You Asked ... Larry Doyle, "I Love You, Beth Cooper"

StoryLink's August Featured Screenwriter is Larry Doyle, who wrote the film I Love You, Beth Cooper, as well as the novel, which won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor. I Love You, Beth Cooper, which opened July 10, is about a nerdy valedictorian who proclaims his love for the most popular girl in school during his graduation speech. His proclamation leads to the best night of his life.

In addition to screenwriting, the multi-faceted Doyle's writing experience includes news reporting, comic strips, editing magazines (including Spy), and writing for The Simpsons, for which he won two Emmy Awards. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and has written for Esquireand GQ.

His "big break" was getting a piece called "Life Without Leann" in the New Yorker. "I got it by writing and sending in dozens of other pieces until I did one they liked enough to publish," he recalls.

Doyle answers questions from the StoryLink Community about writing comedy in different mediums, storytelling, technique, and more. Those whose questions were chosen will receive The Dialogue: Learning from the Masters DVD (Winner's Choice) from The Writers Store.

When you're working on a story, and you crash into a wall creatively, what techniques do you use to break through and finish telling the tale you set out to spin? - Gene

No technique, just brute force. If I have to come up with a solution, I think about it obsessively – driving, showering, falling asleep – until an answer comes to me. If there is no urgency to figure it out, I usually drop it and pick it back up again after/if the solution occurs to me. Years can pass.

How do you keep a balance between "over the top" enough for youthful humor without going too far and losing your audience? - Elisa

I don't worry about going over the top. In this business, there is always someone else who will pull you back, but few who will push you to the edge.

It's been said that a great deal of comedy originates from pain or other malfunction in life. Do you agree with this premise and if so, how do you use it in your work? - Joe

I seem to work in the pain genre a lot, to a fault, I've been told. But I've never analyzed it. I do think that most great comedy comes from identifying with the character, and strong emotions are part of that.

How did you manage to keep the dialogue fresh and relevant when writing about the "teen world"? It's a whole Universe on itself, with codes, particular use of language and definitely a different set of values. How do you break the barrier to sound not just as an outsider, but as someone who can give those teens a voice that is truthful. - Salvador

The codes and language do change every few years, but what it means to be a teenager never does. It's relatively easy to research the correct word choices and speech patterns. The rest is universal. As far as fresh, well, it's fresh when it's happening to you.

I'm a screenwriter, novelist, and playwright, with my creative impulses evidently going in so many directions. How you do manage your time among being a news writer, screenwriter, GQ and New Yorker contributor without sacrificing quality in any one discipline? - Daniel

That's an accumulation of experience, over a number of years. Now I mostly make my living writing screenplays, and when I can, writing things for the New Yorker. Those are both humor, so it's not like I'm eclectic.

Who's been your biggest inspiration to lead you to all your years of experience in novel and television writing and producing?- Kurt

I got the idea to write from reading some short stories my father published when he was young, and so, as corny as that sounds, it was him.

When you write a comedy screenplay do you work through the story first and then add the jokes or do you work out the jokes first and write the screenplay around them? - Stephen

Story always comes first. On The Simpsons, we spent days on the story before adding the jokes.

I would like to know your process for adapting novels and short stories to script format. With all the information in a novel how do you determine what to include, what to leave out and what to change all together? - Susan

First, I take out everything that doesn't have to be there for the story to work. If it's still too long, I think about the story turns and see if there is any way to combine them to tell the story in a shorter period. If it's too short, I put back in the great parts I didn't want to cut.

When making a comedy movie like I Love You Beth Cooper was it hard to make the character Beth Cooper since her character arc changed from her being the most popular girl in high school to her being insecure about her future? - Future Filmer

In the book, it was easy to direct the reader's attention to clues that there was something going on beneath the surface. In the movie, you have to rely on the actress to convey that. Fortunately, Hayden did a wonderful job, imo.

How difficult is it to work on an animated series not of your own creation where the mythos has been firmly established like in Mike Judge's BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD or Matt Groening's THE SIMPSONS. - James

I find it a lot easier, because the hard work is already done. I suppose if I didn't "get" the characters, it would be hard. But those two shows, in very different ways, created indelible characters that kept giving and giving.