Tips for Rapid Response
Last time we did a Rapid Response was 'Five Days In May' when we asked you to submit pieces in response to the general election. Now that the Rapid Response is back with 'In The Red' we thought we'd gather some feedback from our team of readers that might help you with your submissions...
Here are our top tips for Rapid Response Writing;
1) Less can be more...
Don't feel like you have to pack loads and loads of story into 10 pages, sometimes you can show us just a moment in time in the world of your characters and it's enough to capture our imagination.
2) The big twist / happily ever after...
You don't need a big reveal/reversal/twist at the end or a nice/neat/happy ending but do be aware of what you want the reader to feel at the end (shock/tears/triumph etc) and give yourself room to do that.
3) Know where you're going...
When we did our last Rapid Response some of the comments from our readers were "it was a really great idea, lovely characters and/or dialogue but just didn't know where it was going".
With rapid response this might be because you only had time to do one draft so perhaps ask yourself have I got the structure of my story right, have I got the right beginning, middle and end?
4) Every character counts...
No matter how many characters you have in your script try to develop them all as much as your main character.
Think about what journey they go on and how they impact on the narrative.
In short scripts we don't have much time to get to know them (or you) so think about how you can best convey who your characters are.
5) Show don't tell...
A lot of the scripts we received were 2 or 3 characters or a family sat in a room simply talking about what was happening in the news.
We want to see what your imagination can come up with: we don't want a re-cap of the events, we want to see the impact of the events.
'Actions can speak louder than words' is especially true in short scripts, it's more economical for you and it's more interesting for us. Ask yourself what your characters do as well as say. We like to see characters that make their own decisions - not just reflect on other people's.
6) Repetition...
We are all creatures of habit - but don't rely on the same dramatic devices (unless of course you are using the repetition to make a point) because in a short script the reader is more likely to notice.
7) Be original...
We're looking for original voices, we'd rather you used a rapid response like this to try something completely off the wall and out of your comfort zone than send us something in the style of another writer or something that you think we'd like. Surprise us, you know you want to!
8) Respond to the brief...
We want you to interpret the brief in a new and exciting way but we also want to know that it inspired your script. There might be a desire to re-work something you've already written, there's no rule against that, but ultimately the judges were most excited about the ones that were a relevant but original insight on the events in question!
Happy (rapid) writing everyone.
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