I noticed that there was nothing in the writing resources about writing for radio when, from what i have read, it is a demanding medium to excel in because of the limitations of using audio only. So I thought I would start a thread in which writer's could share any resources that they know of.

I'll kick-start things by pointing out the excellent BBC website section - How to write a radio play

There are plenty more on the web but I'll let that one have time to percolate through the grey matter before adding any more.

Cheers

K

-------------------------- Kirok of L'Stok -------------------------
------------- Editor of Acrux - Blogzine - Printzine ---------
---- Producer, The House of L'Stok - Coming soon! ---

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[Igor] Mathter! You're not taking the medication again are you? [/Igor]

Hi Kirok,

Been writing radio theatre for Coyote Radio Theater for a few years.
http://coyoteradiotheater.podomatic.com/

If you have any questions I might be able to help you with, just let me know. Some of the folks on National Audio Theatre Foundation have this website:
http://www.audiotheater.com/resource.html

Andrew (Coyote Radio)

If you're using celtx it offers a format for writing radio drama that is helpful, especially if you browse their sample first. It doesn't have near the info the other sites do as far as breaking things down, but it does make the formatting a bit easier.

I had a look at that National Audio Theatre Foundation website - very comprehensive! Yes, I'm using Celtx, still getting used to all the possibilities it opens up. It certainly takes the worry of formatting your work as a script. Before that I used the script template on Tony Palermo's very informative website

Luckily, someone has done all the searching for us! Checkout the pinned thread on the Audio Drama talk forum, "Places to Find Articles on How to Write Audio Drama". I think that would keep me reading about how to write a script until the end of April if I read them all!

Good luck all!

Kirok of L'Stok

Great idea. I have one suggestion and a question.

In addition to the excellent BBC World Service page already posted, there is a much larger radio writers resource, the BBC Writersroom:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

For some strange reason, the BBC has cut back on a lot of the in-depth advice it used to post on the site but, as the Beeb produces more radio drama than any other broadcaster, it is still worth poking around for hints, tips and places to submit your work (there is no nationality restriction, so anyone from anywhere can send in their plays).

And the question? I am searching for a copy of 'The Gun in my Hand is Smoking'. It is script but also a guode about how-not-to-write clunky, cliche-ridden radio drama by (I think) the great British actor-writer, Timothy West. I saw a hard copy several years ago and foolishly did not photocopy it. I vaguely recall it was written by West after he became fed-up with acting in badly written radio plays and was distributed to trainee BBC producers and script editors. It was very funny. Can anyone help?

Good luck with your scripts everyone.

I've heard of that! It was referenced in a book I read whose name escapes me - Straczynski's "Scriptwriting"? I'd love to get my hands on a copy myself!

K

I've found some references to it ...
[Snip]
When he was 25, my father wrote a radio play satirising over-explanatory wireless dialogue. It was called This Gun That I Have in My Right Hand Is Loaded. It's almost certainly the silliest thing he's ever done - adapted for radio by H and Cynthia Old-Hardwicke-Box, it contains some classic radio-speak ("A whisky? That's a strange drink for an attractive auburn-haired girl of 29") and cliches that have since become old friends of the family ("It's not a pretty sight - it's been in the water for some time", "Come now doctor; blackmail's an ugly word" and the classic "Is he ... ?" "I'm afraid so").

This Gun is still used in good drama schools to illustrate the pitfalls of the genre, but listening to the odd Afternoon Play, it's possible to conclude that writers have taken it as a blueprint rather than a cautionary tale. Good radio writing is a real art. I think a good radio play is better than any other sort of play, but by the same token, a bad one is so much worse. Radio is the most unforgiving medium, more revealing of untruth than any other. Nothing distracts you from whether you believe the reality of what you are hearing.
[EndSnip]"Fathers and Sons" Samuel West

According to this site, it is included in "The Writer's Handbook - Guide to Writing for Stage & Screen" - edited by Barry Turner - contributions from James Roose-Evans, Kate Rowland, Timothy West, Hugh Whitemore and Mal Young

... and also in here, "Writing for Stage and Screen (Writer's Handbook Guides)
by Barry Turner ... although one review pans the book.

I can only assume that it is still in copyright as it doesn't seem to be online anywhere.

K

And yet for those of us who long to thrill to the daring adventures of yesteryear, there is a point in imitating the cliches they used! The original radio shows for the most part did not use brilliant, Pulitzer-worthy writing and their advertising plugs were downright hokey! But my aim for Script Frenzy is to produce something that actually sounds like it would have aired to a mostly young audience in 1942. I don't want it to be bad, certainly. But don't take all the fun out of it by trying to make it into a lifeless work of art either!
__________________________________________________
"Tune in next week, for another exciting episode!"

I've listened to a few OTR classics as research for an article i did once and found some of them to be still good value as entertainment. Others didn't hit the mark for me, for example I found the earliest Batman episode (which was actually on the Superman show) to be tediously slow moving.

What made the ones that worked for me were the expressively enthusiastic Voice Actors and what I suppose you might call the trademarks, like The Whistler's narration.

Actually, that could be a case in point. I read a relatively modern book on writing for the radio that pretty much canned the use of a narrator, branding it a prop that a "good" audio script shouldn't need. I think the use of a narrator who is as much a character of the play as the Whistler was is an exception to the rule.

I hope so, 'cos I'm using one! The intro and closing lines will be read by a character who appears in all 6 episodes as a major supporting character and is a well known part of the Star Trek mythos - I'm doing a fan production.

K

Hey Kirok,

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I found a copy of Barry Turner's book on Amazon (for only a few pennies).

Keep Writing,

P