Two-Column Scripts with Timing

A script is a plan everyone on the job can read: the client, the voice, the editor, the station's traffic person. Video spots use a two-column layout. Radio spots use a single column with speaker labels. Both carry a running time so the plan fits the clock before anyone books a studio.

The two-column AV script

Left column: what we see. Right column: what we hear. Each row is one moment where they line up. A third, narrow column on the far left holds the running time, the second where that row starts.

Shorthand you will see in nearly every script:

• WS, MS, CU, ECU: wide shot, medium shot, close-up, extreme close-up
• VO: voiceover, the voice heard while the speaker is off screen
• SOT: sound on tape, a person on camera speaking with their own audio
• SUPER: text over picture, written exactly as it should appear
• SFX: sound effect
• MUSIC UP / UNDER / OUT: music louder, music under the voice, music ends

Write supers in the script exactly, character for character. The editor will type what you wrote, typos and all.

Full example: video :30

The invented Delmar County road bond, Measure 4, for TV and online pre-roll. Sponsor: the invented committee Delmar Roads Yes. Timing assumes a relaxed VO at about 2 words per second, with gaps for shots to land.

Read the rows top to bottom and notice the timing math. The problem (the bridge and the buses) takes 8 seconds. The solution and cost take 10. The action takes 4. The sponsor card takes 5. If the problem section had swollen to 14 seconds, you would see it in the time column before shooting a frame.

Also notice that no VO line describes its picture. The bus is on screen, so the voice says "twice a day." The map shows the road, so the voice gives the cost. That is the say-see rule from lesson 3, working.

About that sponsor super

FCC rule 47 CFR 73.1212 requires a TV station to identify the sponsor of a political ad about a candidate with letters at least 4 percent of the vertical picture height, on screen at least 4 seconds. On a 1080 line picture, 4 percent is about 43 pixels of letter height. A ballot measure ad is not a candidate ad, but the station still has to identify who paid, and Idaho Code 67-6614A says the person responsible for a political ad must be "clearly indicated." Using the 4 percent, 4 second standard for every political or issue ad is the simplest habit. Lesson 6 covers all of these rules together.

The treasurer's name in the example is a common practice in some places, shown here as an option. Check what your state actually requires.

The radio script

Radio uses one column. Each line starts with who or what makes the sound: the voice, the announcer, SFX or MUSIC. Times go in the left margin. Write numbers the way you want them spoken: "November third," not "Nov. 3."

The last sound effect is a button: a short beat after the tag that pays off the opening. The pothole at the top, the smooth road at the end. It costs two seconds and makes the spot feel finished. If the time is tight, the button goes before any message line does.

Order matters here. A federal candidate's TV ad must show the written approval statement at the end (lesson 6), and some stations simply prefer the paid-for-by line last. If a rule or a station wants the sponsor line as the final words, put the button before the tag instead.

Timing a script before recording

1. Read the script aloud at a relaxed pace with a stopwatch, including pauses for sound effects. Do it three times and take the middle time.
2. Write the running time at the start of each line.
3. If the total runs over 29 seconds for a :30, cut words. Do not plan to speed up the read or squeeze the file later.
4. Mark where the music must end. A :30 should be silent or fading to nothing a fraction before 30.00 so the station's automation does not clip a note.

The AV craft chapter on frames and time explains how editors count time in frames, which matters when the spot must be exactly :30.00 (lesson 7).