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1. In this essay I will be analysing the numerous script formats from multiple different media
products, as well as analysing the script formats themselves I will be dissection examples of
each format. Identifying the various conventions used and how they work to fulfil a specific
purpose within the creative process, evaluating how well they were used and what impact
has been made on the reader.
Master Scene Script- Alice in Wonderland
As we can see this example follows the conventions of the Master Scene Script format,
making use of a combination of narrative description and dialogue to develop and convey
the story. This is the most important element in this script format, as it is used as a selling
tool to pitch the idea to potential studios/clients it is imperative that the reader can easily
follow and understand the story, in order to tell if they want to commission it.
The first example on how the screenwriting format conventions can be correctly used is how
the Alice in wonderland script formats the sluglines, when it uses ‘EXT. THE ASCOT ESTATE –
THE GARDENS – DAY’. This quickly and clearly indicates to the reader exactly where the next
piece of narrative is going to play out. Already stating the location before starting saves the
writer time and space in their descriptions, as each page should equate to 1 minute of
screen time being concise is important.
Because this is a film, how well the reader can visualise the story in their head may be the
deciding factor on whether they decide to invest money into that script project.
The dialogue blocks also follow conventions, making sure the character’s name is in all
capitals at the top for easy navigation and understanding. Almost every piece of dialogue is
supported with narrative description, it makes the subtext to the dialogue clear and is
therefore able to keep the wrylines to a minimum. Using too many wrylines in a MMS could
indicate that the writer isn’t good enough at actually writing the narrative descriptions,
what they write in the descriptions and dialogue boxes should have clear enough subtexts.
Both conventions play an important role in creating a compelling and easy to follow
narrative, while also upholding a professional boundary between the scriptwriter and future
directors/producers. This format will not be used to help the production crew; therefore,
the writer should not always dictate how to film this story or deliver the line. Giving the
director a chance to dictate how the line can be delivered while keeping the subtext in
mind.
For the narrative description, this MMS format example strictly only writes characters’
names in capitals when they are first introduced to that scene/section. We can see this
convention being used in the Alice in Wonderland example, where the writer has put ‘Lord

2. and Lady Ascot’ in capitals the first time they are mentioned, but not in the second time.
This makes the narrative in the script easy to follow for the reader, they can keep track of
what characters are involved without being constantly distracted by all caps names. When
the main purpose of this format is to sell the narrative, these conventions that are repeated
effectively will work to make sure it is as easy to follow and immerse yourself in as possible.
Giving the writer the greatest chances for selling the script.
.
The Alice in Wonderland script uses narrative description to help the reader visualise each
scene and character, In the screen shot we see the writer has described Alice as ‘tired and
grumpy’. The writer follows up with the reason for this with the actions of a mother that has
already been established and introduced, allowing the reader to understand how each
character interacts with each other as well as how that dynamic would work onscreen. The
MMS example makes sure to only describe the character’s thoughts and emotions that
would be visible and easily understood within context not already given in the story
whether it be dialogue or another visual que. Meaning that the reader is already aware of
any feeling without bringing up events they haven’t read. This would make the reader
confused, if the example had said ‘ Alice was angry because of the argument she had earlier
with her mother’ but had not mentioned anything like this elsewhere in the script, the
reader will not enjoy the script at all, chances are they will just move onto the next. Not
being able to follow the narrative of a script formatted specifically to sell the story suggests
that the writer has made serious mistakes, most likely they haven’t followed the
conventions of MMS that are made to avoid such an event. Feelings should only be
mentioned when sufficiently supported within the scene, it is a script for a filmand not a
novel.
Shooting script- The Duchess
Shooting scripts share many conventions with its counterpart, the master scene script used
in screenplays. These similarities include the formatting of sluglines (we see these formatted
in the same way), the same size 12 courier font and 1 page roughly equating to 1 minute of
footage. The last point is a key convention in many scriptwriting formats and is why the size
and font must all be the same in every script produced. This creates a way to easily estimate
how long the film/radio drama would be, a reader from a studio can simply glance at a script
and tell if it would be too long or too short to be appropriate. So what we see being used in
this shooting script format example actually plays a key role in making the reader jobs
easier, they don’t have to waste time reading a script if they already know it would never fit
the appropriate timescale for what they had in mind. Keeping all of these similarities and
conventions in mind, there is one fundamental difference in the function of this style that

3. sets it apart in terms of formatting.
Compared to screenplays, these scripts are used to actually produce the film/product. This
means that it will focus on the technical aspects of the film instead of the narrative. A visual
example of description in a shooting script is the screenshot above, take note of the sole
focus on what is visual onscreen. Compared to the narrative description of characters in the
MSS, The Duchess has a lot more structured and uniform. This shooting script cuts down on
explaining how the character’s thoughts are portrayed into actions, and instead focuses on
formatted to indicate exactly how this should play out during production. “Her mother looks
incredibly proud”, “she smiles at him” and “The DUKE looks impatiently” all clearly support
my analysis. Actors are getting brief ques on what to do for this shot. The description only
mentions the way the characters appear to save the production crew/actors the effort of
deciding how each scene should look on the day of filming. We can see it includes specific
mentions of camera shot types, framing and background music playing. Therefore, these
conventions of a shooting script are highly beneficial to directors and camera crew, because
they have their instructions on how to carry each scene out written down into paper to use
while filming. This saves time, and in production saving time means saving money in the
budget. The narrative has already been established to the company, this format is what will
actually make sense to the camera crew when filming, they don’t care what kind of person
the character is they just want to know what shot type is going to be needed.
Another important feature that is crucial to add to a shooting script is scene numbers, while
they are sometimes added to MSS it is absolutely necessary they be present in this
formatting. As the name implies, these are numbers added to each scene in a script to
organise and categorise it into organise blocks. They remain constantly present throughout
any drafts and revisions. The reason they are so important is because they provide order to
scripts, in the industry scripts are hundreds of pages long, providing each scene with a
number allows the crew to keep on track of what they have already filmed or need to film. If

