What is a Script Writer?
As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary — A script writer is a person who writes the words for films or radio or television broadcasts. When we look at the term ‘Script Writer’ more broadly, it defines a person who writes the written text of movies, plays, ads and more. Each of these sectors have their own specific terms for a ‘Script Writer’. In movies, we call a ‘Script Writer’ as a ‘Screenplay Writer’ or a ‘Screenwrite’ while in plays we call the same person a ‘Playwright’. In ads, this person holds the title of either a ‘Script Writer’ exclusively or a regular ‘Copy Writer’ who is given the task.
In this article, we are solely going to focus on the Script Writers in Advertising.
What is the role of a ‘Script Writer’ in advertising?
In ads, the Script Writer writers the written content of audio visual or visuals only ads. This covers the Voice Over Narrative part of the video, often in the form of dialogues, and a short section for visual treatment for each scene.
A script writer also writes the ‘Supers’ or ‘Text On Screen’ part of the video.
A script is the most basic and one of the first solid assets of an Ad. It is necessary to hire a professional script writer with good experience if you want your video to shine.
What does a Script Writer actually do?
The work of a professional script writer starts with research. A good script writer will conduct thorough research on the topic of the script, the service or product, the client and their brand, the industry as a whole as well as the immediate competition for the client. The most basic aspect of research is on the product or service itself. It helps the writer to understand what needs to be highlighted in the script or what the focus of the video needs to be. It is also important to get to know the client and their brand, as it gives direction to the tone or mood the video would follow. Industry research consists of research on the current trends in the industry and how the client differs or offers something unique. Competition research is a part of industry research which tells the writer who to watch out for while creating the ad.
The next step is actually writing the script from scratch which needs its own separate section in this article.
How does a Script Writer write a Script?
Every writer has their own tried and tested method to write a script. The most common method I observed starts with ideation. A good script writer will have multiple approaches ready for a single video and then choose the best among them. The usual second step is writing down the Voice Over part of the video first. This can be in the form of dialogues or in the form of a single narrative.
Like a story, or any good writeup, a narrative has to have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning can be a direct introduction to the brand or their service, it can be a highlight on a problem that the target audience faces that the client is about to solve or even a situation that the target audience is in. The central part of the VO is generally where the ad highlights the key features of the product or service. The number of elements highlighted depends upon the duration of the video. The last part is the ‘Call To Action’ where the video tries to drive the audience to action. For example: “Get in touch today!” or “Download now!” etc.
The visual treatment is where the writer actually tries to visualize the flow of the video in sync with the written voiceover. The voiceover is divided into scenes and suggestions for the visuals are added for every scene. This is one of the most difficult parts of writing a script and is often done in collaboration with the director or artists (in case of animation).
When you get down to it, what a Script Writer does is build a foundation to the visual advertisement. Very often, especially in animation, the animation director is also the writer. If you want to create an ad for your brand, it is wise to check the Script Writer’s credentials.
