Spots:
Public Service Announcements, Program Promotions, and Commercials
Advertisers are the interpreters of our dreams…. Their weapons are our weaknesses: fear, ambition, illness, pride, selfishness, desire, ignorance. And these weapons must be kept bright as a sword.
Short bursts of information spaced between and within programs on radio and television earned the nickname spots. Spots include three specific type of announcements: public service announcements (PSAs), program promotional announcements (promos), and sales advertising (i.e., commercials, or commls). Each type fills a specific purpose in broadcast communication, but all have in common the required task of selling an item, a business, a concept, a philosophy, or a need to be filled in some way through an interchange of money, time, or effort.
Spots range from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. Longer announcements than 2 minutes fall into the category of mini- or full-length infomercial programming. This chapter will concentrate on broadcast announcements, motion picture theater trailers, and commercials, all of which use the same production and sales techniques, as well as a growing variety of sales tools used on the Web.
Announcements, especially commercials, were not expected to contribute to radio when it first began at the start of the 20th century. By 1916, before radio was regulated or even heard much beyond a few miles from the transmitter, announcements were made in exchange for either a sample of the product or an exchange of service. By 1922, sponsors would lease a station’s airtime for several hours for rates ranging from $35–50. There are no precise records of how much actual airtime was delivered for the recorded amount of money. Despite both audience and government disapproval of actual commercials aired on the early stations, there were neither laws nor guidelines setting limits of any kind. AT&T, the first company to operate a station (WEAF) on a professional level offered to sell airtime—just the airtime. The sponsor would be responsible for the program, as well as any commercial announcements within the program. They had little success in making any sales until August of 1922, when a New York Queens company paid $50 for a 15-minute block to talk about a new condominium type of development. The program was repeated several times and was credited with selling over $150,000 worth of properties within days of the announcements. This often has been called the first radio commercial, but there were many others not as well documented or purchased, and these probably aired as informal arrangements rather than formal commercials.
The AT&T station avoided “direct selling” and prohibited mentioning prices, locations, or offers of samples. They also maintained control over the type of announcement to prevent offense to the listeners. But in 1923, AT&T offered “soft infomercials,” which were talks about folklore sponsored by such companies as Macy’s department store and Gillette shaving products. At that time, companies would sponsor a program titled with the company name for identification. For example, the Browning-King Clothing Company sponsored the Browning-King Orchestra, with plugs throughout the program for the company by name. In 1924, WHB in Kansas City, Missouri sold tickets to the “Invisible Theater” to the audience to help support the production costs of the program. The first singing commercial was produced to promote the new Wheaties cereal on WCCO in Minneapolis in 1926. In that same year, NBC banned spots adjacent to network programs. NBC also limited commercials to 3.5 minutes per hour. Unfortunately, non-network stations ran commercials for at least 15 minutes of each hour.
In 1928, the newly formed National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) requested that stations avoid airing commercials between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm, the 4-hour block considered family time, but by the next year sponsors pressed the new CBS network to mention prices.
By 1930, “direct advertising” commercials only avoided mention of prices. By then, advertising agencies, which sold and produced the bulk of the daily programs, demanded stations provide airtime in order to air promos to advertise their programs at no additional cost. By 1931, the advertisements were called spots, but they varied in standardization of length. Some spots were sold by word count, which ranged from 50–200 words. Other stations sold their spots by timed segments of 2 minutes or longer. Also at this time, the technique of “mentions” of sponsors’ products were worked into plots and dialogue without extra charge. NBC felt this “interweaving” added force and credibility to the product without causing offense.
One of the earliest popular radio programs was Amos and Andy, produced in Chicago. The show was recorded on large discs coated in wax and was distributed by mail to other stations. This was the beginning of syndication. At that same time, sponsors discovered that recording their spots on these discs, called electrical transcriptions (ET), to be played to fill the space between programs, guaranteed quality and exact timing in the production and airing. By 1932, the shows produced by the advertising agencies, call “cooperative broadcasting,” were completely controlled by the agency. The scripts, casts, and direction were all under the agency’s control. The agency just purchased airtime and delivered to the stations the ET of the program they wanted aired.
The passage of the 1934 Communication Act, which created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), motivated the stations to limit commercials to 10% of airtime at night and 15% during the daytime. No laxatives, patent medicines, or other personal products could be advertised.
Since that time, the rules and regulations controlling commercials have virtually disappeared. The only rule still remaining came from a congressional law stating that tobacco products could not be advertised on radio or television. There are some restrictions designed to protect children viewers and listeners from over-commercialization, but the restrictions are quite liberal, allowing advertisers much freedom in content and the number of commercials aired each hour.
PSAs promote nonprofit organizations and their activities. PSAs generally run on radio and TV stations at no cost to the client. The spots may be produced by the station as a public service, but major national nonprofit organizations produce high-quality, high-budget spots to maximize their effectiveness. To qualify for PSA status and, therefore, to be able to ask stations to run their spots at no cost, an organization must be listed with the state as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The exceptions to this rule are civic units: cities, counties, states, and even divisions of the federal government qualify for PSA-announcement status.
