How to Write a Radio Serial Drama for Social Development- PDF

56 Chapter Four: Blending Story and Message in the Drama Plot
While writing the treatment for each plot, the writer must keep in
mind and include all of the following story elements:
• The action, dramatic conflict, climax, and resolution of the plot;
• The time that elapses from beginning to end of the plot;
• The emotional focus;
• The aspect(s) of the message to be covered;
• The setting;
• The major character and his or her predominant personality trait;
and
• Other characters and their relationships to the major character.
The characters may be developed in full at this stage, with the
completion of a profile, or this can be postponed until later, after the
treatment is completed but before script writing commences. (For details
on how to develop characters and create profiles, see Chapter 5.)
For example: The following treatment summary outlines the story of
the main plot of the Indonesian serial described above. While the finished
treatment was longer and more detailed, this summary shows how the
main plot encompasses and demonstrates a portion of the message.
4. Prepare draft treatments for the sub-plots. After reviewing the main plot
treatment, the event list, and the content to be covered by the series, the
writer rounds out the sub-plots that will deliver the rest of the message.
At this stage, it must be quite clear which parts of the message will be
covered by each sub-plot and, consequently, what character types will be
needed in each sub-plot.
For example: The writer devised the following sub-plots for the
Indonesian story. (Once again, these are given in summary.)