Would you submit a story like Juno to a comedy contest? I'm starting to revise a spec script about teenagers dealing with bullying, mental illness, and a predatory teacher. One of my peers reviewers suggested it reads more as a dark comedy than a drama, because of the wisecracking and over-the-top pranks. (But it disappointed as a comedy for some reasons, such as not all of the mean people receiving their comeuppance). I'm thinking of going with this, and making it conform to the comedy genre a bit more, and make the dialogue funnier. I'm also interested in submitting it to the Happy Writers comedy contest. ...but it still won't be THAT funny. It will be a lot more like Juno than Mean Girls. Am I setting myself up for failure by trying to promote this kind of script as a comedy?
Screenwriting : The line between drama and comedy by Dylan Zim
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It won't hurt to enter it - it's the only way to know. The thing about writing comedy is that if you make it funny, then it won't be funny anymore. But if you make your characters do things that are absurd and outlandish then they become funny. Anyway, I'm not a comedy writer so I wouldn't know. This is just my two pennies. Good luck! :)
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Thanks for the insights. My script is definitely closer to a traditional comedy than Juno is, so I'll go for it.