APEX@IGP-FX

Infogrid Pacific-The Science of Information

44

G2: Drama

Historical, classic and contemporary drama including plays, screen plays and radio plays

Genre Overview

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The greek root of drama means action. Drama consists of speeches uttered by characters formed into sections, commonly called Acts and Scenes. There are also optionally  a variety of types of stage directions and a cast list. The term drama is used to refer to dialogue scripts of all performance types for stage, film, television and radio.

Drama is generally a fictionalization, but the same or similar tagging can apply to a wide range of documents generally characterized as Scripts which have specific presentation requirements.

This section of the IGP:FoundationXHTML specification deals  specifically with the XML tagging details required to adequately capture the structure and semantics of the following drama sub-genres:

  1. Classical stage drama
  2. Contemporary stage drama
  3. Film screen plays
  4. TV Scripts for drama and serials
  5. Radio plays
  6. Documentary

There is a focus on structure tagging for scripts reproduced in book published format for general resale and release, but FX can be used for the tagging of source scripts which can then be incorporated into book structures. The primary difference is source scripts have simple front matter structures, normally a single page. In this case the tagging is inherited from the corporate document title page. When it is restructured or reassembled as a book the FX foundation back matter and front matter sections can all be used.

Required XML processing attributes

The FX must enable a  processor to create and extract the following content structures as formats:

  1. Print document (multi-formats, Eg: Script and book presentation.)
  2. Online document
  3. e-book (multiple formats)
  4. Character highlighted script (print or interactive)
  5. Act, scene or other sub-section structures

A processor must be able to extract any of the following:

  1. Act/Part. An act is an optional major division of a dramatic work. All acts are implicitly at the same structural level in the work.
  2. Scene/Part. A scene is the primary division of an Act, but in one act plays stand alone without an Act structural parent.
  3. Single character speeches with scene context
  4. Directions with role / Scene context.
  5. Metadata

Differences from standard books

Drama text can be original scripts or scripts published in book form. Both document types are addressed. However the internal layout progression of a drama document is different to a book.

Drama genre flow considerations

Drama structure is similar in construction to a book in that it is generally a linear narrative of scenes that may  be nested in Acts (similar to Chapter in Part). However the physical pagination construction does not follow a standard book layout with scenes starting on new pages for example. Also the exposition value of a scene changes extensively between the drama genres, as does the length. In a screen play, a scene may only be a few lines.

The objective of an XML strategy is to make the content immediately usable and ensure it has future value in contexts that may not yet be understood. 

Most (all!) drama content is going to be sourced through retro-digitization. FX allows the capture of original pagination and lineation where the source is hard-copy, and pagination where the source is PDF. Pagination is not generally available from other e-text sources such as legacy XML or typesetting application files, so that information is lost.

Pagination is especially valuable in published editions with index references and for academic reference to standard editions.

From a structural and XML intepretation point of view, radio plays are more similar to screen-plays than stage-plays. The over-riding requirement is that content is extractable by structural block and can be analyzed and reused - for example in a database retrieval system.

E-book flow issues

Traditional scripts tend to be written for the physical print page with significant horizontal styling. This is emphasised with screen and radio plays which make strong use of horizontal tab and margin content for readability. It is not expected that strict script formatting rules will change anytime soon, so the tagging must allow the reflow of content to accommodate a wide range of presentation device screens. This means no hard-coded table layout structures —strictly— even though they are very tempting.

Table structures can be simulated with CSS, but most reader devices (2010) do not currently support this layout method, or do it very badly. Table layout is not a CSS requirement for e-pub. Any generic XHTML/5 presentation environments will support the table layout options. This includes Firefox (Mozilla), Safari - Google Chrome (Webkit), Opera and even Internet Explorer 8.0 and later.

The general presentation treatment for scripts in an e-device should be to collapse the horizontal structure into a paragraph with styling differentiation and accept reduced presentation to ensure the XML and content readability value is retained.

Drama class values 

The following drama-genre-specific class values are used in IGP:FoundationXHTML.

