The Variety of Media Types and Script Formats
In this course you will learn that all media will not use the same format for their scripts, though you will find many similarities. Probably the area that all scripts have the most in common is the area of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. All media scripts are similar in that they can be performed or produced. Media scripts differ because of different media characteristics, project deadlines, production requirements, and production environments. For example, because radio’s characteristics are that it is limited to audio only, it would be ridiculous to put video cues or directions in a script intended for radio delivery.
The Standard Radio Format
Standard radio format will cover various types of copy or scripts such as radio news, radio advertising and promotional copy, radio public service copy, audio drama.
Writers use radio format for any production intended to be interpreted only through sound (the human voice, sound effects, music, silence). In standard radio format, the audio source, such as the human voice (designated as ANNCR for announcer, TALENT, or a character name) SFX (for sound effects), MUSIC (for a music cue) appears on the left, followed by a colon and either copy for talent to interpret (in upper and lower case) or CUES (in all caps) for production personnel. Fully scripted radio promotions tend to have the most production intensive copy. However, National Public Radio (www.npr.org) tends to air longer and more heavily produced pieces than does standard commercial radio, whether they are through news programming or special shows such as Prairie Home Companion, which creates dramatic script for some segments. http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
Radio Script Format Conventions:
- one side of a page only (if printed as hard copy)
- Double-space all copy
- Type instructions for sound effects and music in ALL CAPS.
- Underline music cues.
- Type talent instructions in parentheses. (Some copywriters will capitalize instructions to talent, many keep capitalizing for control booth/production personnel only. This is the preferred standard and the standard I ask you to use. Upper and lower case for talent; all caps for control room.)
- Only one story or spot on a printed page. (People still use paper in some radio stations and advertising agencies.)
- Type audio source (Speaker, Music, SFX) in all caps.
- Copy data appears at the tope of the page. Minimal copy data includes: a story tag (if news copy) or the client's name (if ad copy), author of the spot, length, date.
- If copy is lengthy and needs multiple pages: never split a sentence between two pages, type MORE in all caps and in parenthesis, and center at the bottom of the first page, begin next page with copy data in the upper left hand corner and "PAGE TWO" in all caps in the upper right hand corner.
- If delivering copy as hard copy and there is not time to reprint, correct copy by blacking out problems and neatly hand printing or typing in the correction. Electronic delivery must be clean and error-free.
- Avoid abbreviations except for Mr. Mrs. Dr. Ms.
- If initials are to be read as initials, type in capital letters separated by hyphens.
Y-W-C-A
If initials are to be read as an acronym, write initials in a solid combination of letters.
MADD - Avoid A.M. and P.M. Write out the time of day.
- Keep it conversational. Use contractions. Avoid clichés and overworked superlatives.
- Avoid question leads that invite audiences to mentally argue with you.
- Simplify numbers: 50 cents, 5 thousand, one-third, 8-point-8 percent, under 90 thousand.
In the sample radio script, you’ll see announcer copy, sound effects cues, a music cue and a tag. This script is for ad copy but news copy looks very similar only more simple because news rarely has sound effects or music cues included in the copy.
Click the image below to view a sample radio radio script. You can drag the enlarged image around. Click a second time on the image to close the enlarged size. (a larger, printer-friendly version of this script is also loaded as a PDF file in the "Examples & Helps" area of your course.)
Writers for ad-lib programming will develop Radio Semi-script or Rundown sheets for those programs. Ad-lib is the process of allowing talent to just “make it up as they go along,” which is what happens in talk shows, where much of the material is improvised or delivered extemporaneously. Such programs also include radio interview, call-in programs, and game shows. For example, if you listen to the game show, “Wait, Wait --Don’t Tell Me,” you can see that a good deal of the program is extemporaneous. Produced by Chicago Public Radio in front of a live audience at the Chase Auditorium and distributed by NPR over broadcast radio and over the Internet via podcasts, “Wait Wait-- Don't Tell Me!” is an hour-long weekly quiz game show that tests contestants knowledge of the news. Peter Sagal hosts and Carl Kasell is the official judge and scorekeeper. http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/
The writer develops a rundown sheet for a talk or variety program, showing the structure of the program, the order of guest’s appearances, and where commercial breaks will occur. In the case of a game show, the questions might be developed by writer-producers. The writer may also fully script introductions and teases into commercial breaks, if the host needs this kind of help. A bare bones outline is a rundown sheet. A rundown sheet that includes some fully scripted elements is called a semi-script. An example of a popular call-in radio program is “Car Talk,” hosted by brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi (Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers), who are experts on car maintenance. A caller is screened and preselected by producers in advance of the “live” show. Most of the show deals with questions from callers about automobile maintenance and repair. The Magliozzi brothers will attempt to diagnose the caller’s car troubles and offer suggestions. The show gained popularity because of the brother’s comedy. In addition to calls, the show features a “puzzler,” which is usually an automobile related riddle, which they invite the public to solve. http://www.cartalk.com/
Radio ad-lib Advertisement
Audiences can often hear this type of commercial advertising on morning drive radio programs where the morning drive Deejay is very popular or there is a popular pair of co-hosts during the morning drive time. In radio, drive times are periods where a lot of commuters are in their cars going to or from work. These time periods command a heavier price tag for advertising. Morning drive often has a larger audience than afternoon drive. An ad-lib spot is one the Deejay will work into the morning chatter. In these cases the writer presents talent with talking points that must be worked into the morning chatter. There is some risk with ad-lib. The client never knows exactly what the Deejay will say and is sometimes not happy with the outcome.