How to Write a PSA script that doesn't suck

that doesn’t suck

How to write a script

P.S.A

- F C C

“public service announcement (PSA), which is any message promoting programs,

activities or services of federal, state or local governments or the programs, activities or

services of non-profit organizations.”

B E F O R E YO U S TA RT W R I T I N G

KNO W W H AT YO U WA NT T O S AY

- R OBERT ALT M A N

“I don’t think screenplay writing is the same as writing — I mean, I think it’s blueprinting.”

4 S E N T E N C E S — 1 / 2 PAG E

W R I T E A BR IE F

M A N AG E E X P E C TAT I O N SGE T T H E DE TA I LS

Due date

for text

for visualsRole definitions

M A N AG E E X P E C TAT I O N SGE T T H E DE TA I LS

Design requestsApproval process

I D E N T I FY YO U R A U D I E N CE

W R I T E T O CO MMU NICAT E

this guy

this lady

these folks

A U D I E N C E TA K E AWAYW H AT DO PE O P LE NE E D T O KNO W?

YO U O N LY G E T O N ES INGLE CA LL -T O -ACT IO N

AVO I D L I E SL I BRA R IA N I NF O R MAT IO N E XT E NS IO N SY NDR O ME

R E A S O NS T O M A K E A P. S . A

Things to remember while writing a script

Boosts attendanceMakes you look goodPublicizes a little known serviceDocuments a time or place

S C R I P T A L L O F T H E W OR D S

Things to remember while writing a script

that guy

S C R I P T E V E RY T H I N GThings to remember while writing a script

R E A D YOU R WOR DS OU T LOU D

Things to remember while writing a script

- W I LL I A M S HA K ES P EA R E

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

W O R DS PE R M I NU T E RAT I O

Things to remember while writing a script

Length of PSA 10 sec 15 sec 20 sec 30 sec

20-25 30-35 40-50 60-75# of words

W R I T E F O R T H E S H O O TThings to remember while writing a script

S H O O T F O R T H E E D I TThings to remember while writing a script

• 3. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c21944

• 5. Library of Congress hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.11271

• 6. "Mark Muir Mills" by Thomas J. O'Halloran, U.S. News & World Report Magazine - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.03109.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Muir_Mills.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Mark_Muir_Mills.jpg

• 8. "Douglas Fairbanks at third Liberty Loan rally HD-SN-99-02174" by Paul Thompson - Downloaded from http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Still_Details.cfm?SDAN=HDSN9902174&JPGPath=/Assets/Still/1999/DoD/HD-SN-99-02174.JPG. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douglas_Fairbanks_at_third_Liberty_Loan_rally_HD-SN-99-02174.JPEG#mediaviewer/File:Douglas_Fairbanks_at_third_Liberty_Loan_rally_HD-SN-99-02174.JPEG

• 9. "Suffragettes, England, 1908" by Not given - The New York Times photo archive, via their online store, here. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suffragettes,_England,_1908.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Suffragettes,_England,_1908.JPG

• 10. "Tage Erlander 1960-tal" by Unknown - Ericssonkrönikan. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tage_Erlander_1960-tal.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Tage_Erlander_1960-tal.jpg

• 14. Danny Kaye in Unicef Commercial, 19/Apr/1955. UN Photo/MB

• 13. This image is a work of a Works Progress Administration employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 and 105)

• 15. Meyer London, The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel

• 18. "Filming scene TheGirlsOfTheRange 1910" by William Selig - [1]. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Filming_scene_TheGirlsOfTheRange_1910.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Filming_scene_TheGirlsOfTheRange_1910.jpg

• 19. File:Colonel Frank Capra (right) of the US Army Signal Corps confers with Captain Roy Boulting of the British Army Film Unit on the editing of the film 'Tunisian Victory' in February 1944. D18377.jpg D 18377 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.