by Ros Woolner
In October we welcomed writer and performer Naomi Paul, who led a workshop on sketches, scripts and dialogue.
In an informative, interactive session, Naomi introduced us to TV and radio scripts (available from BBC Writersroom) and asked us what made the dialogue work. We considered the importance of character – Naomi says you can’t have believable dialogue without the character being very well established. She suggests writing monologues as a way of exploring a character and hearing their voice, before trying to write dialogue.
Later on in the workshop, there was time for us to have a go at doing that ourselves – writing a monologue in the voice of an off-stage character from one of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues.
Naomi suggests that there are two main aspects to writing successful dialogue:
character and context
the sharpness of the writing itself – including many of the tools we might use when writing poetry: rhythm, timing, wordplay, alliteration, repetition, varied sentence length and the element of surprise. And the need to keep cutting until the writing is as tight as you can make it.
Many of us had never seen a professional radio or TV script before, so it was interesting to see how they are laid out, and how much of the page of a TV script especially is taken up with instructions rather than dialogue: what’s happening with the scenery and camera, and descriptions of the character for the actors to use when working on their role.
Although we were focusing on dialogue, Naomi reminded us that silence is also very important, especially on screen: the absence of a reply, a look, the things left unsaid.
A few members have had a go at writing scripts in the past and we looked at a couple of those, getting people to read out the different parts – an exercise Naomi recommends for anyone writing scripts. When you hear your script read by others, you can often spot things that could be improved that weren’t obvious on paper. And, if you are lucky, you will also get some useful feedback.
About Naomi Paul
Naomi Paul is a writer and performer. She has taken her solo comedy show Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits to Wolverhampton, Leicester, Birmingham, Burton-upon-Trent, and the Edinburgh, Brighton and Buxton Fringe Festivals. She is currently touring this show with Live & Local.
You can read more about her and upcoming performances on her website