Who is the who of your story?

Stories are (almost) always about people.

Understanding who exactly your story is about is a key step in writing your script.

Once you know, make him/her/them the subject of the first sentence in your presenter link. (This sentence is often called the top line.)

Some examples of top lines:

Two hundred workers at the Aston Martin factory near Cardiff have lost their jobs.

Lecturers at Cardiff University have been on strike in protest over a ten per cent cut to their pensions.

Three tourists have died in a landslide next to a beach in Italy.

The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has resigned in a row over a three thousand pound expenses claim.

As you can see, in each case it’s very clear who the story is about. This makes it easy for the viewers and listeners to understand. Remember, they’re not reading your words – they’re hearing them. Everything has to be super-clear if you only hear it once.

Once you’re clear who the “Who?” of a story is, it will be easier to go on to try to answer some of the other “geography” questions.

A reminder of the geography questions:

WHO is the story about?
WHAT have they done? Or what has been done to them?
WHERE are they?
WHEN did this happen? (In broadcasting, we generally assume it’s happened today – but the exact timing might be relevant.)
WHY did this happen? (This is often answered through soundbites rather than script.)
HOW did this happen?
HOW MUCH? (This could refer to how many people are affected; what was the cost of something etc etc. Think of it as “the quantity question.” )
WHAT NEXT? Often answering the what next question is a good way to end your script.

Now look again at the examples above and note how many of the geography questions are answered in each top line.