Writing for “Unscripted”

Unscripted projects, such as documentaries, reality television, and the news still require some “writing.” Documentary writing is a little different from the other forms of script writing that we’ve discussed because it’s usually more of a journalistic type of writing. There are two approaches to documentary production:
Inductive, where you spend as much time as you need (or can afford) shooting your subject, and then cut that source footage into a finished product.
Deductive, where you write a scripted piece and then go out and shoot the footage you need to support that script. In an inductive documentary, the shooting and editing is, in a sense, the writing process. During shooting, you’ll capture all of the raw material that you will then pare down and organize into a finished edited piece. In a deductive documentary, the production process is more akin to that of scripted projects. There’s no right or wrong way to work, although there are advantages and pitfalls to each approach. An inductive process is usually better for covering an event, person, or place. You’ll want to keep an open mind and not have any preconceived notions about your subject, lest you blind yourself to good footage or important events. But even if you’re committed to being open-minded, you’ll still benefit from planning and anticipating the problems and challenges of your shoot by creating a shot list or simply having an idea of what you need to capture in your head. (For example, “Joe admits to Jenna that he is moving to Las Vegas.”) Then ask yourself before you wrap that day if you feel you achieved what you wanted. Later, when you get back to the editing room, you’ll look at your footage and try to see what kind of story is there. Often, you’ll be surprised to find out that the final story is very different than what you thought it was going to be. In the deductive process, you’ll do your research and learning at your writing desk. Once you’ve finished writing, you’ll then try to find footage that illustrates your text. Though shooting will occasionally lead you to revise your script and make changes on the fly, in general your final project will probably end up fairly close to what you scripted.