Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The calling card script is the script that expresses your voice, gets you noticed and helps you reach commission and production. Written by Paul Ashton, Development Manager of the BBC writersroom, and born out of his wide experience of reading scripts, working with writers, and as an industry 'gatekeeper', this is a guide to the key writing tools you need to know and understand to write a truly original script.

As many professionals need to switch mediums and genres in order to survive and thrive, the book uniquely draws together the universal principles of dramatic storytelling for screen, stage, and radio. With a focus on the script as a blue print for performance, sections and chapters break down into bite-sized practical insights and the book mirrors both the journey of the story and process of writing it.

The Calling Card Script shows how to tell a great story in script form and offers valuable professional development insight for all writers, whether established or just starting out, who wish to hone their craft and speak their voice.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 1)
• An act of faith
• The 'toolbox'
• The form of this book
• What this book does not do
• An industry perspective
• Points of reference
• The 'calling card' script
• A basic definition
• The writer's ego versus the writer's journey
• 1 The Medium (p. 9)
• The Writer as Medium (p. 11)
• 'Medium'
• One man and every man
• What writers do
• Instinct and craft
• Is the writer a medium?
• Using medium
• The Theatrical Space (p. 13)
• What is theatre?
• Magic, ritual and spectacle
• Spectator and audience
• Auditoria
• Complexity of space
• Complexity of form
• The empty space
• The technological space
• Clarity of space
• Money, monsterism and miniaturism
• The director
• The actor
• Directing the action
• Theatre and metaphor
• Radio and the Acoustic Environment (p. 21)
• 'Theatre of the airwaves'
• Cinema of the airwaves
• The contradiction
• Auditorium
• The purest form
• The audience
• Only for radio
• Acoustic environment
• Scope
• Voice
• Music
• Sound
• Film and the Cinematic Canvas (p. 26)
• The big picture
• Theatrical release
• Cinema scope
• Knowing your place
• 'Show don't tell'
• Sign language
• Up close
• Montage
• The whole story
• The complex singularity
• The kind of story
• Universal
• Television and the Relentless Format (p. 32)
• Distractions
• The morning after
• The cold light of day
• The schedule
• Audience is god
• The phenomenon
• Jumping the shark
• The single exception
• Format not formula
• Basic distinctions
• Serial
• Continuing series
• Precinct
• Returning series
• Relentless meets format
• 2 The Beginning (p. 45)
• What are Producers Looking for? (p. 47)
• The meat market
• The market
• So what are people looking for?
• Where to Begin? (p. 49)
• The blank page
• Knowledge is power
• News of the world
• Devil in the detail
• A head for ideas
• You
• Your feelings
• Your voice
• The X Factor
• What is a voice?
• Can you hear your own voice?
• Kinds of Stories (p. 55)
• Archetypes
• Linear
• Epic
• Full circle
• Fractured
• Repetitive
• Reversed
• The impact of shape
• Genre
• Theatre and genre
• Radio and genre
• Television and genre
• Tone
• The right form
• What's the Big Idea? (p. 64)
• 'Droit moral'
• Theme
• Universal
• Concept and world
• Premise
• Premise and character
• Premise and emotion
• The big idea
• Idea and medium
• Theatre
• Radio
• Film
• Television
• What's the Story? (p. 71)
• Beginnings and endings
• Knowing where you are going
• Direction and purpose
• Focus
• Point of view
• Movie ensembles
• Hook
• POV turned upside-down
• Getting Into Character (p. 77)
• Test of character
• Dramatic versus comic
• Spending time
• Empathy
• Definition
• Archetypes
• Features
• Eccentricity
• Qualities
• Capabilities and flaws
• Estimation
• Attitude
• POV
• History and backstory
• Moral compass
• Morality and conflict
• The 'agon'
• Hero and villain
• Desire and need
• Desire versus need
• Action
• Vulnerability
• Character and medium
• Theatrical character
• Radio character
• Film character
• TV Character
• Hitting the Ground Running (p. 94)
• Page one
• Know your story
• Hook the attention
• The midst of a moment
• A focused way in
• 'Getting to know' the characters
• Exposition
• The captive audience
• Structure and the Beginning (p. 100)
• 'Act one'
• Structural diagrams
• The universal formula
• Three is the magic number
• But three is not a simple number
• The beginning
• Disorientation versus confusion
• Establish the world
• Delayed establishment
• Desire, need, problem
• Call to change/action
• The complex call
• The uncertainty
• Point of no return
• Tension
• Episode and series beginnings
• The Plan of Action (p. 112)
• When to start writing?
