Audio drama script format: how to turn prose into a script
An audio drama script uses scene headings, cues, capitalized names and marked sound cues. Narration becomes sound, dialogue or a short narrator line.
In the usual audio drama script format, a script is laid out as a series of cues under scene headings. A cue is one line of the script: a speech, a sound or a piece of music. Each speech gives the character's name in capitals, a colon, an optional delivery note in parentheses, and the line. To turn prose into this format, you replace narration with sound, dialogue or a short narrator line.
Converting prose is the step most format guides leave out. A full-cast audiobook is an audiobook in which a narrator reads the narration and each character speaks their own lines in a separate voice, and it needs no conversion at all; AudioForge is a production tool that turns a manuscript into a multi-voice audiobook, with a distinct voice for every character.
Below: the parts of a script, the main conventions, a worked conversion of a short passage, and when you need a drama script at all.
What does an audio drama script look like?
An audio drama script looks like a play broken into cues, where every cue is a speech, a sound or a piece of music.
Radio playwright and director Tony Palermo's radio play format guide at RuyaSonic shows the old-time-radio style he uses:
- Scene heading: a film-style "slug," his example being SCENE ONE - EXT. SPANISH GALLEON - DAY (1720).
- Numbered cues: every speech, sound and music cue in his sample script has a number.
- Speeches: the character's name in capitals, a colon, then the line. A delivery note, a short instruction on how to say the line, goes in parentheses, such as (LAUGHING) or (DISTANT).
- Sound and music cues: each on its own line, labeled SOUND: or MUSIC:.
The UK's Wireless Theatre Company gives similar advice in its guide to formatting an audio drama script: number each new speech cue, starting from 1 on each page, mark sound effects clearly even though they need no number, start each new scene on a new page, and never split a speech across two pages.
What are the main audio drama script format conventions?
The main audio drama script conventions help actors and the editor find things fast: capitals for names and cues, numbers for order, and short notes for how a line is spoken.
| Element | How it is written | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Scene heading | SCENE TWO - INT. TAVERN - NIGHT | Tells the sound team where the scene is set |
| Speech | 3. MARA: (LOW) Not here. | The number and name show who speaks next |
| Sound cue | SOUND: RAIN ON SHUTTERS | Builds the setting without narration |
| Music cue | MUSIC: TENSE STING | Marks a mood change or transition |
| Mic position | (OFF) or (CLOSE) | Tells the actor how near to the mic to be |
The mic notes come from BBC radio drama practice, as described in Final Draft's guide to formatting a podcast script: (OFF) for speaking away from the microphone, (CLOSE) for close to it, and (D) for a distorted voice on a phone or radio.
Styles vary between producers. Pick one and use it the same way on every page.
How do you turn a prose chapter into a script?
You turn a prose chapter into an audio drama script by sorting every sentence into one of three jobs: something a listener hears, something a character says, or something only a narrator can tell.
Here is a short passage of prose:
Three days earlier, the letter had arrived. Now rain drummed on the tavern shutters. Mara slid into the corner booth, keeping her hood up. "You're late," Tobin said, not looking up from his cards. She dropped the sealed letter on the table. "And you're still cheating."
And the same passage as an audio drama script:
SCENE TWO - INT. TAVERN - NIGHT
1. NARRATOR: Three days after the letter came, Mara went to find Tobin.
2. SOUND: RAIN ON SHUTTERS. TAVERN MURMUR UNDER.
3. SOUND: A BENCH CREAKS AS SOMEONE SITS.
4. TOBIN: (NOT LOOKING UP) You're late, Mara.
5. SOUND: PAPER SLAPS ON WOOD.
6. MARA: (LOW) And you're still cheating, Tobin.
7. SOUND: CARDS SHUFFLING STOPS.
Five changes did the work:
- Setting became sound. The rain and the tavern are now cues, not description.
- Tags disappeared. "Tobin said" is gone because the listener hears Tobin's voice.
- Names moved into dialogue. The hood and the booth are lost, so the characters name each other to tell the listener who is there.
- Action became a sound. The dropped letter is a slap of paper; the cards stopping says Tobin is listening now.
- Only the time jump stayed with a narrator. Sound and dialogue cannot say "three days later" on their own.
Emily Inkpen's guide to converting prose to script makes the same points: there is no point describing visuals, and repeating characters' names in dialogue is a hallmark of audio. For a whole chapter, work scene by scene with the same three jobs.
Do you need an audio drama script, or a full-cast audiobook?
You need an audio drama script only if you want to rewrite your book as a performance; a full-cast audiobook keeps your prose and needs no rewrite.
An audio drama script and a full-cast script handle the same passage differently:
| Audio drama script | Full-cast audiobook script | |
|---|---|---|
| Narration | Mostly turned into sound and dialogue | Read by a narrator, as written |
| Dialogue tags | Removed | Kept, read by the narrator |
| Your text | Rewritten | Unchanged |
| Work for you | Adapting every scene | Checking who speaks each line |
For a full-cast audiobook, AudioForge builds the script for you. It parses a chapter into a screenplay-style script with every line tagged by speaker and delivery, flags lines it was unsure about, and lets you change any speaker, delivery or word before you generate audio. Turning a chapter into a full-cast audiobook walks through the steps, and dialogue tags that cast cleanly shows how to write prose that parses well.
The bottom line
An audio drama script uses scene headings, cues, character names in capitals and marked sound and music cues, and converting a chapter means turning narration into sound, dialogue or a short narrator line. If you would rather keep your prose as written, a full-cast audiobook needs no rewrite. To see your own chapter as a script, upload it to AudioForge, free during early access, and check how each line is tagged, following the help center.
FAQ
How do you format an audio drama script?
An audio drama script starts each scene with a heading, then lists the cues in order, usually numbered. Each speech has the character's name in capitals, a colon, any delivery note in parentheses, and the line. Sound effects and music get their own clearly marked cues, such as SOUND or MUSIC, so the production team can find them fast.
Is there a standard audio drama script format?
Audio drama has no single standard script format. Radio playwrights, UK audio theater companies and the BBC use different styles, which vary in details such as cue labels, numbering and underlining. The common styles share a clear scene heading, character names in capitals and clearly marked sound and music cues, and many also number each cue.
What happens to narration when you turn a novel into an audio drama?
Narration in a novel becomes sound, dialogue or a narrator line when you turn it into an audio drama. Describe settings with sound cues, move important information into what characters say, and keep a narrator only for what sound and dialogue cannot carry, such as a jump in time.
