super scripts mary evans @maryaliceevans [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
What is a script?
The text of a play, broadcast or movie.
www.thefreedictionary.com
So…Scripts have another purpose
They are a set of directions for a production
The reader isn’t (hopefully) the final destination
BUT
To get to their final destination…
THEY NEED TO BE A BLOODY GOOD READ!
Who is a novel for?The reader
Who is a script for? Actors
Script editors
Directors
Producers
Broadcasters
Agents
Costume/Make-up
Set Designers
And ultimately…
AN AUDIENCE
So always remember
Scripts are the basis for a production in
a different medium.
Our job as writers…Give clear instructions for a production
Be aware of the specifics of our medium (ie TV = visual, radio = aural)
Give actors clear indication of characters
Create the world in which the action takes place
Write a compelling plot with fizzing dialogue
Not our job as writers…Camera angles (this is the director’s job, so let
him/her do it)
Every movement, unless important to the story (also the director’s job)
How to say every line (give the actors a chance)
Soundtrack – unless important to the story
Title sequence (post-production)
TV ScriptsTV is a visual medium
We need to show, not tell
What does everything look like? (characters/setting)
Does it have to be said? Can it be shown?
What are people not saying?
Radio ScriptsRadio is an aural medium
We still need to show, not tell
We can’t rely on physical descriptions, so what else is going to put the listener in the world?
What sounds are significant?
Far more reliant on the subtleties of speech
How to construct a TV script
All scripts are comprised of a series of scenes, which are made up the same way:
Scene Heading
Action
CHARACTER NAME
Dialogue
How to construct a radio script
Scene no + title
F/X (Sound effect)
Character 1 name: Dialogue
Character 2 name: Dialogue
Scene headingsScene headings locate the action for audience
and production.
We need to know where we are and when:
Internal/External [INT/EXT] (ie indoors or outdoors?)
Where exactly are we (ie shop/house/field?)
What time of day is it? (ie, day or night?)
Scene headings
INT. MARY’S KITCHEN. DAY
EXT. NUDIST COLONY. NIGHT
INT. THE OLD FIRE STATION. NIGHT
EXT. TALBOT CAMPUS BUS STOP. DAY 1
Change of place or time
= change of scene
ActionSets the scene and who is in it
Provides excellent opportunities to Show Don’t Tell
Allows description – but only write what the audience can see/hear.
A character’s thoughts would need to be expressed another way.
Good Action
INT. MARY’S KITCHEN. DAY
MARY (24) a svelte brunette with a figure like a baby gazelle, lovingly puts the finishing touches to an Angry Birds birthday cake. The phone rings. She goes to ignore it, but sees the name and sighs. Her fingers covered in icing piggies, she gingerly picks up her mobile and crooks the phone under her ear.
Bad Action
INT. MARY’S KITCHEN. DAY
MARY (47) is thinking about all the things she wishes she still had – youth, stomach muscles, a pelvic floor. She remembers that magical holiday in Kavos last year where she met Dwaine and they embarked upon a passionate affair aboard a banana boat.
Flashback ActionINT. MARY’S KITCHEN. DAY
MARY (30s) looks lovingly at the Angry Birds cake she has just completed. She stares out of the window and her mind wanders.
EXT. KAVOS. DAY (FLASHBACK)
MARY is charging over the waves on a banana boat, her arms wrapped around DWAINE (25), a burly love-god from Walthamstow. She pulls a Jagermeister from her tankini and the lovers share a lingering swig.
FlashbacksThink absinthe – use with caution
Don’t use simply to tell backstory lazily
Only use where there’s no other way to impart information: ie secrets from other characters (Lost), expedient exposition (Desperate Housewives), flights of fancy (Miranda), comic effect (My Name is Earl).
As a rule, production companies don’t like flashback (despite its prevalence) – so really justify its existence
Character/DialogueCharacter names sit on top of dialogue, which is
centre justified:
MARY
No, Mr Clooney, I’ve told you before. I’m a happily
married woman.
