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Writing for Drama

A Quick Checklist for Radio Scripts

Listen to radio plays – to decide what you like and don’t like, and what works and doesn’t work for you

A common misconception is that radio is about words! You don’t need to over-write to compensate for a lack of visuals, you simply need to cleverly release information through the action

You might need to include include more frequent naming of your characters – this helps the listener know who’s there and who isn’t

Unlike theatre, you don’t need to worry about exits and entrances – but beware a character who suddenly pops up in the middle of a scene without being introduced, or who falls silent and inexplicably “disappears” from a scence

As with any writing, characters telling each other what they already know is not good drama

Remember in radio dialogue, what’s not said is as interesting as what is – listeners will pick this up

Because your play will be heard, it is a good idea to read it aloud – yourself, or with a group friends.

Two characters talking in a room is not good radio! Think about varying locations, scene lengths and the number of characters scene to scene

You’re not constrained by the exigencies of a set – you can, quite literally, go anywhere (though there needs to be a reason why you’re going there)

Beware the narrator. Narration, or the voice over, can be great radio techniques, but they have to be earned, or integral to the plot, not used because you find the scene too hard to write in dialogue

The best dramas are not one idea, but two ideas colliding

Fifty-three minutes is a lot of radio time. You need to be secure in what your story is and that it develops sufficiently

People are fascinated by what happens to other people, what happens between them, what they do to one another. Good radio is good story-telling, with development and characters we care about

Good scenes will always be doing more than one thing

A 53’ play is usually somewhere between 45 and 50 A4 pages in Drama Script Format

The approximate maximum word length (including all character names and SFX notes) is 9,000 words.

Budgetary constraints mean you’re generally considering a maximum cast of about eight (but remember on radio characters can double).

See also Why Write For Radio.