Document type identifiers for drama genres

  1. body-rw Drama-rw
  2. body-rw DramaScreen-rw
  3. body-rw DramaRadio-rw

Section structures for drama genres

  1. CastList-rw
  2. Performance-rw
  3. TitleCredits-rw
  4. ClosingCredits-rw
  5. Programme-rw (note the British English spelling for clarity)
  6. Act-rw
  7. Scene-rw
  8. Prologue-rw
  9. Epilogue-rw
  10. Entracte-rw (Entr'acte)

Content structures for drama genres

  1. drama-rw (genre grouping value)
  2. drama-title-block-rw
  3. list-cast-rw
  4. list-crew-rw
  5. list-credits-rw
  6. character-rw
  7. character-group-rw
  8. actor-rw
  9. person-rw
  10. speech-rw
  11. speaker-rw
  12. direction-rw
  13. set-rw
  14. role-rw

Semantic direction classes

The following semantic direction description elements are available but not used or recommended for general XML tagging. The extension classes are not required for presentation tagging as presentation properties are carried with the direction-rw class. Scripts are usually expository and self-explanatory and addition of semantic tags only has value if there is real automation extraction value possible.

For stage production
  1. direction-rw play-rw entry-rw
  2. direction-rw play-rw exit-rw
  3. direction-rw play-rw movement-rw
  4. direction-rw play-rw costume-rw
  5. direction-rw play-rw delivery-rw
  6. direction-rw play-rw location-rw
  7. direction-rw play-rw lighting-rw
  8. direction-rw play-rw sound-effect-rw
For screen plays and television scripts
  1. direction-rw screen-rw camera-rw
  2. direction-rw screen-rw fx-rw
  3. direction-rw screen-rw caption-rw
For radio plays
  1. direction-rw radio-rw fx-rw
  2. direction-rw radio-rw gram-rw
  3. direction-rw radio-rw off-rw
  4. direction-rw radio-rw vo-rw
  5. direction-rw radio-rw distort-rw
  6. direction-rw radio-rw low-rw
  7. direction-rw radio-rw close-rw

Drama document structure

All F5:Sections can be used within G2:Drama front matter and back matter. There can be any amount of commentary type front matter.

Each section contains the "body-rw drama-rw", "frontmatter-rw drama-rw" or "backmatter-rw drama-rw" class couplet to allow it to stand-alone as a content object.

Note that in the XML Act does not wrap Scene in accordance with the standard FX sectioning rules. A processor must know how to nest these if and when required for any purpose (eg. IGP:FormatsOnDemand).

Special note on drama title blocks

Like poetry, drama has its own named title block to ensure content remixing and use in standard chapters enables drama extracts to inherently be extract sections.

<div class="drama-rw Act-rw">
    <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
       <h1>Act One</h1>
    </div>
</div>
<div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
    <div 
class="drama-title-block-rw">
       <h2>Scene One</h2>
   
 </div>
</div>

This can also be used to advantage to simplify creation and processing. It is used on all genres - stage, screen and radio.

This is the only genre that has a title-block that uses any heading level other than h1 to facilitate presentation in tight-scene structures and for flexibility in remixing.

Sample play (book format) document outline tagging pattern

<div class="galley-rw">
   <div class="frontmatter-rw BookTitlePage-rw"> ... </div>
   <div class="frontmatter-rw Copyright-rw"> ... </div>
   <div class="frontmatter-rw Introduction-rw"> ... </div>
   <div class="frontmatter-rw drama-rw CastList-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw"> ... </div>
      <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw"> ... </div>
   </div>
   <div class="frontmatter-rw drama-rw Performance-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw"> ... </div>
      <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw"> ... </div>
      <div class="drama-rw list-crew-rw"> ... </div>
   </div>
   <div class="body-rw drama-rw Act-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
         <h1>Act Heading</h1>
      </div>
      ...
   </div>
   <div class="body-rw drama-rw Scene-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
         <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
      </div>
      ...
   </div>
</div>

Sample play (book format) document outline tagging pattern

<div class="galley-rw">
   <div class="frontmatter-rw DramaScreen-rw TitlePage-rw"> ... </div>
   <div class="frontmatter-rw DramaScreen-rw CastList-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw"> ... </div>
      <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw"> ... </div>
   </div>
   <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Act-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
         <h1>Act Heading</h1>
      </div>
   </div>
   <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Scene-rw">
      <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
         <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
      </div>
   </div>
   <p class="drama-rw set-rw">...</p>
   <p class="drama-rw direction-rw">...</p>
   <p><span class="speaker-rw">Character</span> ... </p>
  </div>

Drama front and back matter section specials

  1. CastList-rw
  2. Performance-rw
  3. TitleCredits-rw
  4. ClosingCredits-rw
  5. Programme-rw (note the British English spelling for clarity)

The additional sections defined explicitly for drama can be used in both front matter and back matter and all content styles are available.

