The Roller Coaster Ride of Legislative Activism
I do a lot of writing here at the TAC – everything from bill reports to in-dept historical articles. But video scripts are by far my biggest writing challenge.
Hopefully, you’ve seen one of our latest videos “The Founders and the Dog of War.” (If you haven’t, check it our HERE.) I wrote the script for that one, and I love how it turned out.
Now, if you’re like me, you probably never really thought much about writing a video script. But it probably wouldn’t go well if Micheal Boldin just got up there and started talking off the top of his head. (Or maybe it would!)
Anyway, an amazing amount of work goes on behind the scenes to produce even a short 1 minute video. I’m a trained journalist, and generally writing isn’t hard for me. But writing a script is a completely different ball of wax, and I still don’t feel like I’ve mastered it.
First, it has to be short. Usually no longer than 250 words. Breaking down a complex subject into a few short paragraphs a challenge! Then it has to be conversational. Most people don’t talk like they, so it requires a different mindset to write a script than it does to write an article. Finally, you have to think visuals. Good dialogue doesn’t go very far in video if there aren’t good pictures to go with it. So, it’s not easy. Honestly, I can generally write two or three bill reports in the time it takes to write one short script.
Of course, that’s just the beginning. When you watch a TAC video, you are seeing literally hours of work (including filming and editing) within that one minute blurb. But I hope you agree its worth it! It’s always exciting to me when the video come out and I see how Boldin makes those words come to life!
About the author
Michael Maharrey [send him email] is the Communications Director for the Tenth Amendment Center. He proudly resides in the original home of the Principles of '98 - Kentucky. See his blog archive here and his article archive here. He is the author of the book, Our Last Hope: Rediscovering the Lost Path to Liberty. You can visit his personal website at MichaelMaharrey.com and like him on Facebook HERE
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