Script Writing Skills Workshop for Broadcasters in Pakistan

• © UNESCO/A. Usis

Lessons from the survivors of Pakistani floods are waiting to be explored by radio producers

There are many excellent lessons that people can learn from the survivors of the recent Pakistani floods. These stories are worth telling, as they contain the elements of human heroism, and waiting to be explored by good story tellers to promote the importance of strong bond in humanity.

That was part of the message delivered by the Director General of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), Mr. Murtaza Solangi, during the closing ceremony of a 2-day training workshop on script writing attended by more than 20 broadcasters from PBC and other radio stations and networks in Pakistan. The workshop was organized by Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA), hosted at Pakistan Media Academy of PBC in Islamabad on 21-22 October 2010, and supported by UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office (UTCO) in collaboration with UNESCO Islamabad.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide information, knowledge and skills to the participants in the field of scrip writing, with the main focus on the post-floods situation in Pakistan, following the recent floods that hit the country in mid 2010. The participants are expected to transform the new skills they acquired during the workshop into radio programmes to be aired in their respective radio stations which will strengthen the efforts of rebuilding the confidence of the affected communities.

Various topics were discussed during the workshops, starting with explanation about the importance in giving the contexts such as gender and human perspectives to the stories. These were then followed by technical aspects in script writing, such as story development and dramaturgy. A number of trainers were involved in the workshop, including Ms. Moneeza Hashmi who is also the President of CBA.

In her closing remarks, Ms. Hashmi congratulated the participants who have managed to come up with good story ideas, which she hoped, with some further touch and refinements can be materialized into concrete radio programmes. She also hoped that the relationships between UNESCO, CBA and PBC can be further strengthened through follow up activities in the near future.

• Author(s):Arya Gunawan Usis
• Source:UNESCO Tehran
• 04-01-2011

• © UNESCO/A. Usis -