<div class="frontmatter CastList-rw">...</div>

This is the list of characters in a dramatic work. In traditional plays the title value can be Dramatis Personae. In contemporary drama it is generally titled Characters.

The CastList section can contain all F*: content structures and blocks. The primary content value is the list-cast-rw <div> which lists the actual cast names individually. Each cast name is identified with the inline character-rw element.

CastList tagging pattern

<div class="body-rw  drama-rw CastList-rw">
   <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
      <h1>Characters</h1>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
      <p><span class="character-rw">
         Character name</span> character exposition.</p>
      <p><span class="character-rw">
         Character name</span> character exposition.</p>
   </div>
</div>

CastList with multiple characters

<div class="body-rw  drama-rw CastList-rw">
   <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
      <h1>Characters</h1>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
      <p><span class="character-rw">Character-1 name</span> 
         <span class="character-rw">Character-2 name</span> 
         <span class="character-rw">Character-3 name</span> 
            exposition about the three characters.
      </p>
   </div>
</div>

Note on classic drama. With CSS presentation techniques it is generally enough to ensure the character values are wrapped in a common block. There is no additional extractable value from more detailed content. FX rejects trying to create original document layout through XML markup as done in some XML Schemas. That is a different somewhat academic exercise not required for multi-context reusable content. CSS techniques allow any presentation output to be made as long as there are explicit or combinations of XML elements available.

<div class="frontmatter Performance-rw">...</div>
<div class="frontmatter TitleCredits-rw">...</div>
<div class="frontmatter ClosingCredits-rw">...</div>

This is a list of actors who played the various character roles is a specific performance, generally the first performance in the case of a play. It can also be used for Screen plays and radio plays. It uses the same list-cast-rw grouping mechanism and adds the inline actor-rw element.

In addition the list-crew-rw grouping mechanism can be used to encapsulate non-acting roles. This uses the role-rw and person-rw elements on the content isolate people and their role designation in the crew. Note that crew encapsulates executive, producer and director roles. This may be enlarged later but is probably not required as Director, Producer, etc. can be easily located within the role-rw elements.

Performance tagging pattern

<div class="frontmatter-rw Drama-rw Performance-rw">
   <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
      <h1>Performance</h1>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
      <p><span class="character-rw">Character</span> 
         <span class="actor-rw">Actor's Name</span>
      </p>
<!-- Alternatively -->
      <p><span class="actor-rw">Actor's Name</span> 
         <span class="character-rw">Character</span>
      </p>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-crew-rw">
      <p><span class="role-rw">Job Role Title</span> 
         <span class="person-rw">Person's Name</span>
      </p>
<!-- Alternatively -->
      <p><span class="person-rw">Person's Name</span> 
         <span class="role-rw">Job Role Title</span>
      </p>
   </div>
</div>

<div class="frontmatter Programme-rw">...</div>

This is a list of cast in original published programme souvenir format and is likely to contain pictures of the various actors in or out of costume. In addition to actor information, there may be narrative sections on the play and other elements of direction and design. The tagging example is not extensive as a programme section may contain significant general F* patterns in addition to the use of the list-cast-rw and list-crew-rw list elements

Performance tagging pattern

<div class="frontmatter-rw Drama-rw Performance-rw">
   <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
      <h1>Performance</h1>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
      <p><span class="character-rw">Character</span> 
         <span class="actor-rw">Actor's Name</span>
      </p>
<!-- Alternatively -->
      <p><span class="actor-rw">Actor's Name</span> 
         <span class="character-rw">Character</span>
      </p>
   </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-crew-rw">
      <p><span class="role-rw">Job Role Title</span> 
         <span class="person-rw">Person's Name</span>
      </p>
<!-- Alternatively -->
      <p><span class="person-rw">Person's Name</span> 
         <span class="role-rw">Job Role Title</span>
      </p>
   </div>
</div>

Drama body structure

  1. Act-rw
  2. Scene-rw
  3. Prologue-rw
  4. Epilogue-rw
  5. Entracte-rw (Entr'acte)

In European drama scenes are traditionally divided into Acts. Acts are conceptually similar to book parts and scenes to book chapters insofar as an Act generally contains scenes. Scenes usually run-on, so while the XML structure is similar, print presentation must be flexible.