Characters as narratorsIf your character isn’t present in the scene and
is narrating, you need to use (V.O.) = Voiceover
EXT. KAVOS. DAY
MARY frolics in the waves with DWAINE
MARY (V.O.)
How could I have possibly known then how that summer would change my life? Or just how resistant to antibiotics Chlamydia
has become?
NarratorsLike flashback – use with caution
Needs to be a very good reason for story being told this way (ie In Desperate Housewives Mary Alice is dead, so can bring us innermost thoughts and feelings of characters; Dexter and Nurse Jackie have secrets they can’t share with their world; My Mad Fat Diary is the private diary of a reluctant communicator)
Is your narrator homodiegetic = part of the story (Inbetweeners) or heterodiegetic = absent from the story (Desperate Housewives)?
Make the narrator more than a story cipher – give them a distinct character and voice
Scriptwriting SoftwareThere are various dedicated scriptwriting software applications available including Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, and CeltX.
The following open source scriptwriting software applications are currently available for free on the web
Celtx - a free media pre-production software designed for creating and organising screenplays, films, stageplays and audio plays and more.
Page 2 Stage - screenwriting software designed for people writing screenplays, scripts, and plays.
Five Sprockets - provides a range of free screenwriting software resources.
Taken from BBC writersroom: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/send-a-script/formatting-your-script
NB
It is not a requirement of this assignment that you use scriptwriting software.
A properly formatted Word doc will more than suffice.
The AssignmentWrite the opening scenes of an original TV or radio script (max. 1500 words). Remember to specify the targeted broadcast outlet and the intended audience. Also, write a critical evaluation of any broadcast scripted programme in the same medium and genre (max. 1000 words) with reference to the successes or failures of the script, and how those aspects influenced your own creative piece.
Due by 12noon MONDAY 13TH MAY
The First 10 PagesMost important part of a script. Need to establish:
Character – whose story is this?
World – where the heck are we?
Genre/Tone/Style – what will this be like?
Plot – particularly…
INCITING INCIDENT – the moment this world changed
Good ScriptsShow don’t tell
Have oodles of conflict (internal and external)
Give us complex, flawed characters
Create characters who want something…
…but are going to have a lot of trouble getting it
Use dialogue wisely with much subtext (Dialogue = what a character says; Subtext = what a character means)
Have their own identity – could only have been written by you
Bad ScriptsForget their medium (describing the furniture in
radio or a character’s first memory in TV)
Are implausible
Are derivative
Have clunky exposition/on-the-nose dialogue
Start in the wrong place
Leave us feeling ‘so what’?
Channeling your scriptEvery channel has a very different remit and
audience so research your options carefully
The channel you choose will dictate the tone (and possibly subject) of your script
Remember the watershed – different subjects must be handled differently (and possibly not at all) pre-9pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-harm-watershed/#television-scheduling-and-the-watershed
Radio and online have no watershed, but guidelines still apply
A Very Useful Thing
BBC writersroom
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/
A Useful ReadWriting Dialogue for Scripts: Rib Davis
(808.2/DAV)
Another Useful ReadMaking a Good Script Great: Linda Seger
(808.23/SEG)
Script Links: Life on Mars:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/life_on_mars_ep_1.pdf
Desperate Housewives: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/desperate_housewives_--_the_pilot.pdf
Ripper Street: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/ripper-street-episode-1.pdf
The Dumping Ground:http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/the-dumping-ground-s1-ep1.pdf
The Wire: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/the-wire-early-warning.pdf
Dexter: http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Dexter/Dexter_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf
NB if these links show as gobblydegook, highlight the address in your browser and hit return or copy links into your browser
Clip Links Life on Mars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rND6u6zo13A
Desperate Housewives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvGNtZ4KGzQ
Ripper St: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00wk6ps/Ripper_Street_I_Need_Light/
The Dumping Ground: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pr6fs/The_Dumping_Ground_Freedom_(Episodes_1_and_2)/
The Wire: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qwgjp/The_Wire_Early_Warning/
Dexter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDVZuqRuAYs