IS THAT HOW THOSE CHARACTERS 'REALLY' SPEAK?
You must alway redraft and redraft.
| Write like people really speak - chop it up - no 'and - no 'big' words - incomplete phrases. Listen more to how people talk in real life, especially in situations where they are emotional, and where they reveal themselves. |
| Get the RHYTHM of the character's body, lungs - and how this translates into the scene situation. BREATHE WITH THE CHARACTER.
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| Mostly cut out 'and'. And the 'but'. Interesting characters do not go on and on. Thoughts come to our minds and out from our mouths in separate sentences. EXAMPLE - CUT OUT THAT 'AND' |
| When you type dialogue for your first draft, you are inclined to go on and on, and come up with 'literary' dialogue - NOT DIALOGUE THAT LIVES, BUT IT ONLY BELONGS TO THE PAGE. |
| By NOT stringing sentences together, and by letting them live on their own, you are giving your actors more to realise and more to work with. |
| No long 'monologues' in dialogue. Break up characters' speeches. If someone goes on for more than one sentence, is that justified?
|
| Be tough with yourself on every word. CUT THAT OUT! - Is that phrase (sentence) necessary? Every word & phrase must earn its place in the script. ASK - Why would the listeners want to hear that? (Read it aloud.) Always be ready to redraft. You will not always get it right first time round. |
| No repetition EXCEPT FOR A PURPOSE. |
| Don't explain too much. Make your listeners work. Character is revealed in action. |
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Radio Soap (serial drama) - HOW TO MAKE IT
Five-minute episodes - or short episodes
Step by step instruction from Alan Beck.
Learn about radio drama on this site along with my book - Beck, Alan, Radio Acting, London: A & C Black (1997) ISBN 0-7136-4631-4
This is how to make a short-form soap - entertaining (above all) and you can include issues (issues that could influence the listeners' behaviour).
Further: production, scripting, web site, marketing, focus group meetings, drop-in script, copyright material logging, trails, soap launch.
LINKS WITH OTHER SITE
Radio Drama - directing, acting, technical, learning & teaching, researching, styles, genres
This is a complete curriculum of scripts, techniques, advice, sound files - effects and atmoses (with no copyright and so free to use), detailed script commentaries, etc. -
Contact: radio@savoyhill.co.uk
This site's address: http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/soap/index.html
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