In addition there are One Act plays, which consist only of scenes and the Act is implied, not actually present. To further complicate the matter, some modern dramatic scripts use part rather than act and scene. The named structural sections for a play are:

  1. A set of sections - generally a combination of Scenes or Parts
  2. A set of outer structures (Acts) divided into scenes
  3. Optional additional sections including Prologue, Entr'acte and Epilogue

FX uses the terms Act and Scene for primary section naming. This can be extended if required to handle different or arcane section dividers. The section labels do not have to correlate with structural identifiers. Eg:

<div class="drama-rw Act-rw">
    <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
        <h1>Part One</h1>
    </div>
</div>

Importantly FX does NOT treat Prologue and Epilogue as front and/or back matter. While this may be adequate if the objective of the XML tagging is only to encapsulate the original work, the objective with FX is to prepare content for an uncertain future. Because these sections do contain dialogue, they are included in the body of the work so analysis of the spoken parts is under a single group class.

This also fits accomodates modern screen-play opening title and closing credit sequences which can be intimately and un-extractably included into the work narrative.

Common drama body section tagging patterns

This example illustrates a play with a Prologue and Epilogue and two acts each with two scenes and an Entr'acte before the second act. When processed to a nested structure. A processor must know that only Scenes nest inside an Act an Entr'acte and Epilogue if present is at the document root level. All sections are within galley-rw.

<div class="galley-rw">
   <div class="body-rw Drama-rw">
      
      <div class="drama-rw Prologue-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h1>Act Heading</h1>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Prologue content goes here ...
      <div class="drama-rw Act-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h1>Act Heading</h1>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Act content goes here ...
      <div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Scene-rw">    
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Entracte-rw">      
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h1>Entracte Heading</h1>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Entracte content goes here ...
      <div class="drama-rw Act-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h1>Act Heading</h1>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Act content goes here ...
      <div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Scene-rw">    
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Epilogue-rw">    
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h1>Epilogue Heading</h1>
         </div>
      </div>
         ... Epilogue content goes here ...
   </div>
</div>

This smaller example illustrates a three scene or part play

<div class="galley-rw">
   <div class="body-rw Drama-rw">
      <div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="body-rw Drama-rw Scene-rw">    
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
      <div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h2>Scene Heading</h2>
         </div>
      </div>
      ... Scene content goes here ...
   </div>
</div>

body-rw   The standard FX document body text section indicator

Drama-rw  The primary genre indicator for all content.

Prologue-rw  Optional independent section before the play proper that sets up the story.

Act-rw    Optional primary section indicator for drama

Entracte-rw   Optional independent diversionary section between Acts.

Scene-rw   Mandatory content section indicator for drama. There must be at least one scene in a dramatic text body.

Epilogue-rw  Optional independent section at the end of a play usually used to bring closure to the work.

FX treats Acts in the same way as book parts. This means they are separator sections rather than wrappers. All the scenes between two act sections are in that section and will be nested if and when required by a processor.

Content details

Extent Numbers. Extent numbers can be used for speeches and lines. Note that the extent number and a content line-number do not have to match, and often will not.

Presentation details: All standard styles can be included. Italic, bold, underline, small-caps, small-caps-titlecase, and all standard non-classed XHTML styles.

Drama metadata details include: Title, author, create-date, create-place, publish-date, publish place.

Details in drama content include: notes, footnotes, margin-notes, page-footnotes, line-numbers, manuscript-numbers, other-numbers

There are two styles of margin notes. For single paragraph margin notes, span statements can be used. For complex margin notes, references will have to be used and the margin note placed at the end of the paragraph.

Cast list (Dramatis Personae)

A cast list can vary widely in complexity from a simple list of characters, through to a complex expanded and annotated structure. It is by its nature a list, but must support freeform structures therefore while it may use a list element, it must also support a more complex structure.

<div class="body-rw Drama-rw CastList-rw">
    <div class="drama-title-block-rw"> ... </div>
    <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
       <p><span class="character">....</p>
    </div>
 </div>

Where a Cast List contains more complex structures and descriptions the list structure is replaced with the simple-list <p> strategy. A processor must understand that a <div class="list of characters"><containing a <p> or <div> is a specific character

<div class="body-rw drama-rw CastList">
   <div class="title-block-rw"> ... </div>
   <div class="drama-rw list-cast-rw">
      <p><span class="character">....</p>
      <div class="drama-rw character-group-rw" >
         <p><span class="character">....</p>
      </div>
      <p><span class="character">....</p>
   </div>
</div>
 

Programme

A program is a performance specific document.

