TV News | The Script

I undertook most of the script writing process, as I feel I could picture exactly what I wanted to happen in each scene that we had discussed as a group.  I started, as I do with all my scripts, with a 'script vomit' document where I essentially just typed out the everything that was going to happen in order, so when it came to writing the actual script, I knew what I would be doing:



I then formatted the script properly and added some general timings so we ensured that we would not run over time.  We also added the questions that would be asked as a group, going by research we had done into Halloween myths previously:

I also made some cue cards for Katie to aid her presenting in the live segment.  This helped a lot as it meant she did not have to hold the script, or remember exactly what her lines were, allowing her to have a good idea of what she was saying, without necessarily being bound to an exact, word-for-word script, making the interview feel more natural and conversational.

Jason also edited his lines in the script to fit his dialogue better, so that his speech felt more natural as he was presenting the package.

Once we had finished shooting, I edited the script further to help with editing the footage.  Katie also transcribed the interview between her and John, and Melissa transcribed the interviews with Aidan:




The final version of the script includes the transcribed interviews with John and Aidan, and any diversions that were made whilst filming both the live and pre-recorded package.  We did not worry about writing the timings in the edit script as we did not feel it was necessary with the time we had, and because the original timings were so different to what they actually ended up being in the finished edit.  The package was also longer than we had anticipated, as Jason read his lines slower than I had planned when writing them.

I am happy with how the script developed going into the final stages.  I found that working out the timing for each package really helped to pace ourselves so that we did not run under or over time.  I also feel that it was a very good idea to over-plan the live interview so that we had a lot more questions than we needed.  This allowed Katie to pick out which questions were best to ask, and to give a more spontaneous feel to the interview after rehearsing, so that John's answers would be as natural as possible.

Going forward I feel that, as ever, the script has been the foundation of the entire film, an I feel that writing them is becoming more natural to me.  I have learnt that it can be very difficult to keep to a script for this sort of piece, and so it is easier for anyone on camera to improvise with exactly what they are saying, rather than sticking strictly to the script and risk sounding robotic.