So we're now ready to write that masterpiece, right? Our first assignment is to come up with a script for a Public Service Announcement (PSA) or an ad for a company and organization. What to project on that blank screen?
But before we rush headlong into our writing, we need to know the stages we have to go through in developing our scripts. It might help us to read Chapters 3-5 of Friedmann's Writing for Visual Media (2006), where he outlines several steps we might find useful in developing our concept and our script for that PSA or ad.
Friedmann tells us that once we have an idea for a script, we should first do our background research and investigation. This stage of script development is usually done anytime before we write our concept outline. This task involves gathering facts and background information on the concept we have in mind. It also entails doing interviews with people who may be able to provide data we usually cannot find in written sources. Another aspect of our research work entails collecting images (footages, stills, and graphics) we might be able to work into our scripts. It also includes searching for possible locations we can use as the setting for our story concepts.
The latter two tasks of our research work will greatly help us in visualizing the story concept we have in mind. Which leads us to the second stage of our script development: coming up with a creative concept (Friedmann devotes the whole of Chapter 4 for this phase).
What Friedmann considers important in formulating a creative concept is an imagination free from conventional ideas. He suggests we open our minds to different ways of visually thinking and writing our concepts. There is no fixed format for writing the concept. Some writers are able to come up with an intriguing one-sentence concept, others a paragraph or a page to present their idea of how the final script will look like. What a concept should achieve is to convince others (especially the client or producer) to invest in the project.
Once we are able to translate our ideas into a concept, we're ready to move to the third stage of script development: the pitch or verbal presentation. Yes, verbal presentation. In other words, we need to "excite" our client or the producer in our concept.
In order to do that, we need first of all to be convinced with our own concept. We're only able to persuade others to invest in our project if we ourselves are sold to it. Other than that, we need to hone our verbal skills in persuading other people.
Once we get the client's or producer's consent (hopefully in the form of an advance), we're ready to write the treatment which is the next stage of our script development. The treatment outlines the narrative sequence of our story as expanded from the concept. It lays out the different scenes and fleshes out the characters as well as highlights the key moments in the forthcoming script. It also provides notes indicating where dialogue or voiceovers occur.
The treatment is usually written in normal prose and always in the present tense, and usually presents a scene-by-scene outline of the storyline. If we're writing a script for a television series, we usually call the treatment as the beat sheet.
Once the client or producer has given the OK for our treatment, we're ready to move on the sixth stage of script development: writing the first draft. We use either the master scene or dual-column format, following industry convention, that will serve as the blueprint for visual and audio production. Using either of the two formats and the specialized language for writing scripts and screenplays, we write down shot-by-shot or scene-by-scene the story we want to tell. We write this in the present tense. Friedmann suggests that we make sure the voice narration or dialogue use language that is "clear, complements the image, matches the character or subject matter, is pronounceable or speakable, and is suitable for the target audience" (2006: 44).
We then present our first draft for inputs from the producer, director, actors, and other people who may have a say in translating our written work into visual form. This seventh stage of script development is where we revise our first draft according to the inputs from other personnel involved in the project. Revision doesn't mean checking for spelling and grammar (which should have been done before presentation). Rather, it means rearranging some scenes or throwing out scenes and dialogue that turns out to be unnecessary. It might also mean writing in new scenes. We always need to remember that writing a script or a screenplay is collaborative work, with us writers respecting the inputs from other people who will transform our work into its final visual form.
Once we've revised the draft or drafts of the script, we're now ready to hand over our final draft. This eighth stage of script development marks the end of our work as writers. We may or may not (as is often the case) be called in to do some rewrites, but technically and contractually the final draft ends our task as writers. We trust, however, that our script is in good hands.
Our script is then transformed by the director into a shooting script that breaks down our final draft into shots and camera setups with detailed directions for camera angles. Because our work is done, we leave that part of the job to the director and cinematographer just as we leave it to the actors to make our characters come alive onscreen.
But before we rush headlong into our writing, we need to know the stages we have to go through in developing our scripts. It might help us to read Chapters 3-5 of Friedmann's Writing for Visual Media (2006), where he outlines several steps we might find useful in developing our concept and our script for that PSA or ad.
Friedmann tells us that once we have an idea for a script, we should first do our background research and investigation. This stage of script development is usually done anytime before we write our concept outline. This task involves gathering facts and background information on the concept we have in mind. It also entails doing interviews with people who may be able to provide data we usually cannot find in written sources. Another aspect of our research work entails collecting images (footages, stills, and graphics) we might be able to work into our scripts. It also includes searching for possible locations we can use as the setting for our story concepts.
The latter two tasks of our research work will greatly help us in visualizing the story concept we have in mind. Which leads us to the second stage of our script development: coming up with a creative concept (Friedmann devotes the whole of Chapter 4 for this phase).
What Friedmann considers important in formulating a creative concept is an imagination free from conventional ideas. He suggests we open our minds to different ways of visually thinking and writing our concepts. There is no fixed format for writing the concept. Some writers are able to come up with an intriguing one-sentence concept, others a paragraph or a page to present their idea of how the final script will look like. What a concept should achieve is to convince others (especially the client or producer) to invest in the project.
Once we are able to translate our ideas into a concept, we're ready to move to the third stage of script development: the pitch or verbal presentation. Yes, verbal presentation. In other words, we need to "excite" our client or the producer in our concept.
In order to do that, we need first of all to be convinced with our own concept. We're only able to persuade others to invest in our project if we ourselves are sold to it. Other than that, we need to hone our verbal skills in persuading other people.
Once we get the client's or producer's consent (hopefully in the form of an advance), we're ready to write the treatment which is the next stage of our script development. The treatment outlines the narrative sequence of our story as expanded from the concept. It lays out the different scenes and fleshes out the characters as well as highlights the key moments in the forthcoming script. It also provides notes indicating where dialogue or voiceovers occur.
The treatment is usually written in normal prose and always in the present tense, and usually presents a scene-by-scene outline of the storyline. If we're writing a script for a television series, we usually call the treatment as the beat sheet.
Once the client or producer has given the OK for our treatment, we're ready to move on the sixth stage of script development: writing the first draft. We use either the master scene or dual-column format, following industry convention, that will serve as the blueprint for visual and audio production. Using either of the two formats and the specialized language for writing scripts and screenplays, we write down shot-by-shot or scene-by-scene the story we want to tell. We write this in the present tense. Friedmann suggests that we make sure the voice narration or dialogue use language that is "clear, complements the image, matches the character or subject matter, is pronounceable or speakable, and is suitable for the target audience" (2006: 44).
We then present our first draft for inputs from the producer, director, actors, and other people who may have a say in translating our written work into visual form. This seventh stage of script development is where we revise our first draft according to the inputs from other personnel involved in the project. Revision doesn't mean checking for spelling and grammar (which should have been done before presentation). Rather, it means rearranging some scenes or throwing out scenes and dialogue that turns out to be unnecessary. It might also mean writing in new scenes. We always need to remember that writing a script or a screenplay is collaborative work, with us writers respecting the inputs from other people who will transform our work into its final visual form.
Once we've revised the draft or drafts of the script, we're now ready to hand over our final draft. This eighth stage of script development marks the end of our work as writers. We may or may not (as is often the case) be called in to do some rewrites, but technically and contractually the final draft ends our task as writers. We trust, however, that our script is in good hands.
Our script is then transformed by the director into a shooting script that breaks down our final draft into shots and camera setups with detailed directions for camera angles. Because our work is done, we leave that part of the job to the director and cinematographer just as we leave it to the actors to make our characters come alive onscreen.
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