Radio Soap (serial drama) - STARTING UP
the 'fixed-end' soap (a soap which has an agreed end)
| SCRIPTING & GETTING THE 'SOAP FACTORY' SET UP (lower down on this page) |
| 'SOAP FACTORY' - FIVE SYSTEMS RUNNING TOGETHER (lower down on this page) |
| SCRIPTING - REDRAFTING AND GETTING TO THE PRODUCTION SCRIPT (lower down on this page) |
| SCRIPTING: HOW MUCH WORK? HOW MANY WORDS FOR A 5-MINUTE EPISODE? HOW MANY SCENES? (lower down on this page) |
| SCRIPT EXAMPLES OF 5-MINUTE SOAPS (radio serial dramas) (lower down on this page) |
| SCRIPTING BASICS - mechanics and radio drama conventions (lower down on this page) |
| Nuts and bolts of scripting and characterisation (lower down on this page) |
| Plot - the story - and Alan Beck's formula (lower down on this page) |
| MAKING SOUND PICTURES (lower down on this page) |
SCRIPTING & GETTING THE 'SOAP FACTORY' SET UP
| You start script development - script meetings to develop storylines, characters (and their back stories), and the overall structure and design of the soap.(This is for the 'fixed-end' soap. This gives you more freedom and more invention, because you know from the first planning how many episodes there are to be. You can take more risks and be more adventurous, and get away from realism and the humdrum everyday.) |
| Agree on the overall rules. |
| You appoint an overall Soap Editor, who has final control - whose decision is final and speedy. (Any creative enterprise has to have a final decision-making structure.) The overall management structure has to be a pyramid. |
| Sometimes the Soap Editor can be appointed anew each day. |
| You could belong to any or more or all of the teams. |
| You communicate rapidly. Decisions can change rapidly. You set up a 'SOAP BIBLE' of the agreed details (storylines, characters, locations, production and postproduction style, etc.).
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| I recommend using an in-production web site, and you all contribute to the 'SOAP BIBLE' and production details. This means that everyone can consult ongoing developments. Use email too. |
| You will set up a marketing web site, which gives the broadcasting information, and sells the soap. |
| Be prepared for rapid changes, especially in the storyline development. Your team could suddenly change a main character or a storyline.
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| BASIC FOUNDATION DECISIONS FOR THE SOAP ARE CRUCIAL - and that is why they need a lot of discussion and planning. What is the 'BIG IDEA'? Where it is set so that the main characters are brought together? |
| See ALAN BECK'S FORMULA FOR THE MAIN CHARACTERS |
| See Comedy - soaps which are really situation comedies |
| See CASTING - 70% of the production |
| LEVEL ONE of scripting - the FIRST DRAFT Make sure you all present the script using the same formula. Otherwise, confusion! |
| Number the scenes - according to an agreed formula. |
| Put essential information at the top of each scene - characters, location, basic set-up for the scene. |
| Put all production information in brackets and in upper case. |
| Put in mood notes for actors. |
| Make it a readable script - spell check, use punctuation. |
| In the script, put character and dialogue in this way: ALISON: I can't believe that this was allowed to happen. That is, character name in upper capitals, with colon and then space. |
| A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT - THIS RADIO TEAM SCRIPTING IS SO ACHIEVABLE! Don't be put off by the high-flying advice that is handed out in many paperbacks and on the internet about scripting a HOLLYWOOD FILM. Here is a readable and attractive example: http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp02.Strange.Attractor.html "A word of caution: this sort of attractive [film] concept is very difficult to do, takes a massive amount of inspired work, and demands a huge amount of talent. " |
| You are going to entertain radio audiences, and as many as possible. Best to cross-over two or more genres. Be popular. Make people laugh and cry, at least inside, when they listen. |
