Jim Mercurio

Let’s say you are writing an action-comedy like Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which two lovers are also enemies.

Do you still hate me?” and the response is “I do.” Your intention was to create a double entendre of “I do” because of its association with wedding vows. The text is “I hate you,” but the subtext is “I love you and will be with you forever.”

What if your spouse is the only one who gets the joke? Are you going to explain it away in the script, essentially killing the punch line? Sit with the situation and apply your conscious mind to what you wrote subconsciously. Can you create the necessary setup for the audience to understand it?