AUDIO DRAMA WRITERS’ ROOM: READINGS & CRITIQUES OF YOUR SCRIPTS An online Play Cafe workshop with writer-producer Rick Toscan, July 17, 12:30PM – 2:30PM Pacific Time (7:30PM – 9:30PM GMT, 8:30PM – 10:30PM BST) https://tinyurl.com/AudioWritersRoom
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Fiction podcasts and docudramas – part of the New Golden Age of audio drama – are a hot medium today for writers with millions of listeners downloading multiple millions of episodes. That’s led to a land rush of producers and streaming services scooping up successful audio fiction for tv/streaming adaptations. Now the Audio Writers’ Room offers you the chance to hear and develop the first three pages of dialogue of your audio scripts in readings by professional performers followed by critiques and editing suggestions. With reports of 40% of listeners bailing out of fiction podcasts during the first episode, we know those opening pages are critical for engaging audiences. Editing issues in those pages are usually present throughout a script so critiques can offer a guide for full revisions. Script excerpts will be marked up in real time during the workshop.
Among the script questions we’ll be exploring: How well are characters established for listeners? Does exposition and subtext in dialogue work for audio? Do characters invite interest and empathy? Is the dialogue style audio-friendly? How well do early phases of the plot draw listeners into the world of the story? Are environmental ambience and sound effects used as storytelling devices? Does the point of attack and hook serve the story in audio terms?
The Audio Writers’ Room is open to all levels of experience whether you’re coming from theatre, film and television, or are just curious about writing for this new medium.
AUDITORS
Auditors are welcome to participate in the Audio Writers’ Room if you don’t want to submit a script but are interested in the critique process and applying it to your work. Critiques will offer editing suggestions that all workshop participants can apply to their own writing.
ABOUT RICK TOSCAN
Rick’s audio dramas have been broadcast by the BBC (Radio 1 & World Service), ABC (Australia), CBC (Canada), and in the US by Pacifica and NPR. He was executive producer and story editor of the original 13-episode Star Wars radio series for Lucasfilm, the BBC, and NPR, the first contemporary audio drama to attract a mass audience in the US with the equivalent of 30 million downloads. Other audio adaptations include work by Raymond Chandler, Damon Knight, and Ed Bullins. He was an Armstrong Award nominee for Creative Use of the Radio Medium and a founding member of First Stage, the Los Angeles new play development program. For many years he served as Dean of USC’s School of Theatre at a time when the school was routinely cited with Yale and Juilliard as the nation’s leading training programs. His handbook, Playwriting Seminars 2.0 is a widely used resource in the field.
REGISTRATION – https://tinyurl.com/AudioWritersRoom
Choose your level of registration, either as a WRITER or AUDITOR. The fee to participate as a WRITER is $35 (US dollars). Register early! Only the first 10 scripts submitted will be read and critiqued. After registering you will be given SCRIPT EXCERPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. Scripts will be due no later than July 7.
Up to 60 AUDITORS may register. That registration fee is $15 (US dollars).