4. you are filming an action film, it would be pointless to tell someone they’re ‘filming the fight
scene’. It would be confusing and time wasting, its easier to tell the crew the number of the
scenes being produced that day so that everyone is on the same page. These are an
effective way to improve communication between crew members, efficiency and time
management.
It’s worth noting that you wouldn’t be able to use the last example to produce a film
correctly because that was never what was in mind when formatting it, the MSS formatting
in Alice In Wonderland was used to sell the narrative. Similarly, you would struggle to use
The Duchess example to sell the film idea because it focuses less on the story and more on
how to make it. The person looking to commission this may not even know the technicalities
of film production, therefore that additional info provided in the shooting script would just
deter them and make understanding the narrative being pitched to them nearly impossible.
Even though these are both scripts for films, the difference in how the description is
formatted is clear. This is further proof of what different formatting conventions look like in
the industry and how they benefit the script, allowing it to fulfil its specific role in the
creative process.
Radio comedy- Rudy’s Rare Records
Rudy’s Rare Records in an excellent example of how radio scripts are formatted, as well as
how this style contrasts to the previous examples I’ve analysed. Radio script formatting
conventions have been tailored to the nature of that product, a radio comedy is entirely
audio based with no visual content whatsoever. Because of this, this formatting tends to
favour dialogue blocks and sounds ques to convey/develop the narrative instead of the
paragraphs of narrative description. This is the greatest contrast to both MSS and shooting
scripts, there is no need to write in detail about the characters appearance, actions or the
technical ques of what the camera crew should do for that scene because a radio piece has
no requirement for it and as such the formatting convention we see used here will reflect on
that.
As I have justexplained,radioscriptshave noneedforaloadof narrative descriptionboxesto
supportthe dialogue.Aswe see here,radioformattinginsteadconventionallyfeaturessmall lines
describingwhatevermusicorsoundeffectsthatneedtobe addedinduringpost-production.
Alongside thisthereisthe specificname of eachindividual soundeffectthatismentionedinthat
line,these were likelymade usingfoleytechniquesoranarchive of soundsthathave been sourced/
planned.Includingthe name of the soundneededcreatesexcellentcommunicationbetweenthe
scriptwriterandthe productioncrew,byaddinginthe soundthe writerhas inmindtheyhave saved

5. the editorsetca lotof valuable time duringproduction(makingtheirjobeasierandsavingbudget
spendingona longereditingperiod). Thisisthe radioscript’stake ona narrative description,thereis
onlyaudiointhisproduct,so insteadof describingthe actionstoimmerse the reader/audience,
radioscriptswill describe the soundsthatsupportthe charactersdialogue performance.These
successfullyhelptoimmersethose reading,allowingthemtocombine the dialogueandsound
descriptionsintoaclearvisual intheirhead.
Due to there beinglessnarrative description,there isaheavydependenceondialogue blocksin
radioformatting.Itis a conventioninthissectortofocuson the characters speech,quite oftenthe
radioscript will relyheavilyonthe voice actorto be able to conveythe character’sfeelingand
emotionsviatheirperformance.The audience will notbe able to see the character givesvisual
indicationsof whatishappening;therefore,the scriptisformattedtoprepare the dialoguetobe as
descriptive aspossible.Thisoftencomesinthe formof wrylines (whichare usuallyusedinlower
case inMSS formatting).These are shortindicatorstohow the actor shoulddeliverthatline,if there
are anytimingrequirementsforitandwhat theyshoulddotosupportit like asighor a cough.
Overall,thisuse of directionwouldbe extremelysuccessfulinhelpingtoguide the voice actorto
conveythe characters’feelingsandactions.Savingtimeandreducingthe roomforerror if the actor
hadn’tbeentoldwhetherRudywasfeelingannoyedorsarcastic.
There isanotherconventionusedcommonlyinradioscripts,whichare the lettersyousee placedin
bracketsbeside the dialogue. Theseare similartothe wrylinesinMSSand the technical quesfor
camera/editingyousee inashootingscript.Theytell the actor andproductioncrew how thisline
shouldsoundlike intermsof technique.Forexample,the wrylines tellthe actorwhatemotionsto
use while the (D) tellsthemthatthisline shouldsoundlikeitisplayingfromadigital device like a
radioor a speaker.Orthe (OFF) whichindicatedthatthe line shouldbe deliveredbythe actora
distance awayfromthe mic. These quesare helpful duringproductionbecauseitgivesthemquick
descriptionsonwhattodo for eachline insteadof leavingthemtodecide inthe recordingstudio.
Notonlydoesthe actor gettoldwhat emotiontoinclude duringtheirperformance,theygettold
howto actuallydo the line.Takingintoconsiderationthe requirementsplacedondialogueinthis
format,I believethatthese indicationsaddedbringdepthanddetail tothe radioscriptthat is
missingwithmessnarrative description.

6. Finally,Radioscriptsnumberthe linesof dialogue insteadof the sceneslikethe pasttwoexamples
we have lookedat.Thisis because voice actors delivertheirlinesindependently outof chronological
order,therefore itiseasiertopinpointthe exactnumberof theirlinesandgetitdone quicker.
Overall,Ibelieve the conventionsof all three differentscriptformatsare beneficialtotheirown
products,conformingtothe demandsof that productand helpingthe scriptwriter/readerfulfil their
individualroles.