Over the years I’ve been script-editing or mentoring new writers to Big Finish, and found that a good way of saving time and tears was to give them, on day one, a short guide to writing on audio. The following is based on all the things I’ve learned over the years, but also on the original guidelines by Gary Russell which I still have knocking around somewhere.

I understand that writers I haven’t worked with have also been given a copy of this guide, which is hugely gratifying. They will know there is also a section on “compliance” which I haven’t included here as it’s confidential and almost certainly out-of-date (this version of the guide is from 2022, but I wrote it originally back in 2013).

 

HOW TO WRITE A DOCTOR WHO AUDIO ADVENTURE by Jonathan Morris

A brief personal guide to everything I’ve learned about writing Big Finish audios.

 

SCRIPT

The script should be approximately 4750 words long per episode. 4500 words is the minimum, 5000 words the absolute maximum. A 25-minute episode is about 15-20 scenes (fewer scenes on audio than on TV).

Use another script to give you your format in terms of font, font size, margins etc. It’s worth reading several scripts anyway just to get an idea of what one is supposed to look like.

The title page should list the cast, indicating genders, ages, accents, voice types, whether they are aliens, robots etc. and a bit about what sort of person they are.

The number of non-regular cast members varies from play to play but it’s usually about four (larger for a four-part story, as it will be recorded across two days, so there can be one-day actors). Avoid doubling up (using the same actor for two or more parts) where possible as it means they have to attempt accents. One or two line parts are fine i.e. guards, bystanders etc and you can have as many robots and aliens as you like.

As a rule, the fewer characters a story is told with, the better; combining two characters into one results in a much more interesting character. He’s a bus driver, but also an alien spy!

Try to have a mix of characters of different genders, ages, accents and voice types so it’ll be clear throughout who is who, it helps make characters distinctive and memorable.

Your story should be parallel plotted, not linear, with two or more threads, so at any point in the narrative you will always have something to cut away to.

For boring reasons, scripts should be delivered as .doc files in Courier font (or Courier Final Draft).

 

SCENES

Should be about 1-2 pages. Anything longer than 3 pages is worrying. Anything less than half a page is also worrying; on TV you can cut back and forth between scenes but on audio, as it takes time to establish each scene location (i.e. fade out, link music, fade in) it tends to slow things down.

Think in terms of locations that can be established by sound design i.e. a pub, inside a car, a control room, a factory, a cave, a forest, somewhere where it’s raining or thundery. Offices, corridors and living rooms tend to be dull to listen to. On audio you can have as many weird and wonderful locations as you like, and if possible try to add ‘movement’ so the characters aren’t just standing still or sitting as they talk, have them doing something.

Alternating between locations with different sound designs can speed up scene changes and obviate the need for fade outs or linking music i.e. cutting from a quiet office to a car. Try to avoid cutting from a location with one sound design to another with the same sound design.

Nobody knows whether scenes set in cars are supposed to be INT or EXT. It doesn’t matter on audio. Don’t bother saying if a location is DAY or NIGHT unless it sounds different during the day and night.

Everyone in a scene needs to speak within the first half page in order to establish they are present. Try to give everybody in a scene at least one line per page to remind the listener they are still there. If somebody leaves, make it clear when they do, don’t just have them go quiet.

Bearing the above note in mind, ideally you don’t want to have more than four people in each scene. Five is manageable but anything more than five is worrying as it complicates recording and can make scenes hard for the listener to follow.

If someone enters a scene, it needs to be clear, but usually you can get it across with FX: DOOR OPENS and having the new arrival say a line. Ken Bentley gets very irritated by characters saying the name of someone after they appear in a scene, so reserve it only for occasions of surprise/relief/delight.

Doing the Sherlock trick of having someone unexpectedly speaking up to reveal they were in the room all along after two pages is effective on audio but has been done to death.

FADE OUT at the end of a scene to indicate the passage of time, that the next scene doesn’t follow immediately afterwards. Write the dialogue that will be used for the fade out but put it in [square brackets] to make it clear it is not essential.

 

DIALOGUE

The first line of a scene should be a curtain-raiser, the last line a cliff-hanger or curtain-closer. A good rule is to start as late as you can and get out as early as you can.

Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ has some good advice on dialogue which is; people don’t say what they mean but you can tell what they mean from what they say. Avoid having people say things like ‘I’m feeling scared’, ‘I’m very happy’, ‘I have unresolved issues with my mother’.

Avoid giving directions in brackets. It’s the equivalent of putting adverbs after ‘said’ in a novel. The way a line should be said should be clear from the line and its context.

The only exceptions are if people (WHISPER) and (SHOUT) (as they can be used to indicate the geography of the scene – people whisper to those nearby, shout to those far off), lines which involve physical actions such as (RUNNING) or (WHILST REWIRING COMPUTER) and where the meaning is opposite to what is implied by the dialogue because it is (SARCASTIC). You’re also allowed to indicate if a line is a reaction because a character (SEES SOMETHING).

Unless otherwise indicated, the listener is always going to assume each line is a response to the previous line of dialogue, so if it is being directed towards somebody else, you’ll need to have the speaker give that person’s name as they turn to address them.

Keep an eye out for unintentional rhymes, particularly across page breaks and scene breaks.

Keep an eye out for people using other character’s names too often, or for words like ‘Well’ and ‘Just’ cropping up much too often. You can use them, but ration them.

As a general rule Big Finish don’t have narration, but will occasionally permit it if it’s part of the style or a framing device (this will be agreed at the synopsis). We can hear characters reading and writing aloud, making diary entries, etc. but bear in mind the next note.

