Scripting - What should your script look like

What should your script look like?

So, ideally a script will be written over a period of time. I prefer this because I can let my subconscious work on it, I can revisit it from new perspectives, and think about what I’m saying. Sometimes though, you don’t have that luxury, and you have an idea on the Wednesday, and you have to script, film and edit for Monday. You can still make something great, and often from my experience, some of the faster turnaround videos have been some of the better ones.

So this is one of my scripts (show My Camera and me (relationship)). This is genuinely untouched since I filmed it, so I’m actually going through this live right now.

Key points to make:

• Write everything down somewhere.. Ideas that can be revisited / disregarded etc
• Write it as you’d say it
• Make note of any action (eg. Runs out of building)
• Use coloured highlights to break sections up
• Show the 3 act structure

Visualise it

I have a very visual brain, so as I’m scripting anything, I’m imagining it in the edit. This is really useful because you can visualise how jokes will land, how you’re going to shoot something. So really, when it comes to shooting it, you kind of have something that you’ve already figured out, and you just need to follow it.

Your brain might work differently, and that’s totally ok. What I’m doing here is telling you how I do it, and you can take bits that you like, but ultimately you have to find what works best for you. And you do that by action, again and again.