Script Formatting for Broadcast Writing

1. Script
Formatting for
Broadcast
Writing

2. Verb Tense
Even when material is gathered prior to air, broadcasters use the present tense as
much as possible.
When you type your script, look for opportunities to recast your verbs in present
tense, including the use of “says” instead of “said” for attributions.

3. Pronounciation
In broadcast, the reader must also know how the word should sound when spoken.
To that end, scripts often include phonetic elements called pronouncers.
For example, when a crime happens in Nevada, Missouri, it’s in NEE-vay-da, but if it happens in
Las Vegas, Nevada, it’s in neh-VA-da.
The pronouncer should break the word into syllables and show where the emphasis
should take place.
It’s best to include both the word itself and the pronouncer in parentheses so the
reader can rely on either prior knowledge or your phonetic help to say the word
properly.

4. Let’s Try It!
Below are words that could easily be mispronounced. Research the terms and write
a pronouncer for each of them. Make sure to use hyphens to separate the syllables
and capital letters to show emphasis.
● The musical artist “Sade”
● U.S. Congresswoman Amata Coleman Radewagen
● Colonel
● Phlegm
● Haleiwa, Hawaii
● Vince Papale

5. Abbreviations
Some abbreviations, such as St. and Dr., have multiple meanings and can trip up a
reader. You could have a meeting at St. Paul’s Church on Mulberry Dr. or you could
meet Dr. Paul Church on Mulberry St. In broadcast writing, we avoid shortening
things that could lead to a flustered anchor or reporter.
When you need to use abbreviations, you can use hyphens and spacing to dictate
how you want someone to pronounce something.
For example, FBI should be written F-B-I.
You can perform similar fixes on telephone numbers:
Call one-800-four-eight-two, two-one-two-seven.

6. Numbers & Symbols
Broadcast writing pushes you to write the copy the way you would say it to avoid
confusion.
“The principal will make about 50 thousand dollars this year”
Numbers less than 10 are spelled out.
“The president will send one plane with two negotiators to the meeting”
Symbols are also spelled out
“Join our Twitter conversation at hash-tag W-R-T-V cares”

7. Sound Bites
During the scripting process, sound bites aren’t written out in full.
In most cases, they simply include an “out,” which is a typewritten chunk of
information that includes the last few words the source will say. This shows the
reporter when to resume reading the script.

8. Formatting the Radio Story
● Print copy on paper. Use one side only.
● Start each story on a new piece of paper.
● Use an easy-to-see font (Courier is standard) in 12-point size.
● Set left and right margins so the text fits in a 6½-inch column. This will mean
each line of copy times out to approximately 5 seconds as you read it.
● Create a heading—known as the slug—at the top that includes the story name.
Include the newscast, your name, the date, and the time of the story.
● Indicate page numbers with the current page, a slash, then the total pages, such
as 1/3 (page 1 of 3).
● Double-space copy.
● Justify all copy flush left.

9. Television News Copy
Television copy is double-spaced like radio copy, with relatively large fonts used for
readability, as with radio copy.
However, television uses ALL CAPS, because this was easiest to read on the
teleprompter systems used by television news anchors in the 1960s.