Post by Ro on Mar 1, 2008 8:12:27 GMT -5
Okay. I've noticed that there is a good amount of guys on staff that are only on their first outing on writing for shows (meaning both segments and matches). I'm no veteran myself but I'm comfortable in saying that I've got a good grasp of it, and there's no way to go but up.
This one is generally aimed at staff/writers, but those who have an inkling of interest in writing may go here to see what it's all about.
First off, formatting is key. Craig and I were going over the results last night, proofreading the entire thing and I've seen crazy variations on the formatting. Some were uninentional, while some were clearly stylized. This is how dialogue should be formatted:
Which, quite obviously, translates to this:
J.R.: Lita just jerked Edge off... the ladder!
Also remember that the colon should be bolded as well. I know I'm being quite meticulous, but the devil's in the details and that's how it's always been done.
As for actions that aren't called in commentary, they should be italicized. It's a given, but I threw this in just in case someone's quite uninitiated.
Moving on, we cannot write a match without the people participating. This includes not only the wrestlers who are booked in the match, but the other people who "build" the match up. This includes the ring announcer, the referee, the audience, and of course, the announce team.
I believe the ring announcer is quite an untapped resource when it comes to telling a story or spicing up a storyline. Either way, the ring announcer is still part of the entrance, which is still a viable plot device. If you need an example of this, look no further than Mr. Kennedy and Tony Chimel's mini-feud, and the angle with Charlie Haas and Lillian Garcia.
The referee almost needs no explanation, as entire matches hinge on what the referee is doing and what the referee is seeing. Matches stall because the referee is down, matches go the other way because the referee hasn't seen the cheap shot and therefore will not call it.
The audience is a vital part because they serve the purpose of dictating the atmosphere of the match and creating various interactions with the wrestlers in the ring, especially during an in-ring promo vignette. You know you've got a moment when the audience is kicked into high gear, and this device should be used properly to put out a stellar match.
The announce team is probably the most important part, possibly second only to the audience and the wrestlers themselves. In an e-fed, they call the action that we can't see and give their insights on everything that is going on within the ring. You can rely on action (the one that's italicized) but it's going to be nothing without the announce team having a say on it. The banter of the announce team usually fills in lulls and gaps in a match, and adds in the appropriate emotion to what is going on in the ring.
Now, in the announce team we have two men: Cyrus, the play-by-play announcer, which is the de facto face of the team, and SoL, the color commentator, which is quite obviously the heel. The main job of the play-by-play announcer is obviously to call the action that is going in the ring. He is the one who should mostly be narrating what is happening, while the color commentator by definition should chime in with trivia and backgrounds and whatnot, but since he is a heel, there is also the natural disdain for the faces. The perfect balance between these two personalities is the key to creating a good match.
In a match, there is a beginning, a middle, a finish, and an aftermath. The beginning and the middle do not usually matter as much as the end, or the finish. The beginning and the middle parts serve to tell a story: a squash, a build-up of the face, the dominance of the heel, or a healthy, competitive, back-and-forth matchup. It is generally hard to make the match flow especially when there is a certain clash of styles. Focusing on the announce team is one way to keep it going, or one can use a failed pin attempt or a countout to keep things going.
The finish is what I believe the most important part of the match, as most people wait on the edge of their seats for the final outcome, for who's gonna win, for who's gonna take the title, and so on and so forth. The finish should continue telling the story that the beginning and the end start telling; either the bigger story continues in some capacity due to what happens in the finish or it ends and everything is settled. The finish is usually dictated by the head booker.
An aftermath tells more of the story the match tells. The aftermath may either continue what the finish has started, or goes a different way from what happened in the finish. Example: Exodus beats Chris Austin cleanly, but in the aftermath, a voice speaks and Exodus goes apeshit on Chris Austin. If one can make the finish and the aftermath flow and go boom, then you have a great match. How do you do this? Simple: good narrating and the appropriate drama added in by the banter of the announce team.
There is also the segment. While minor, it is also used to help tell the story a match told/will tell, and when done right, it should help build up the respective match.