Character speeches and Stage directions

The textual backbone of drama is a series of character speeches punctuated with stage directions.

A speech may consist of lines which may or may not be broken and numbered. This is especially true of classic drama which may be poetry/blank-verse rather than prose.

A speech is uttered by a character or can be uttered by a group of characters.

A speech may contain stage or other directions at any point. Stage directions can also be between speeches. 

A speech is always a paragraph within a drama section. It does not carry any class attribute but must contain a speaker class as the first structure.

<p><span class="speaker">Character</span>: This is the characters 
   dialogue</p>

Stage directions can be for actor expression and movement, lighting, sound-effects, music, scenery movement or changes and any other specific instruction required to tell the story.

With inline direction

<p><span class="speaker">Character</span>: <span class="direction">What hs is to do</span>This is the characters dialogue</p>

Speeches in detail

Generally speeches are single paragraphs. Occasionally they can be multi-paragraph or more complex horizontal and vertical presentation structures. The follow-on paragraphs are implied in a multi-paragraph speech because it does not have a character classification at the beginning:

<p><span class="character-1">Character</span>: This is 
    the characters dialogue</p>
<p>This is character-1 continuation speech</p>
<p><span class="character-2">Character</span>: This is 
    the next characters dialogue</p>

In classical drama (such as Shakespeare, Greek plays, etc.) the content is poetic  rather than prose form. Lineation must be maintained where possible (this also occurs in contemporary drama). In this case the <div class="speech-rw"> can be used. It has exactly the same attributes and values as poetry <div class="stanza-rw"> and in tagging must be able to be used absolutely interchangeably.

<div class="speech-rw">
    <p><span class="character">Character</span>First line of speech</p>
    <p>Second line of speech</p>
    <p>Third line of speech:</p>
</div>

 Directions in detail

Traditionally the full term would be stage-directions. FX wants to be able to use any descriptor in a wide set of contexts, for example with screen-plays and radio plays, therefore the term is reduced to direction-rw.

There are many different types of direction and this can be accommodated in advanced tagging. The pragmatics of cost effective XML strategies indicate that value added semantic tagging should only be applied when it is really going to be used or needed. The following direction class extenders can be used if and when they bring value to the XML usage context.


These extenders are span statements within a direction, or as an additional attribute within a direction paragraph. Here is an over-complex example.

<p class="direction-rw">The hero 
   <span class="entry-rw">enters</span>  the 
   <span class="set-rw">gloomy forest</span> and 
   <span class="movement-rw">moves downstage centre</span>  with a a
   <span class="lighting-rw">spot-light highlighting</span> his 
   <span class="costume-rw">flowing cape and shining armor</span>.
</p> 

Directions can also be used as class couplets for short terms with paragraph type directions. Processors must understand both conditions.

<p class="direction-rw entry-rw">(Enter the hero, stage right)</p>

In the paragraph format the whole line, including brackets is tagged. With inline direction tagging it is preferred to leave leading and trailing punctuation outside the element, but this is not mandatory. 

Directions can also be used inline inside speeches.

<p><span class="speaker-rw">The Villain:</span> 
   <span class="direction-rw delivery-rw">(Sneering)</span>What's this then!</p>  

Tagging examples

Stage Play tagging Example

The following extract is from The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi, provided courtesy of Faber and Faber. The Performance, Character list and extract from the first Act/Scene have been tagged.

