Writing the Script

As you learned, every good podcast script starts with a central theme. Specifically for your podcast project, your central themes will come directly from your course syllabi and lessons you teach at the University of Skaro. Each lesson can be converted into its own podcast as part of a course series. When listened in order, each podcast lesson can build upon the one prior, much like a live classroom course.

Length: Unlike university classes that often have a fixed start and stop time, podcasts can all be of varying lengths. The ideal podcast for an educational lesson is roughly 40-50 minutes. In general, the number of words in the script will be proportional to the length of the podcast:

• 15 minute podcast = 2,700 word script

• 30 minute podcast = 5,500 word script

• 60 minute podcast = 9,500 word script

Style: Depending upon the style of the podcast, the script can take on many forms from informal to highly structured. Podcasts for entertainment may be casual so the script can be written with bullet points of ideas. The effect is a more conversational style. Educational or instructional podcasts, such as university courses, are usually more formal. Therefore, your podcast scripts may be written word-for-word, clearly stating what the speaker is going to say.

Hosts: If you teach a course with more than one professor, or you want to add some variety to your podcast, you can consider having two hosts trading off teaching the lesson. In this case, your script would be written with different speaking parts, like the script for a play.

Below is an example of a template to guide your podcast script.