C h a p t e r 3 7
Scripts
S
cripts are used for all kinds of audio productions: plays, television dramas, radio
shows, commercials, documentaries, pageants, ceremonies, and so on. Most
scripts consist of two parts: a narration or dialogue (the spoken portion) and a set of
directions for visual or sound effects (to enrich the spoken portion). The script for a
play includes the lines for the actors and the stage directions to describe the setting,
lighting, movement of characters, and so on. The script for a television play includes
everything found in the stage play, plus camera directions and editing cuts.
Scripts are used in other media productions as well. PowerPoint or other techno-
logical presentations, for instance, may have either prerecorded narratives or printed
scripts. Museum tours may have prerecorded audio presentations or written scripts
for the guides.
Scripts vary less in how they present dialogue than in their format and technical
vocabulary. As television or film script includes camera directions, it appears in two
columns: audio and video. The drama script needs no camera cues; it appears in full-
page format with italicized stage directions. The technical language varies as well.
We will limit our discussion here to two examples: drama and television.
draMa scriPts
We have all read plays in literature textbooks and are accustomed to the elements
they include. Drama is one of the oldest forms of human expression; and drama
scripts, as a form, find their roots in equally remote times. Though the technical
aspects of staging a play have altered somewhat over the centuries, the basic com-
ponents and process for developing a play have not. Actors still speak lines, and the
plot moves forward by showing, rather than telling.
CHARACTERISTICS
In a drama script, we expect to see
-^ a cast of characters, sometimes merely named, sometimes also identified by
relationships,
-^ a setting in time and place,