<div class="frontmatter-rw Performance-rw">
<p>The Black Album was first performed in the Cottesloe auditorium of the National
Theatre, London, on 14 July 2009. The cast was as follows:</p>
<div class="list-cast-rw">
<p><span class="character-rw">Shahid Hasan</span> Jonathan Bonnici</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Riaz al Hussain</span> Alexander Andreou
<p><span class="character-rw">Strapper</span> Glyn Pritchard</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Hat</span> Beruce Khan</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Deedee Osgood</span> Tanya Franks</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Tahira / Zulma</span> Shereen Martineau</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Andrew Brownlow</span> Sean Gallagher</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Chad</span> Nitin Kundra</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Chili</span> Robert Mountford</p>
</div>
<div cast="list-crew-rw">
<p><span class="role-rw">Director</span> Jatinder Verma</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Set Designer</span> Tim Hatley</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Costume Designer</span> Claudia Mayer</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Lighting Designer</span> Jvan Morandi</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Video Designer</span> Tom Hadley</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Choreographer</span> Shobana Jeyasingh</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Music</span> Sister Bliss</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Music Associate</span> John Gingell</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Sound Designer</span> Fergus O’Hare</p>
<p><span class="role-rw">Graphics and Animation</span> Sara Nestruk</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="frontmatter-rw CastList-rw">
<div class="title-block-rw">
<h1>Characters</h1>
</div>
<div class="list-cast-rw">
<p><span class="character-rw">Shahid Hasan</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Strapper</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Riaz al-Hussain</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Hat</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Chad</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Deedee Osgood</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Andrew Brownlow</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Chili</p>
<p><span class="character-rw">Zulma</p>
</div>
<p>In a company of nine, other characters may be doubled as follows</p>
<p>Young Man, Councillor Rudder, Reporter (Strapper)</p>
<p>Heavy 1 (Andrew Brownlow)</p>
<p>Heavy 2 (Chad)</p>
<p>Old Man, Cameraman (Chili)</p>
<p>Tahira, Mother (Zulma)</p>
</div>
<div class="body-rw Act-rw">
   <div class="title-block-rw">
      <p class="title-num-rw">Act One</p>
   </div>
<div>
<div class="body-rw Scene-rw">
   <div class="title-block-rw">
      <p class="title-num-rw">scene one</p>   </div>
<p class="direction-rw">Rural, suburban sounds, late afternoon. Lights fade
up on a map of the world, followed by the legend hasan travels. Shahid
enters, wrapped in an overcoat and carrying two suitcases. He puts them
down and looks at the map and the legend. Mother enters.</p>

<p><span class="speaker">Mother</span> Arey, Shahid . . . !</p>

<p class="direction-rw">She pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket, spits
on it and proceeds to wipe his face.</p>
<p>Going to college in London and so not smart.</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Shahid</span>
<span class="direction-rw">(protesting)</span> Ammi . . .</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Mother</span> How happy your papa will be in
paradise when you return with a college degree.</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Shahid</span> HND, Ammi –</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Mother</span>
<span class="direction-rw">(dismissive)</span> Degree is a degree.
<span class="direction-rw">(Exclaims.)</span> My one son charms a
beautiful girl like Zulma from Karachi –</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Shahid</span> Not exactly difficult.</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Mother</span> Don’t argue. Chili and Zulma are
a golden couple. And you are about to charm books into a degree!
Have you packed toothpaste? All-Bran? Wake up, brush your teeth,
have All-Bran with yoghurt and straightaway you will have perfect
motions, smooth as the day is long. Promise me.</p>
<p><span class="speaker">Shahid</span> Yes, Ammi.</p>

</div>
</div>

Radio Play Tagging Example

This example has been taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scriptsmart/bbcradioscene.pdf

<div class="frontmatter-rw TitlePage-rw">
<div class="title-block-rw">
<h1>BBC RADIO FORMAT: SCENE STYLE</h1>
<p class-"title-other-rw">by</p>
<p class="title-author-rw">Matt Carless</p>
</div>
<div class="title-info-rw">
<div class="address-rw">
<p>Every script should have a title page with one
contact address only in the bottom left and corner. Always
include a phone number and an e-mail address if you have one.
</p>
</div>
<div class="address-rw">
<p>If you have an agent, the address and number can go here. A
draft number or date is not required on a spec script.
</p>
</div>
<div class="imprint-rw"> ... </div>
</div>

<div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
<div class="drama-title-block-rw">
<h3>SCENE 1.</h3>
</div>
</div>
<p class="set-rw">SCENE STYLE IS THE BBC'S HOUSE FORMAT GENERALLY USED FOR
DRAMA, PLAYS AND NON-AUDIENCE COMEDY. TECHNICAL DIRECTIONS FOR SOUND AND
MUSIC APPEAR IN CAPITALS UNDERLINED TO DISTINGUISH THEM FROM DIALOGUE.
OPTIONAL SCENE NUMBERS AND HEADINGS INDICATE THE START OF A NEW SEQUENCE.
A SEQUENCE IN A RADIO PLAY MIGHT BE ONE LINE LONG OR LAST FOR 20 PAGES,
AND CAN BE ANYTHING FROM A MONOLOGUE TO A COLLECTION OF BRIEF SCENES OR
SOUND EFFECTS.</p>

