Fiction and non-fiction scripts and pre-production considerations (P1)

 How do fiction and non-fiction scripts differ in the pre-production stage?

Fiction and non-fiction scripts will have a wide range of factors that will need to be taken into consideration before they start being produced. These factors won't just differ based on if the the product is fiction or non-fiction but will also be widely different depending on the type of media that is being made.

As you can see from the examples on the left, Fiction scripts will include film,TV, video game and radio scripts from a range of genres including superhero, action, crime, thriller and soap opera. 
These will generally be written with a clear idea of what will happen during the story of the product (with whole seasons for TV shows such as Doom Patrol being written to follow on from previous episodes and contribute towards a larger narrative). The exception to this will be for TV shows such as soaps which will have larger recurring plots and due to not being split into seasons will mean that every episode will be scripted (as expected) but it may not set up anything bigger.

Non-fiction scripts include news,documentaries, radio shows, TV game shows, and TV talk shows. These differ from fiction scripts because they are written with a general idea of what is going to happen that the presenters will loosely follow.  News scripts will be written to include various news stories from the week/day that have been prepared in advance, but may be interrupted by breaking news. Breaking news would still be scripted, but it's less likely to be as strict. The news anchor may be given key facts that they need to deliver alongside live footage.

Documentary scripts will both be written before and after filming. This is because most of the speaking is through voice overs and writers won't be able to predict what an animal will do and therefore won't be able to write a script for it. Scripts are likely to include things that they would like the people filming to try and capture, such as an animal hunting for food but won't be finalised until the filming is complete.

Radio shows and TV talk shows will be loosely scripted to include interviews or stories that they want to include, and may include time for listeners/viewers to interact with the hosts. The same can be said for TV game shows, which will have a script for how the presenter interacts with contestants when introducing them, for when a round starts and finishes and sometimes the questions (although the presenter usually reads them aloud when they are displayed).

Pre-production considerations.

Before the script for a media product is written, different considerations will be taken into account that will have an effect on the script. These may include thinking of similar products that have already been produced and seeing which elements worked well. The photograph on the right shows and example of what would be taken into consideration if the film "Aquaman" and the documentary "Blue Planet 2" were to be imitated.