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

58 Chapter Four: Blending Story and Message in the Drama Plot
The Message
in the Story
The main plot
and sub-plots
must allow the
message to be
delivered:
• Naturally;
• Subtly; and
•Gradually.
5. Decide on a central uniting character where necessary. In health and
family planning serials, for example, nurses, clinic workers, and doctors
make useful central uniting characters, because they can have an obvious
professional relationship with almost any character in any plot. In
addition to tying the various plots together, this type of central uniting
character helps demonstrate the message in a variety of circumstances.
Such a character is far more believable if the drama shows her or him in a
family role as well as a professional role. In other serials, such as the
Indonesian example above, the central uniting character might be an
adventurer who links together the various plots by moving among them.
(More information on the creation of this and other characters in the
serial can be found in Chapter 5.)
6. Prepare the full treatment of the plots and message, combining the
main plot and the sub-plots. The writer must make sure that all the plots
fit together well and that every aspect of the message can be covered
naturally, subtly, and gradually by the story. Many writers of Enter-
Educate serials prefer a main plot that does not concentrate heavily on
the message. Instead, they create a main plot, like the one above, that
attracts and holds the audience with a gripping conflict and a dramatic
climax. While the main plot may contain elements of the message, the
sub-plots may be better able to convey the precise information required
and to demonstrate various aspects of the message.
For example: The treatment extract of Too Late, Too Bad shows that the
following messages were woven into the different plots naturally, subtly,
and gradually:
• The importance of planning the family (main plot),
• The importance of having young people understand the realities
of AIDS, including the risk of contracting the disease through
uninformed pre-marital sex (sub-plot B),
• Encouragement of proper care of mothers and infants (sub-plots
A and C), and
• Encouragement of community members to take a more active
role in providing for the welfare of mothers and children and in
providing adequate sex education for young people to prepare
them for adult life (sub-plot C).
The major conflict in that serial was not related directly to a health
and family planning message. Rather, it centered on the feud between
two wealthy Sunville families. This “outside-the-message” central conflict
allowed the story to attract and hold the attention of the audience, while
the various aspects of the message were brought into the story through
the sub-plots as a normal part of everyday life in Sunville.
7. Treatment review. Before individual scripts are written, the full
treatment of the main plot and the sub-plots should be reviewed and
approved by the script review panel. The panel meets with the writer to
discuss concerns and make suggestions, and changes are made
accordingly. Only after the treatment is approved does the writer begin
crafting individual scripts.