Has anyone any tips for formatting short audio scripts? Saw this open call and want to apply.
Open call for scripts for audio comedy sketches (<1 min) focused on UK politics and anti-austerity. Email us at info@radeasproductions.com
https://twitter.com/RadeasProductio/status/620958512605171712
Quote: sam wise @ 14th July 2015, 3:14 PM BSTHas anyone any tips for formatting short audio scripts? Saw this open call and want to apply.
Open call for scripts for audio comedy sketches (<1 min) focused on UK politics and anti-austerity. Email us at info@radeasproductions.com
https://twitter.com/RadeasProductio/status/620958512605171712
There's this -
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/bbcradioscene.pdf
Plus there's this-
How dare you pick on a hobbit, Lazzard!
Give 'em what they want.
Then give 'em what they need - that's my policy.
And, anyway, if he can't master the basics of the internet he's going to come horribly unstuck in Mordor.
I think format is everything.
If only you can get the right format then the rest just falls nicely into place.
Well, it does in my scripts anyway.
BBC can't get enough of 'em!!!
The BBC's opinions of Frankie's scripts remain unrecorded.
Q. You know who gives a f*** about formatting?
A. Bad writers.
There is the alternative argument that says, because it's so easy to get right, to get it wrong makes you look lazy.
Format is essential
Quote: Lazzard @ 26th July 2015, 5:34 PM BSTThere is the alternative argument that says, because it's so easy to get right, to get it wrong makes you look lazy.
A script perfectly formatted for one production company might not be quite so perfectly formatted for another.
If your script is good, the prodco will have somebody in-house set it out in their desired appropriate format.
Believe me, they'd rather have a great script written by hand with a rusty nail on the back of a beer mat than a crap script beautifully printed and perfectly formatted.
Yes, by all means format your scripts appropriately if you happen to know how a particular prodco likes them formatted.
But worry about format? Never!
If the dialogue and directions are clearly written and easy to understand, nobody but nobody is going to reject a script on grounds of 'format'.
Some of us have the good fortune to be able to speak directly to the people who commission stuff.
As you rightly say, they look to the quality of the content rather than presentation.
Having said, I've rarely seen them clutching anything written in crayon to their chest.
Most people, however, have to go through the slush pile or the competition sift - where you are in the hands of people who don't really know what they're looking for - just that they've got to bin of 80% of what lands on their desk.
What better way - in lieu of a critical eye - than to junk all those that don't look like scripts.
Surely, if they can't be arsed to get the format right, they won't have spent much time getting the rest of it right?
Unfair. But such is life.
Spend 20 minutes on formatting.
Then at least you'll know your script was rejected because it was just a bit pants.
Also isn't a lot down to timing, a correctly formatted page should tak a minute of screen time.
Quote: Lazzard @ 27th July 2015, 9:47 AM BSTSome of us have the good fortune to be able to speak directly to the people who commission stuff.
As you rightly say, they look to the quality of the content rather than presentation.
Having said, I've rarely seen them clutching anything written in crayon to their chest.
Most people, however, have to go through the slush pile or the competition sift - where you are in the hands of people who don't really know what they're looking for - just that they've got to bin of 80% of what lands on their desk.
What better way - in lieu of a critical eye - than to junk all those that don't look like scripts.
Surely, if they can't be arsed to get the format right, they won't have spent much time getting the rest of it right?
Unfair. But such is life.
Spend 20 minutes on formatting.
Then at least you'll know your script was rejected because it was just a bit pants.
Fair points all, Lazzard.
I do sometimes exaggerate for comedic effect and would certainly not advise any BCG reader to submit a script written on the back of a beer mat.
As you say, when one submits a script it should at the very least LOOK like a script.
Quote: sootyj @ 27th July 2015, 10:03 AM BSTAlso isn't a lot down to timing, a correctly formatted page should tak a minute of screen time.
Not wishing to get geeky, but that only works for screenplay format.
With something like the BBC's scripted drama format a half-hour is closer to 40 pages IIRC.
Even in screenplay it's a moot point - very much dependent on genre.
In something a bit arty a single line can be 20 seconds.
Whereas in a wise-cracking comedy, say, a page can rattle by in 40.
Having said that, if your delivering a script in the format they're used to it makes their life easier.