| I have a personal preference for going beyond realism - beyond everyday life - and also into comedy (situation comedy). It is surprisingly difficult to bring off an 'everyday' soap, because your listeners can say: 'But it isn't like that' at any point. And who are you to deny their lives? Better not to get caught in humdrum radio lives. |
'SOAP FACTORY' - FIVE SYSTEMS RUNNING TOGETHER
| Create the soap like a factory - continuous production once you get going - a lot of work building the system. |
| The FIVE SYSTEMS get going continuously and you have to multi-task: |
| (1) pre-production (script development, scripting, casting and preparing for studio work) |
| (2) production (in the studio and outside the studio) |
| (3) post-production (and trying soap episodes out with focus group), trails |
| (4) marketing, marketing web site, relations with the listeners, pod-casting?, legal aspects, logging copyright information especially about music on the web site |
| The SOAP EDITOR has to coordinate all this and keep all FIVE FACTORY SYSTEMS running |
| GET SELLING YOUR SOAP FROM AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE - this is about your future career! |
SCRIPTING - REDRAFTING AND GETTING TO THE PRODUCTION SCRIPT
| You have to be prepared to redraft as many times as it takes to get to the production script. Students are always astonished to be told by a radio drama producer how many redrafts are needed in the professional world. |
| The SOAP MANAGING EDITOR (boss) is crucial here. Redrafting has to be done swiftly. You have to accept the recommendations of the SOAP EDITOR. You cannot clutch on to your favourite phrases, gags and bits of plot. |
| Only when all the first-draft scripts are in can the whole soap script be assessed for inconsistencies and gaps. You have to read the script with NEW EARS. You have all be discussing the soap plot and characters for so long. Now you have to pretend that you are the listeners, and that you know nothing about all this. Do the dialogue and the characters make sense? Is the BASIC SET-UP of the soap locations and actions make sense in each episode? Are there inconsistencies? Do characters suddenly change? Does a room suddenly change shape - become bigger - a door is moved around? |
| LEVEL ONE - the first drafts - make sure that you all conform to the formula for setting out the script - numbering the scenes, putting essential information at the top of each scene - characters, location, basic set-up for the scene, putting all production information in brackets and in upper case, putting in mood notes for actors. |
| LEVEL TWO - the SOAP EDITOR looks over all and checks for inconsistencies and gaps. You all have a reading of the scripts together - discussion. |
| LEVEL THREE - redrafting for inconsistencies. You may have to cut out a character. You may have to rename characters. You may change locations. You redraft for casting - suiting the actors available to the script. |
SCRIPTING: HOW MUCH WORK? HOW MANY WORDS FOR A 5-MINUTE EPISODE?
Your script should include:
| Development of the main storyline and one or more minor storylines |
| HOW MANY SCENES IN AN EPISODE? about three to five scenes in total (see script examples on this site) |
| WORD COUNT: 750-1,000 words approximately, total word count, including character names and FX directions |
| YOU GIVE PRODUCTION NOTES FOR EACH SCENE - as at the top of the scene 'EXTERIOR. LIGHT RAIN. WOOD. ESTABLISH UNDERSCORING MYSTERIOUS MUSIC', and at the scene end 'STEEP FADE OUT'. See Scene boundaries - making the transition from scene to scene |
| You number each scene (as 3.1, 3.2 etc.) - important for coordinating the whole script and for production, when the scenes will probably NOT be recorded in the sequence that the listeners will eventually hear. |
| You include 'MOOD NOTES' in the script, as needed for the actor ('half-jokingly', 'beginning to dawn on her'). |
| You write the radio announcer's lead-in script for your episode |
| You will contribute specific material to the soap's web site as part of the team. |
| If you use music (underscoring and/or music bridges), you supply logging information (legal requirement for broadcasting). |
| ABOVE ALL, YOU ARE PART OF A TEAM AND YOU COMMUNICATE TOGETHER RAPIDLY AND EFFICIENTLY. |
SCRIPT EXAMPLES OF 5-MINUTE SOAPS (radio serial dramas)
All 'fixed-end' soaps.
