Scripting For The Radio Documentary
by Alwyn Owen and Jack Perkins
Teaching script writing, like teaching sex, is essentially a secondhand operation; in either case, it’s easier to learn by doing. In either case, too, some people will bring a natural flair to it. And to extend the analogy even further, unless Certain Precautions are taken, the joy of creation may be soured by Dreadful Consequences.
Why do we script?
Often, I suppose, because we can't get people to say what we want them to say. But thinking it through more logically, here are a few reasons to script. There must be many more.
- To introduce and/or end an item or programme
- To link sections of a programme
- To convey information that is not available in recorded form, or which can be more logically or succinctly conveyed by a narrator
- To give a programme editorial direction so that somebody can be heard to be controlling the flow of information.
- To introduce mood or feeling into a programme, or to set a scene
- To tell a complete story as in a feature programme
It's quite possible of course to produce an entirely scripted programme. But limitations of time and finance make the fully scripted feature a rare occurrence.
How much script?
It is a general axiom that the more analytical a programme, the more scripting is involved. Compare Radio New Zealand programmes Spectrum and Insight, for example. An analytical programme, Insight by its nature demands the logical presentation of a variety of material, and this can only be shepherded into sequence by the controlling hand of the scriptwriter. In Spectrum, on the other hand, talent is often directed in the field so that a transition can be made from one section to the other smoothly and without need for script.
But in either case, scripting must be held to a minimum, within the requirements of the programme. The aim is to say what needs to be said cleanly, economically, and efficiently.
Detachment versus involvement
What is more interesting and at times more perplexing is the manner in which it is said. How detached or how involved should the writer be in his scripting?
Traditionally, the answer has been clear a neutral script on all occasions. That's easy enough if you're scripting a studio recital by the Kaiwharawhara Brass Band. But what if something moves you, shocks you, horrifies you?
In a contentious issue abortion, for instance it's clear that any personal involvement will let all hell loose. On the other hand, there are many other programmes where I feel that a degree of involvement is no bad thing ... where a degree of skepticism perhaps, or approval, can appear in the scripting. But this can only work, I'm convinced, if you're mature, and reasonable, and have the ability to project this in writing and reading your script. Otherwise you sound brash and opinionated. It's a matter of judgment and surety in controlling your medium that tends to come with years.
Tone
While we're still on generalities of style, it follows that scripting must suit the tenor of its subject. You can't wax poetic on a perfectly straightforward topic, and similarly you don't want to ruin the feeling of a cut with insensitive scripting. A cumulative mood generally develops as recorded material comes to hand, and once you can surrender to this and at the same time control it, you're well on the way to scripting effectively.
The commonest type of scripting is simple linking narration, between cuts. Let's consider this type of writing.
Section Contents
- 1 - Why Do We Script?
- 2 - Planning
- 3 - Scripted Openings
- 4 - Flow Between Sections
- 5 - The More Subjective Documentary
- 6 - When Is A Script Not A Script?
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