Writing for Radio 2

Are there any particular pitfalls about writing for radio?

Sarah: If you go to the theatre and you pay fifty pounds for the ticket you are not going to sit in the front row of the stalls and walk out within the first two minutes. But if you listen to a radio play and you don't like what you hear, you are. People need to have something to hook their attention within the first couple of minutes.

What's great about writing for radio?

Sarah: In radio you work with one person only. If you're new to television you're often writing for EastEnders or Holby or those things - which I've written for, I'm not a snob about them. Some of those episodes are as well written as anything you'll see anywhere. However, from the minute you start writing to the minute it's filmed you are rewriting constantly, to script editors, to producers, to directors, to exec producers who often have contradictory set of notes. It goes back and forth. In radio there is one person you work with and that relationship is crucial.

And all the people I've worked with in radio are working there because they've chosen it. They could be working in something much more lucrative, that gives them much more of the limelight. But they're committed to making really good drama. And so that alone makes it the best medium to work for.

Kwame: I can't echo enough the beauty of working with one person throughout. As a beginning writer in particular, the beauty of working through one person to the final product is the most wonderful environment. You can get lost, I think, in the multiple frustrations of having seven script editors, two executive producers and a producer, and having five or six different notes that people forget that they gave you two weeks ago. And then they critique what you've written for them - you didn't even do it for yourself - and they go "Oh I don't like this scene."

Are there any problems you face or lessons you've learnt?

Sarah: As I've been very honest I'm going to say that I don't even care whether I over-write, as I've had Sally Avons, who's a producer, who has edited it perfectly. I'm all for less is more when it comes to working.

I'm going to tell you two things about Sally. One is that the title of the play as you see it on the web site is called The Sound Barrier. Now it was for Kate's slot, the Friday slot, and she rightly said this sounds a bit scientific, can you think of another title. Well I tried. But in the end it was Sally who came up with Sound Barriers which is perfect, rather than The Sound Barrier. And the other thing is that if you look at the script on the website, it's probably ten minutes longer than the slot. And that's because Sally did a fantastic editing job. Such a fantastic editing job that the reviewer in the Guardian said "There isn't a word out of place in this script" and I got all the credit. But there were ten minutes worth of words out of place in there.

The other thing is that the script on the web site is the script we went into the studio with. But in the recording we switched around the last scene and the penultimate scene, which works a lot better. The penultimate scene, if you read the script, you will see should be the last scene. And that we only did as we were recording it.

Kwame: I would say another really important thing is to trust your producer. There's a really weird process in writing where it's your baby, then it's no longer your baby, and then actually it is yours again, for criticism or for praise. And in a way you have to do a really interesting balancing act throughout production, which is to let the producer place their art on your work, but also remembering at the same time that invariably you're the one that's going to get the criticism.

So you have to be able to self-edit even before it gets to your producer, knowing that your editor or your producer will then edit again, but also during production find that balance where if you absolutely really believe in something that you have to be very clear up front and say: you know you can cut everything but I really want this line. I really want this. And then do that debate.

What do you think the main differences are between radio drama and other forms of drama in terms of language and use of voices?

Kwame: I don't think there's a great difference in terms of what language you can use, how you can structure your dialogue, how your actors can say them.

I think voices are terribly important for radio. And that's where again having a great producer is a godsend, 'cause they'll have a list of the best actors that are available. An actor might not commit for three weeks, but for two days radio you can often get the best people that are in town and put them in.

Sarah: I don't think I can add to that. I think all dramas should be written with as much wit and passion and love of language that you can muster really.

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