| 'Space Detectives' - radio soap 2002 |
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' - radio soap 2003 - script - 50 episodes |
| 'Wrap Pack' - radio soap 2005 - 25 episodes |
Some student soaps
'The Canterbury Vampires'
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' Clump 10-1 |
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' Clump 10-2 |
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' Clump 10-3 |
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' Clump 10-4 |
| 'The Canterbury Vampires' Clump 10-5 |
Script of 'The Canterbury Vampires'
'Space Rocks'
| 'Space Rocks' 3-1 |
| 'Space Rocks' 3-2 |
| 'Space Rocks' 3-3 |
| 'Space Rocks' 3-4 |
| 'Space Rocks' 3-5 |
| 'Space Rocks' 4-1 |
| 'Space Rocks' 4-2 |
| 'Space Rocks' 4-3 |
| 'Space Rocks' 4-4 |
| 'Space Rocks' 4-5 |
| 'Space Rocks' 5-1 |
| 'Space Rocks' 5-2 |
| 'Space Rocks' 5-3 |
| 'Space Rocks' 5-4 |
| 'Space Rocks' 5-5 |
'The Magic Detectives' - sample beginning to a radio soap by Alan Beck
SCRIPTING BASICS - mechanics and radio drama conventions
| Monologues - do you use them or not? |
| Soap - use of monologues |
| Cliffhangers - the electrifying end of a special episode leaving the listeners desperate to tune in again |
| 'The story so far ...' - new listeners start here - putting over the story so far |
| Organising the scripting and plot events into Monday to Friday broadcasts - CLUMPS (broadcasting episodes Monday to Friday) and CLUMP PLOTLINES (newly beginning on a Monday and ending on a Friday) |
| WORKING IN TEAMS and the HANDOVER to the next team |
| The first episode of a soap has to be special |
| You can use a RADIO STATION in the soap storylines - very useful for music, for satirical fun and for THE STORY SO FAR, news reporting. |
| LOCATIONS - YOU CAN PLACE YOUR SCENES ANYWHERE! |
| REPETITION - the danger to a radio soap VERSUS REFRESHING (energising the story circle) |
| THE LAST EPISODE of the 'fixed-end' soap |
| A CHARACTER CAN BE CUT OUT - BUT STILL BE 'IN' THE SOAP. |
Nuts and bolts of scripting and characterisation
| IS THAT HOW THOSE CHARACTERS 'REALLY' SPEAK? |
| EXAMPLE - CUT OUT THAT 'AND' AND THAT 'BUT' - chop it up! |
| Swear words - exclamations - profanities (SUBSTITUTES) |
| BBC Editorial Guidelines - links and excerpts |
| INTENSIFYING THE MOMENT |
| A & B information |
| Use labels - get detailed - diamond words |
| Use a thesaurus (book of synonyms) |
| Get the top and tail of the scene - "Begin with a punch, end with a flurry." |
| SCENE BEGINNINGS - snappy one-liners to start a scene off |
| Scene endings - snappy one-liners to end a scene |
| Never put (PAUSE) in a script for an actor - let the actor and the director discover that in production. You can put in a MOOD NOTE if you wish to get over some change of attitude or meaning. |
| PROBLEM OF ESTABLISHING A CHARACTER HALFWAY THROUGH A SCENE - PROBLEM OF THE 'SILENT CHARACTER' - A LOGIC PROBLEM - BUT EASILY SOLVED IN THIS WAY |
Plot - the story - and Alan Beck's formula for the 'fixed-end' soap
| PLOT - get on with it - the BIG SET UP - realism or mixed realism? - types of plays - why not push it on 50 or 100 years into the future? |
| ALAN BECK'S FORMULA FOR THE MAIN CHARACTERS - the 5 'heroes' |
| CONTRAST AND CONFLICT AND 'UST' (unresolved sexual tension) |
| PROTAGONIST |
| A radio soap ('fixed-end' soap) should be like a piece of string - you cut it up and tie it together -- the trick is to tell the entire story using as little string as possible. |
| You will learn more about sound and the ear-to-brain mechanism as you work. You will learn some key terms about listening. These terms will help you become more accurate and help you in group discussion. Yolu will be able to pin down detail in the group critique of your work in progress. |
| See the marvellous HANDBOOK FOR ACOUSTIC ECOLOGY by Barry Truax - home page at http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/index.html. All of us in sound studies, and in sound production, owe an enormous debt to Barry Truax. |
Making sound pictures.
GET OUT OF TV AND FILM - DISCOVER RADIO DRAMA FOR WHAT IT IS.
Scene boundaries: Do you have enough short scenes? Use short scenes.
Do you need 'we go with' or a separate scene?
DON'T BE TOO NOISY - NO EXPLOSIONS OR GUN SHOT BESIDE THE MICROPHONE.
You have to 'walk on the line'.
Where is the sound centre?
Get your characters doing something - not stand and deliver dialogue.
NARRATOR
TIME SCENARIO - THERE IS NO RULE YOU MUST GO FROM BEGINNING TO END
To WELCOME PAGE
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