More people are today interested in entertainment news. However, according to recent research only 35% of TV news writers have excellent skills in writing great entertainment news scripts.
The process of writing entertainment news scripts for the television usually appears to be so simple until when you try it out for the first time. Most of the professionals in print journalism or English are known to struggle with turning the tight stories into scripts which are meant to be heard and not read. Though you might be spending your entire career trying to perfect your style for writing TV news, mastering the news script writing basics will help in providing the foundation for success. Here are seven awesome ways that will help you come up with a strong content for entertainment TV news.
1. Ensure you Write for the Ear
Always try to read your entertainment scripts out loud. Is it easy for you to understand by hearing it one at a time? Unlike in the print, the TV entertainment news is known to have only one shot to get the story. This explains who most of the words which sounds alike but have different meaning are a stumbling block for the ear. Try avoiding words like’site ’, ‘citing and sighting’.
2. Ensure You Write to the Video
Most of the latest entertainment news in Nigeria today are usually read as the audience watch the videos playing on the screens. Ensure you connect the words to the videos as if you were directing a tour group. This will require you to know what will be on the screen as the viewers continue to hear the script. The rest will be very easy once you have the key information.
3. Always Write Stories about Celebrities
Though it seems obvious, it is much easier to allow various entertainment scripts to veer off from focussing on individuals who are watching your newscast. In case the viewers sense the stories do not affect them directly, they will always turn away.
4. Move the News Story Forward
An entertainment TV news story should never have the end at the bottom of the script. The end of the script should always inform the audience of what will happen next to all the involved individuals. Even though the TV news would at times seem to be all about the video, crisp news writing will always place you above the rest in your news room and should be an important key when building your career faster than you ever thought possible.
5. Sell the News Story
Most of the print journalists will definitely groan at this basic TV news writing. In most towns, you will always find one newspaper though the TV stations will be several. This simply means a news writer will have to sell the products as something different and superior to the competition. A TV station will always use its script to help combat the perception that all the newscasts in the city are similar. Though this is not pure journalism, it is the basic part of writing news that is common in most of the TV stations.
6. Verbs Action add Verve
When writing entertainment news scripts, you can never do much to the object or subject of your sentences. However, you can always spice up your verbs. They are the parts of speech capable of bringing life to your stories.
7. Ensure you care careful with the numbers
Numbers are always known to be heard to the viewers’ ears especially if they are many. Try making your pint with a number or two then move on. Always take the bigger numbers and translate them into something meaningful for the audience.