<p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #1</span>: Character names appear in all capitals
with a colon. A character is designated by either their first or last name, but a
role designation may be used instead with personal titles abbreviated. The
designated character name should remain consistent throughout the
entire script.</p>

<p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #2</span>: Dialogue begins on the same line as the
character name in normal upper and lower-case text with double-spacing.</p>
<p class="direction-rw">IF TECHNICAL DIRECTION INTERRUPTS A CHARACTER'S SPEECH ON THE
SAME PAGE…</p>

<p>Then continue the dialogue without repeating the character name.</p>
<p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #1</span>: Split dialogue between pages only if at
least two lines appear on the first page, and only after a sentence.
<span class="direction-rw continued-rw">(CHARA #1/CONT'D OVER)</p>
<p class="direction-rw continuation-rw">CHARA #1 (CONT'D):</p>

<p>Begin the following page with a new cue. The only means of establishing a character's
presence is to have them speak or be referred to by name. If there are too many
characters in a scene, the listener will lose track.</p>

<div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
<div class="drama-title-block-rw">
<h3>SCENE 2.</h3>
</div>
</div>

<p class="direction-rw">TECHNICAL DIRECTION SHOULD BE USED SPARINGLY AND WORK WITH THE
DIALOGUE. ONLY DESCRIBE THE IMMEDIATE SOUND PATTERN AND NEVER USE SUPERFLUOUS
NOVELISTIC TEXT. AVOID PARAGRAPHING UNLESS THERE IS A CHANGE OF LOCATION
WITHIN A SEQUENCE. MUSIC IS GENERALLY ONLY INDICATED WHEN IT IS A SOURCE CUE
OR PERFORMS A FUNCTION SUCH AS A TRANSITIONAL DEVICE BETWEEN SCENES. SCENES CAN
ALSO END WITH A TRANSITION.</p>

<p class="direction-rw">FADE.</p>

<div class="drama-rw Scene-rw"> <div class="drama-title-block-rw"> <h3>SCENE 3.</h3> </div> </div> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #1</span>: <span class="direction-rw">(BEAT)</span> Parenthetical instructions appear in capitals enclosed within round brackets in the dialogue. <span class="direction-rw">(PAUSE)</span> It is recommended that these are used sparingly!</p> <p class="direction-rw">THERE ARE A NUMBER OF COMMON TERMS USED FOR TELESCOPING DIALOGUE.</p> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #2</span>: (OFF) Indicates that the actor should speak away from the microphone. The audio equivalent of "off-screen".</p> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #1</span>: <span class="direction-rw voiceover-rw">(V.O.)</span> Voiceover indicates a character who is narrating over sound, music or dialogue.</p> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #2</span>: <span class="direction-rw voiceover-rw">(D)</span> Distort indicates a character who is speaking via a mechanical device like a telephone or radio.</p> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #1</span>: <span class="direction-rw">(LOW)</span> Indicates that the actor should speak quietly, almost in a whisper.</p> <p><span class="speaker-rw">CHARACTER #2</span>: <span class="direction-rw">(CLOSE)</span> Indicates that the actor should be in close proximity to their individual microphone giving an intimate feel to the dialogue.</p>
      <div class="drama-rw Scene-rw">
         <div class="drama-title-block-rw">
            <h3>SCENE 4.</h3>
         </div>
      </div>
      <p class="direction-rw">DON'T FORGET TO NUMBER ALL OF YOUR PAGES - PAGE ONE BEGINS WITH 
         SCENE ONE, NOT THE TITLE PAGE. AND KEEP ALL YOUR PAGES TOGETHER WITH A SIMPLE PAPER 
         BINDER IN THE TOP LEFT CORNER. UNFASTENED PAGES CAN BECOME SEPARATED FROM THE REST 
         OF THE SCRIPT AND GET LOST! IT IS CUSTOMARY TO SIGN-OFF A RADIO SCRIPT IN THE 
         FOLLOWING WAY:</p>
      <p class="direction-rw">THE END</p>
   </div>

</div>

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