I can’t lie. Script writing isn’t easy. I don’t typically write scripts. I’m used to writing memos at work. I’m used to writing essays in school and occasionally on a blog (ha!). I’ve been writing fiction in drips and drabs since I was a child. I’ve only tried script writing a few times. It’s just not a familiar format. It doesn’t feel natural like a favorite pair of socks.
Heck in my other podcasts, I never wrote a script. I actually discuss this a bit in my first episode of the podcast! However it became very clear when I was starting to record episode 2 that I NEED TO WRITE A SCRIPT!
What happened?
I thought that because I did okay with my other podcast Cafe Manga, that I could just wing it. I just need to pull up some relevant info for references and facts and just talk. It would sound more natural! I’d keep things casual. It’s also less work than writing a script! Oh how wrong I was.
I started recording episode 2. I spent over an hour recording a rambling, over long episode. It was going to be a disaster to edit this monstrosity. To make matters worse, when I tried listening back on Descript (that’s what I use to do my recording and most of the editing work), the file wasn’t right. The raw file wound up really long and wasn’t downloading and processing correctly. I wasted an entire two-hour block of recording.
I was only a month away from having to release the episodes if I was going to make it in time for House of the Dragon Season 2! It became clear that I needed to write a script. I have to plan out what exactly I’m saying in the episode.
The Writing Process
It wasn’t easy. Like I said I don’t typically write scripts. Therefore I wasn’t going to write a script in the conventional sense. I basically wrote a “script.” I wrote my usual essay style prose just like I’m writing this post right now. It is a writing format I’m used to and would therefore make it easier to get the job done.
It took me a few days. Not because it was actually hard but I get distracted like a squirrel. I’m really bad like that. If I had the focus like I do during NaNoWriMo, I might have gotten the ten scripted episodes written out within a week. Instead it got dragged out and I nearly missed my self-imposed deadlines. Now I know better for the future seasons of the show.
The Results?
Even though it can take time it was ultimately worth the effort. My recording process was way faster. The only reason why my recording took more the 35 minutes is due to mistakes or on-the-spot corrections I had to do to the script.
Also since I was using a script instead of ad-libbing, the editing was a lot faster. I focused on getting rid of bad takes and extra silences. That alone meant script writing saved me a lot of time.
The extra bonus is that my script also works as the transcript for my episodes. So who would have thought by writing a script, I’d efficiently do three things in one!