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Writing for Drama

Radio Drama: A writer’s dream!

Radio is unlike any other medium in its ability to both create extraordinary dramatic situations, as well as being able to make intimate, understated dialogue utterly compelling.

"They say blindness has the effect of sharpening the other senses. It's the same with radio - the absence of vision means we fine-tune our hearing, we become more sensitive to subtleties of tone. We hear people at a deeper, more insightful level than if we can see them. That's what gives radio its power - and it's a power which writers in particular should revel in.

"Radio takes us direct to the scene of a drama - wherever that scene may be set - and immerses us in it. There are no impediments with radio, no convincing to be done. It just is - what and where it says it is." - Ken Duncum

Radio drama uses the most powerful imaging tool available – the individual human imagination.

‘Setting? Anything! A boardroom, a boudoir, or a Bentley. Your characters can be on a tea clipper, on Mars, or on amphetamines. And you can switch to and from any of these in an instant. Time? Right now, in the past, or in the future. Characters? They can be beautiful or repulsive. The secret? It's the listeners who do the work!’ - Roger Hall

When you write for radio you join the ranks of some of the most innovative and exciting playwrights of our time – Anthony Minghella, Tom Stoppard, Renee, Douglas Adams, Briar Grace-Smith, Roger Hall, Stephanie Johnson, Spike Milligan, Gary Henderson, Stuart Hoar, Angie Farrow.

Your play will be heard by a very large audience - when was the last time you sat in an opening night audience of 30,000 in the theatre and another 30,000 on the second night!

Getting your head into radio: a special dramatic space

Here are some things that may help get you thinking in radio-drama mode. They are not a writing course, nor are they script development guidelines, but they will help get you started if you are interested in extending your skills to writing drama for radio.

"The radio play begins with silence – emptiness, nothing — do not introduce one sound or one word into this silence that does not belong there. Humans are obsessed with making meaning and with giving significance to whatever they perceive. Every sound they hear will have significance."

Radio drama requires the active participation of the audience and is not like “a recorded stage play”.

A listener is under no obligation to listen to something which is mundane, confusing, overly confronting, obtuse or obscure, so be clear about what effect you are aiming for.

The listener is usually listening alone, so they tend not to censor their imagination under any perceived ‘group pressure’ – you can get away with almost anything!

The writer’s palette is very broad – it includes music, sound effects, sound environments, dialogue and silence.

Sound effects, music and sound ‘atmospheres’ are powerful tools for you to develop themes, create images and re-orient the listener.

Radio drama is such an intimate medium it can put the listener right in the middle of the action or right inside someone’s most secret thoughts - immediately!

Information about physical environments and situations and time can be  delivered incidentally - through the action of characters dealing with one another– rather than through description or narration.

There are no props and scenery required in radio drama. The ‘appearance’ of physical objects – sets, props, costumes, and location changes – is all done with sound and dialogue.

The real fun, and challenge, of writing for radio is in integrating information into the action between characters, where other forms of storytelling might fall into narration. If you do use narration make certain it's the best dramatic choice.

Increase your chances of being heard

Although it’s not absolutely necessary, many of the writers whose scripts are accepted have done some development work independently before submission.

Many of them, wisely, have sought help from dedicated script development agencies and/or dramaturgs or directors with some experience in working for radio.

Radio New Zealand Drama is not sufficiently resourced to actively work with developing beginning writers to a point where their scripts are ready for commissioning.

Radio New Zealand is not a script-development agency, nor does it run a regular writing course. Radio New Zealand does not engage in long-term script development arrangements with writers other than those writers whose work has already been purchased or who may have been commissioned to write.

See Scriptwriter’s Checklist and Submitting A Proposal or Script