In dialogue, unless a character is verbose as a character point, speeches should be only one or two lines long (as you look at them on the page) before someone else speaks. Obviously this isn’t a hard and fast rule but I tend to get more and more worried the longer a speech goes on without interruption and look for ways to break it up with other characters saying things.

Try to avoid having characters talking to themselves. The best way to avoid it is by plotting a story so there always at least two people in each scene. If it is unavoidable, keep it brief and try to give a reason why the character is thinking out loud; they’re nervous, or dictating into a tape recorder.

Exposition is a pain in the arse. Listeners will forgive it if it is done subtly, or if it is humorous, if there’s a reason for character A to be saying it or a reason for character B to be asking them to explain something. Try to avoid characters saying things like ‘As you know’ or ‘I can’t believe that I, a world-renowned archaeologist’ or RTD’s favourite ‘Hello, sis, all set for your wedding day?’

Sometimes when writing these things you can get so focussed on characters providing visual info that you also describe what they hear. But as the listener will have heard it too, it’s completely redundant! So avoid lines like ‘It’s so noisy in here!’ or ‘It was like some sort of awful scream.’ The effects will have done the work so the dialogue doesn’t have to.

It’s the modern fashion to cut personal pronouns when they occur at the beginning of a sentence, but be careful to make sure it’s clear if the person is referring to themselves or the addressee i.e. ‘Don’t think we should go in there!’ implies ‘I don’t think...’ while ‘Don’t think we should go in there?’ implies ‘You don’t think...’. If there’s any doubt, leave the personal pronouns in and leave it to the actors to make it work.

Avoid having characters simply describe what they see unless absolutely necessary, in which case get it out of the way as quickly and simply as possible. Try to create reasons why someone would describe what they see (i.e. they’re talking to someone on the phone).

Where possible, try to imply what is seen by the reaction and the dialogue without just having people say what they see; it invariably makes the dialogue more interesting and real.

Make the dialogue as specific to each character as possible; not by giving them verbal tics (though idiosyncratic voices are good) but because, in any given scene, only one character would say such-and-such-a-thing because they’re the only person who knows such-and-such or the only person who’s attitude to the situation is such-and-such. The goal being to have a scene where if you knew who was in it but covered up the characters’ names, you’d know who said each line.

If two people are talking at once, or lines are overlapping, indicate this somewhere with a direction like (OVER PREVIOUS LINE).

If someone is being interrupted, end their line with a dash but indicate the word they were about to – (say)

I’d be wary of having people interrupting to finish someone else’s thought; it’s a bit clunky and Peter Davison will point out that people never do that in real life.

If someone is saying something specific in the background of a scene while other characters are talking in the foreground you need to include that background dialogue as actors can’t be expected to ad lib something usable on the day. i.e. if the Doctor and Leela are having a (WHISPER) conversation during a science lecture, you need to write out the science lecture too.

Three dots at the end of a line indicates trailing off... as though a character has been distracted by the ceiling. Unless that is what’s intended, don’t do it.

 

EFFECTS

FX: DALEK EXPLODES.

You can put it in brackets if you like. If it happens during a line of dialogue (FX: ALARM SOUNDS) it should always be in brackets.

Keep descriptions brief. If an effect is repeated, you don’t need to include all the details the second time. It’s helpful if an effect is repeating a specific earlier one to indicate as such i.e. (FX: DALEK EXPLODES, AS IN SCENE 14).

Generally, if a location has particular background FX you describe them the first time the location is used and then only mention changes to the FX.

You can say (FX: BATTLE CONTINUES THROUGH REST OF SCENE) rather than detailing all the explosions and gunshots.

FX, like descriptions in a film script, cover things which are essential to the narrative which you wouldn’t usually expect to be there. So you don’t need things like FX: TARDIS HUM for scenes set in the TARDIS control room (or console room if you prefer).

Include FX of someone closing the TARDIS door after they leave. Most people forget this.

And for a scene, set in a pub, say, you can just go

FX: A BUSY PUB.

Rather than

FX: PUB IS BUSY, SOUND OF PEOPLE TALKING, DRINKING, EATING, LAUGHING.

A “wild track” is additional background dialogue or human-originated noises to be recorded on the day – it can be screams, growls, or general chatter. If it is general chatter, it is helpful to include some guides for the actors, otherwise they will invariably be very rude and silly. So if it is, say, a scene set in aircraft control, say “WILD TRACK: AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, LINES LIKE: ‘Victor foxtrot tango, clear to proceed on bearing four-three-five’”.

 

MUSIC

Unless this is part of the scene heard by the characters (what is known as ‘diegetic’) I wouldn’t bother mentioning it, it tends to be the decision of the director.

HOW JONNY DOES IT

I tend to work out a scene breakdown, indicating where each scene is set, who is in it, and what happens in it to advance the plot (i.e. the reason why the scene is in the story). I find it a great help and that it speeds up the process considerably. Nine times out of ten if you’re finding a scene hard to write it’s because you’re not clear what you’re trying to achieve with it, how it’s advancing the plot or what information it’s supposed to be imparting.

If your initial draft is over length be ruthless and edit it down. There is no script that cannot be improved by being made shorter, tighter, faster. If in doubt, leave it out!

 

AND FINALLY

If you get stuck, or find yourself in trouble, or feel something isn’t working, ask your script editor for advice. That’s what a script editor is for and it will make you look good and save you work in the long run.