That's it for now. After all, this is just 101. Anyone who feels anything should be added to this may do so, and anyone who feels that anything should be challenged or questioned may also do so. Cheers.
This one is generally aimed at staff/writers, but those who have an inkling of interest in writing may go here to see what it's all about.
* * *
First off, formatting is key. Craig and I were going over the results last night, proofreading the entire thing and I've seen crazy variations on the formatting. Some were uninentional, while some were clearly stylized. This is how dialogue should be formatted:
[b]J.R.:[/b] Lita just jerked Edge off... the ladder!
Which, quite obviously, translates to this:
J.R.: Lita just jerked Edge off... the ladder!
Also remember that the colon should be bolded as well. I know I'm being quite meticulous, but the devil's in the details and that's how it's always been done.
As for actions that aren't called in commentary, they should be italicized. It's a given, but I threw this in just in case someone's quite uninitiated.
* * *
Moving on, we cannot write a match without the people participating. This includes not only the wrestlers who are booked in the match, but the other people who "build" the match up. This includes the ring announcer, the referee, the audience, and of course, the announce team.
I believe the ring announcer is quite an untapped resource when it comes to telling a story or spicing up a storyline. Either way, the ring announcer is still part of the entrance, which is still a viable plot device. If you need an example of this, look no further than Mr. Kennedy and Tony Chimel's mini-feud, and the angle with Charlie Haas and Lillian Garcia.
The referee almost needs no explanation, as entire matches hinge on what the referee is doing and what the referee is seeing. Matches stall because the referee is down, matches go the other way because the referee hasn't seen the cheap shot and therefore will not call it.
The audience is a vital part because they serve the purpose of dictating the atmosphere of the match and creating various interactions with the wrestlers in the ring, especially during an in-ring promo vignette. You know you've got a moment when the audience is kicked into high gear, and this device should be used properly to put out a stellar match.
The announce team is probably the most important part, possibly second only to the audience and the wrestlers themselves. In an e-fed, they call the action that we can't see and give their insights on everything that is going on within the ring. You can rely on action (the one that's italicized) but it's going to be nothing without the announce team having a say on it. The banter of the announce team usually fills in lulls and gaps in a match, and adds in the appropriate emotion to what is going on in the ring.
Now, in the announce team we have two men: Cyrus, the play-by-play announcer, which is the de facto face of the team, and SoL, the color commentator, which is quite obviously the heel. The main job of the play-by-play announcer is obviously to call the action that is going in the ring. He is the one who should mostly be narrating what is happening, while the color commentator by definition should chime in with trivia and backgrounds and whatnot, but since he is a heel, there is also the natural disdain for the faces. The perfect balance between these two personalities is the key to creating a good match.
* * *
In a match, there is a beginning, a middle, a finish, and an aftermath. The beginning and the middle do not usually matter as much as the end, or the finish. The beginning and the middle parts serve to tell a story: a squash, a build-up of the face, the dominance of the heel, or a healthy, competitive, back-and-forth matchup. It is generally hard to make the match flow especially when there is a certain clash of styles. Focusing on the announce team is one way to keep it going, or one can use a failed pin attempt or a countout to keep things going.
The finish is what I believe the most important part of the match, as most people wait on the edge of their seats for the final outcome, for who's gonna win, for who's gonna take the title, and so on and so forth. The finish should continue telling the story that the beginning and the end start telling; either the bigger story continues in some capacity due to what happens in the finish or it ends and everything is settled. The finish is usually dictated by the head booker.
An aftermath tells more of the story the match tells. The aftermath may either continue what the finish has started, or goes a different way from what happened in the finish. Example: Exodus beats Chris Austin cleanly, but in the aftermath, a voice speaks and Exodus goes apeshit on Chris Austin. If one can make the finish and the aftermath flow and go boom, then you have a great match. How do you do this? Simple: good narrating and the appropriate drama added in by the banter of the announce team.
There is also the segment. While minor, it is also used to help tell the story a match told/will tell, and when done right, it should help build up the respective match.
* * *
That's it for now. After all, this is just 101. Anyone who feels anything should be added to this may do so, and anyone who feels that anything should be challenged or questioned may also do so. Cheers.