• Treatments
• Clarity
• Coherence
• Building a blueprint
• 3 The Middle (p. 117)
• The Muddle in the Middle (p. 119)
• Managing the muddle
• Muddled metaphors
• Fail better
• Dig deeper
• Stretch the line
• Dominoes
• Deeper into Character (p. 122)
• The 'arc'
• Change
• State of becoming
• Muddied wants and needs
• Muddled consequences
• Beyond the comfort zone
• Developing the 'agon'
• Developing the complexity
• New world, new characteristics
• Qualities
• Capabilities and flaws
• POV, morality, attitude
• Vulnerabilities
• Developing relationships
• Journey towards awareness
• Contradiction
• Surprising themselves
• Character and action
• Character and structure
• The 'middle' in series and serials
• Returning series
• Serials
• Abstract alternatives
• Surprise (p. 139)
• Revelation
• Deus ex machina
• Shock tactics
• Secrets
• Dramatic irony
• Unexpected outcomes
• Predictability
• Tedium
• Cliché
• Structure and the Middle (p. 146)
• The dividing lines
• Momentum
• Dominoes
• Peaks and troughs
• The road ahead
• Sharp bends and chicanes
• Cul-de-sacs
• A clear view of the distance
• Quicksands and high tides
• The cave
• Chasms and rockfaces
• A second point of no return
• The (not so) natural order
• Causing a Scene (p. 156)
• What is a scene?
• The basics
• Picture and montage
• Dramatic action
• Conflict
• Goals
• Conflicts that matter
• What's at stake?
• Three dramatic levels
• Subtext
• Surprise
• Beats
• What to show
• Juxtaposition
• Less is more
• Kinds of scenes
• The theatrical scene
• The radio scene
• The screen scene
• From Plan to Action (p. 170)
• Ready to write
• Refer to the blueprint
• Develop the blueprint
• Step outline
• Wild drafts
• Write the beginning
• 4 The End (p. 175)
• An Ending in Sight (p. 177)
• Fundamentals
• Some endings
• 'The End'
• Simple versus complex
• Is that it?
• Ending is emotion
• A fitting end
• Satisfaction (p. 181)
• Entertainment
• Follow through
• The story beyond
• Open endings
• Ambiguity
• Twists
• Deus ex machina
• Anagnorisis
• Impact
• Structure and the Ending (p. 190)
• Climax and crisis
• Change
• Resolution
• Conclusion
• Coda
• Absurd endings
• Series and serial hooks
• Cliffhangers
• The natural order
• No pause for breath
• A means to an end
• The Character's voice (p. 198)
• Mouthpieces
• Dialectic
• Dialogue is not conversation
• Monologue
• Theatrical soliloquy
• 'Inner' and 'close' in radio
• The cinematic voice-over
• TV catchphrases
• Can you hear it?
• Can you say it?
• Dialogue is not logical
• The non-sequitur
• Voice is expression
• Authenticity
• Uniqueness
• Tics
• Accents
• Dialect and slang
• Naturalism
• Stylisation
• Rhetoric
• Lyrical
• On the nose
• Exposition and information
• 'Bad language'
• (Prefacing)
• Shouting!
• Terse versus glib
• Wit and wordplay
• Silence and space
• Subtext
• Writing and Rewriting (p. 218)
• Focus and control
• Expectations
• Questions
• Realities
• Rewriting
• Rewriting your signature
• Time and space
• Objective and subjective
• Feedback
• The red pen
• Reclaim your subjectivity
• Is it really finished?
• How finished does it need to be?
• Coda (p. 226)
• Starting over
• It never gets any easier
• Appendix (p. 229)
• Script reading and viewing
• Books about writing
• Resources
• Index (p. 235)