Tutorial: Scriptwriting Secrets

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Hi everyone and welcome back to my channel. My name is Cara David and I've been a
broadcast journalist for 25 years. I started on television as a researcher slash scriptwriter.

And now, even though I'm a host of various magazines and documentary programs,
scriptwriting is still what I enjoy the most. Today, I'm going to share with you some of my
secrets when it comes to scriptwriting and storytelling. I've written more than 200
documentaries for GMA, mostly for Eyewitness.

And in my documentaries for Eyewitness, you might notice that there's a certain style or
formula when it's a Cara David episode. I'm going to share with you three secrets or three tips
on scriptwriting that I always use. Tip number one, use a common thread.

Scriptwriting in a documentary is like weaving. You weave different stories of people to make
one cohesive work of art. If you want to watch your story from start to finish, make sure that
you use a common thread or a common theme throughout the whole documentary.

For example, if your story is about the sea, make sure that you use words related to the sea, like
agos, lalim, sisid, ahon, tubig, daluyong, lunod, etc. Like our documentary, Pigil Hininga, it's
about a Bajau man who holds the record for the deepest sisid of that time. So if you're going to
watch this documentary, there are a lot of words and phrases like pag-ahon sa kahirapan, pag-
sisid sa agos ng panahon.

In fact, my extra for this documentary goes something like Kung dati dagat ang kanilang
tahanan, ngayon dagat na ng kahirapan. At handa siyang sisire ng kahit na ano, maiahon lang
ang nasirang dignidad ng kanilang tribo. So, makikita ninyo, may mga words ako na ginamit na
all related to the sea.

Tip number two, past, present, future. All good stories should have a past, present, and a
future. Depende na lang sa inyo kung ano yung gusto ninyong mauuna.

Gusto nyo ba chronological na magsisimula sa past, tapos mag-i-end sa future, o gusto ninyo,
flashback effect. Pero ako po, ang favorite storytelling formula ko always starts with the
present. Present, past, future.

Ginamit namin itong storytelling structure na ito sa documentary namin na Minsan Isang Taon.
Kung napanood ninyo itong documentary na ito, nagsimula yung eksena by showing three kids
na naghihintay sa tapat ng isang kaldero. Tapos, yung sumunod ng mga eksena, bumalik sa
nakaraan, a few days bago itong eksena na ito, tapos ipinakita namin yung kanilang tatay na
nagbubuhat ng abaka, bumaba siya ng bundok, tas ang bigat-bigat ng abaka, tapos binenta
niya ito at bumili siya ng bigas.
Tapos, bago matapos yung docu, bumalik kami doon sa unang-unang eksena, pero this time,
future na. Binuksan na yung kaldero at ipinakita namin yung kanin na binili ng kanilang tatay.
So ganito yung storytelling structure na ginawa namin.

It started with the present, bumalik kami sa nakaraan, tapos ang ending ay yung future na.
Present, past, future. Hindi ako ang nag-imvento ng ganitong formula, isa lang ito sa mga
favorite storytelling structures ko.

Marami nang gumagamit na ganitong klaseng formula, even songwriters like my favorite
Taylor Swift. In fact, yung isa sa mga kinalolokohan kong kanta ni Taylor Swift ngayon, yung
Champagne Problems, if you analyze it, ang structure niya ay present, past, future. It starts with
a guy who is heartbroken after his girlfriend rejected his wedding proposal.

So matatandaan niyo yung lyrics nito, goes something like, your mom's ring in your pocket, my
picture in your wallet, your heart was glass, I dropped it, Champagne Problems. Tapos yung
mga susunod na verse, talks about the day of the proposal, kung gaano ka-excited yung
pamilya ng lalaki, tapos yung relationship nila bago siya nag-propose. So parang she went back
to the past.

Tapos pagdating sa ending, sana in the future matagpuan ng guy yung tamang babae para sa
kanya. And it was written in exactly the same way the song started, pero future version na. Your
mom's ring in your pocket, her picture in your wallet, you won't remember all my Champagne
Problems.

Galeng diba? Pareho yung past at saka future, medyo tinwik lang ng konti yung future. Which
brings me to my next tip. Tip number three, the intro and the extra should always come full
circle.

The intro and the extra or conclusion should be connected to each other. Kung saan ka
nagsimula, doon ka rin magtatapos. Yun nga lang, mas leveled up na kapag extra na.

This is a storytelling formula na palagi kong ginagamit para sa eyewitness. I remember I did
this for Uuwi na si Udong. This is a documentary about child labor.

Matatandaan ninyo na yung intro dito ay tungkol sa mundo ng mga sakada at mga sugarcane
farmers. The question during the intro was paano kaya matatakasan ni Udong ang mundong
ito ng mga sakada? Ganyan yung intro. So yung extra, sasagutin lang niya yung question nung
intro.

And the extra goes like this. Hanggat walang paggalang sa karapatan ng kabataan, ang
paglalaro ay kanilang makakalimutan. Hanggat ginagawang tama ang mali, si Udong
kailanman ay hindi makaka-uwi.

So yung extra, sinagot lang niya yung mga tanong na pinos doon sa intro, para connected sila
sa isa't-isa. I also used this storytelling structure for our documentary Ang Tunay na Mabangis.
Tungkol ito sa mga pating or mga sharks.

Ang simula nito ay tungkol sa mga pating na kinatatakutan, man-eating creatures, ganyan.
Pagdating doon sa ending, ipinakita na namin yung daan-daang pating na pinapatay at
kinakain at kinakatay taon-taon ng mga tao. Kilala ang pating bilang isang hayop na mabangis.

Pero pagkatapos mo makita ang mga pating na pinapatay at kinakatay, mapapatanong ka sa

This way, makakasigurado ka na ang iyong istorya ay solid, cohesive at kompleto mula-simula
hanggang wakas. If you want to watch the documentaries featured in this video, ipopost ko po
yung link sa description. Sana po meron kayong natutuhan.

Ako po si Cara David. Happy writing! Salamat!

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