Learn how to write a creative brief to control information overload. View the secrets of an effective Public Service Announcement Screenwriter.

1. that
doesn’t
suck
How to write a script
P.S.A

2. - F C C
“public service announcement (PSA), which is any
message promoting programs, activities or services
of federal, state or local governments or the
programs, activities or services of non-profit
organizations.”

3. B E F O R E Y O U S T A R T
W R I T I N G
K N O W W H A T Y O U W A N T T O S A Y

4. - R O B E R T A L T M A N
“I don’t think screenplay writing is the same as
writing — I mean, I think it’s blueprinting.”

5. 4 S E N T E N C E S — 1 / 2
P A G E
W R I T E A B R I E F

6. M A N A G E
E X P E C T A T I O N S
G E T T H E D E T A I L S
Due date
for text
for visuals
Role definitions

7. M A N A G E
E X P E C T A T I O N S
G E T T H E D E T A I L S
Design requests
Approval process

8. I D E N T I F Y Y O U R
A U D I E N C E
W R I T E T O C O M M U N I C A T E
this guy
this lady
these folks

9. A U D I E N C E T A K E A W A Y
W H A T D O P E O P L E N E E D T O K N O W ?

10. Y O U O N L Y G E T O N E
S I N G L E C A L L - T O - A C T I O N

11. A V O I D L I E S
L I B R A R I A N I N F O R M A T I O N E X T E N S I O N S Y N D R O M E

12. R E A S O N S T O M A K E A
P . S . A
Things to remember while writing a script
Boosts attendance
Makes you look good
Publicizes a little known service
Documents a time or place

13. S C R I P T A L L O F T H E
W O R D S
Things to remember while writing a script
that guy

14. S C R I P T E V E R Y T H I N G
Things to remember while writing a script

15. R E A D Y O U R W O R D S O U T
L O U D
Things to remember while writing a script

16. - W I L L I A M S H A K E S P E A R E
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

17. W O R D S P E R M I N U T E
R A T I O
Things to remember while writing a script
Length of PSA 10 sec 15 sec 20 sec 30 sec
20-25 30-35 40-50 60-75# of words

18. W R I T E F O R T H E S H O O T
Things to remember while writing a script

19. S H O O T F O R T H E E D I T
Things to remember while writing a script

20. • 3. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c21944
• 5. Library of Congress hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.11271
• 6. "Mark Muir Mills" by Thomas J. O'Halloran, U.S. News & World Report Magazine - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.03109.. Licensed
under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Muir_Mills.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Mark_Muir_Mills.jpg
• 8. "Douglas Fairbanks at third Liberty Loan rally HD-SN-99-02174" by Paul Thompson - Downloaded from http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Still_Details.cfm?SDAN=HDSN9902174&JPGPath=/Assets/Still/1999/DoD/HD-SN-99-
02174.JPG. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douglas_Fairbanks_at_third_Liberty_Loan_rally_HD-SN-99-
02174.JPEG#mediaviewer/File:Douglas_Fairbanks_at_third_Liberty_Loan_rally_HD-SN-99-02174.JPEG
• 9. "Suffragettes, England, 1908" by Not given - The New York Times photo archive, via their online store, here. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suffragettes,_England,_1908.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Suffragettes,_England,_1908.JPG
• 10. "Tage Erlander 1960-tal" by Unknown - Ericssonkrönikan. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tage_Erlander_1960-tal.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Tage_Erlander_1960-tal.jpg
• 14. Danny Kaye in Unicef Commercial, 19/Apr/1955. UN Photo/MB
• 13. This image is a work of a Works Progress Administration employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 and 105)
• 15. Meyer London, The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel
• 18. "Filming scene TheGirlsOfTheRange 1910" by William Selig - [1]. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Filming_scene_TheGirlsOfTheRange_1910.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Filming_scene_TheGirlsOfTheRange_1910.jpg
• 19. File:Colonel Frank Capra (right) of the US Army Signal Corps confers with Captain Roy Boulting of the British Army Film Unit on the editing of the film 'Tunisian Victory' in February 1944. D18377.jpg D 18377 from the collections of
the Imperial War Museums.