then begin developing a longer piece, culminating in the creation of a…

In this four-week online writing satire course, you will learn how to form a strong comedic point of view on topical news and pop culture events. You will brainstorm, draft and rewrite short pieces in the style of McSweeney’s, Shouts and Murmurs and The Second City Network. Internet presence, pitching,…

This second four-week satire writing intensive builds on the concepts learned in Satire 1 and puts an increased emphasis on writing at a professional level. Students will keep a running pitch document, have access to exclusive interviews with top editors and satire writers working today, and create a website for…

Portfolio, Pitching and Submitting Bootcamp

In this two-month class, the final in the Online Satire series, students will complete a writing portfolio that showcases their voice and POV, work to create a professional network, and focus on pitching and submitting finished pieces throughout the course. Topics covered…

Writing Your Web Series gives you the tools to help your web series succeed. Lecture and suggested reading will include character development, format, structure, and the business side and current landscape for web writing. You will outline your idea, write episodes and workshop them, hearing them read and getting live…

Join Kathleen Puls Andrade for an intensive look at the Voiceover industry and learn the skills needed to make it in this competitive field. You’ll be getting behind the mic (or phone, or laptop) to read scripts and get coaching either live with the class or one on one over…