Formatting a Script
When you write a story, the text appears in the normal, default text style. When you format a story as a script for a news broadcast, you might need to mark certain text, such as instructions for presenters or closed captioning.
Presenter instructions are most often used as brief instructions to news presenters (also called news anchors). The text for presenter instructions appears red in the script, in reverse video on the teleprompter, and is not included in the text used by the system to calculate the read time.
Closed captioning is most often used for “sound-bite verbatims.” The text for closed captioning appears green in the script and is sent to a closed caption encoder if your station uses such a device to broadcast scripts for the hearing-impaired. Closed captioning text does not appear in the teleprompter, and it is not included in the calculations of a script’s read time.
The default normal text style is sent to both the teleprompter and to any closed caption encoder used at the station.
The following procedures use the toolbar buttons circled in red in the following illustration.
To mark text as a normal text:
Select the text and click the N button or press Ctrl+Alt+N (Windows).
To mark text as a presenter instruction:
Select the text and click the P button or press Ctrl+Alt+P (Windows).
To mark text as a closed captioning text:
Select the text and click the CC button or press Ctrl+Alt+C (Windows).
You can click the N, P, or CC buttons before typing your text as well. Any new text you type will appear in the format you selected. To change the format of the text you type at any time, select another format.
