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Radio Script Writing Essentials

This document discusses important principles of script writing for audio formats like radio. It emphasizes that writing for the ear requires concise writing that can be absorbed by a listener, as opposed to a reader. It notes that scripts should be written like dramatic scripts by focusing on storytelling and keeping the listener's attention through techniques like setting the scene at the beginning. Editing is also important to ensure elements like actualities advance the story and maintain a clear focus for the listener.

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Nathaniel Rivers
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152 views15 pages

Radio Script Writing Essentials

This document discusses important principles of script writing for audio formats like radio. It emphasizes that writing for the ear requires concise writing that can be absorbed by a listener, as opposed to a reader. It notes that scripts should be written like dramatic scripts by focusing on storytelling and keeping the listener's attention through techniques like setting the scene at the beginning. Editing is also important to ensure elements like actualities advance the story and maintain a clear focus for the listener.

Uploaded by

Nathaniel Rivers
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Introduction to Script Writing
  • Key Quotes on Script Writing
  • Introduction to Story Editing
  • Key Quotes on Story Editing

Script Writing

As a journalist, in other words,


you are working both in sound
and in time. You have listeners,
not readers. (Kern).

Writing for the ear (Kern).

The problem isnt that its badly


written, but that its not written for
the ear. It pours out the information
faster than most of us could absorb
it as we listen to it (Kern).

So we have to learn to write as


if we were talking not to
thousands or millions of people,
but to one person (Kern).

write. perform. write. perform.

The script should be like a


theatrical script, a dramatic
script (Seigel, in Kern 28).

if it sounds wrong on the radio, it


is wrongeven if the grammar
books say otherwise (Kern 35).

Concision is especially important in


writing for sound: it provides punch
and acknowledges aural attention.*

*An important note on alliteration as discussed on Kern 37

Story Editing

A good focus statement suggests


the tension inherent in the
story (Kern 93).*
*An important connection to the injunction against platitudes, cliches and
generalities in chapter three.

52

76

If [you] use actualities and


ambience, those elements should
advance the story, not merely add
production for its own sake (Kern).

The editor serves as a


surrogate for the listenersa
one-person focus group to
determine whether a report
works on the radio (Kern).

Hooks and introductions should


set the scene: where are we,
who are we with, and why.

Script Writing
“As a journalist, in other words, you are working both in sound— and in time. You have listeners, not readers.” (Kern).
“Writing for the ear” (Kern).
“The problem isn’t that it’s badly written, but that it’s not written for the ear. It pours out the information faster tha
“So we have to learn to write as if we were talking not to thousands or millions of people, but to one person” (Kern).
write. perform. write. perform.
“The script should be like a theatrical script, a dramatic script” (Seigel, in Kern 28).
“if it sounds wrong on the radio, it is wrong—even if the grammar books say otherwise” (Kern 35).
Concision is especially important in writing for sound: it provides punch and acknowledges aural attention.* *An important
Story Editing

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