During an election year, federal rules governing “electioneering communications” go into effect. Such an announcement may not be aired as a PSA if the spot clearly identifies a candidate for federal office or if the spot is schedule to run within 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary election. The spot may not be classified as a PSA if it refers to promoting, supporting, opposing, or attacking a federal candidate. Such spots must be paid for (and most stations request payment in advance).
The stations maintain the option to schedule and run any PSA at their convenience, which is why most PSAs run late at night, on weekends, or early in the morning, when demand for availabilities for commercial spots are at a minimum. On the other hand, if a nonprofit organization wishes their spots to run at a specific time, they may use the same spot as a commercial by simply paying full commercial rate to have the spot run on a specific schedule. The military services often want their recruiting spots scheduled to reach the maximum number of the young men and women, so they run their commercials during programs aimed at that target age group; these spots are paid commercials, not PSAs, so that they can specify scheduled times and days.
Writing PSAs requires a special skill because the audience is asked to donate money or useful items or to volunteer their services or labor for no material object in return. The writing must make a strong argument for the legitimacy and urgency of the appeal, and, at the same time, ask for a specific response. PSAs must sell the requests as effectively as a commercial by using the same writing and production techniques as those used in producing commercials.
The same sales techniques used in writing commercials and, to a lesser degree, promos are also favored for PSA writing. You will need to rely on gaining sympathy from the audience, and making it feel a little guilty and willing to send money or volunteer time to benefit those not able to help themselves. Empathy may also arouse feelings that will release the purse strings of the audience. Fear is a powerful motivator to drive people to respond to appeals or warnings broadcast as PSAs. Fear of catching a disease, of falling prey to criminals, or of being harmed by weather or other uncontrollable natural phenomena has proven successful in leading the audience to support the requester of assistance.
Promos are spots written and produced to promote programs on the same station that is airing the spot. The concept is based on notifying viewers or listeners of another program broadcast on the same station that they are tuned to at that moment. Promos are considered very important in the highly competitive field of broadcasting. As a result, much time, effort, and consideration in the writing and scheduling of promos goes into a station’s letting its audience know about its other programs. Since the income of a station depends on the maximum size of the audience, convincing people to tune into a show requires a special skill in writing and producing promos that will sell the audience to tune into a program it might not have planned to watch or listen to.
The key to writing promos depends on depicting the promoted program as important to the viewer or listener. The promo should warn the audience of the folly of missing key dramatic moments and plot twists, winners of talent contests, or the winners or survivors of dreadful competitions. The promo must make the upcoming program absolutely critical to the audience’s viewing life. The audience must be teased into wanting to watch or listen to the indicated program. The promo must make an indelible impression on the mind of the audience so that they will remember to tune in to the promoted show. Your writing of a promo fails if it does not clearly impress upon the minds of the audience the station’s channel or frequency, the day, and the time of airing of the program.
Some commercials may appear to be promos, but upon closer examination, the audience will find that the spot that looks like a promo actually promotes another station or network. Radio stations often run commercial or promos on television stations, and vice versa, especially if they are owned by the same company. Cross-promotions between cable channels appears to promote a competitor, but again, on closer examination, the viewer will find that both networks are owned by the same corporation.
Advertising is considered one of the basics of American economic strength. Without advertising, consumers would not become aware of new products, the choice in products, how to modify their lives with different products, where to get the products, and how much the products may cost. At the same time, advertising is accused of selling consumers what they do not need and do not even know they want, and once they have it, these consumers do not know what to do with the product. The advertising has just one goal: sell, sell, sell.
Advertisements on radio and television are called commercials. This term originated from the first radio operation, AT&T. Originally a telephone and telegraph company, AT&T entered radio at broadcasting’s beginning. They billed their regular residential telephone clients on a monthly basis, but the sponsors of programs, along with other irregular long-line clients, were billed as commercial operations.
As a commercial writer, you must be a master of persuasion, using all of the techniques of propaganda and emotional appeals to achieve your client’s goals. Commercials may be produced in-house at the advertising agency, at an independent studio, or at a broadcast operation. As the writer, you must please at least four groups of people: you must win the approval of the sponsor, the agency, the producer and director, and the audience. Most importantly, you must prove that your sales techniques actually accomplished the goal by motivating the audience to buy the product or service.
Advertising agencies operate by analyzing the ratings of the television shows on which their spots are placed. The Nielsen rating service uses several different methods to determine who is watching which show and for how long. All ratings are based on statistical analysis. A small sample of a specific demographic group is monitored with phone calls, by having them keep diaries, or by electronic means. The results of the small sample are then expanded statistically to cover the entire group. Hopefully, the statistics will accurately reveal who is watching. Enough figures are gathered that, depending on who does the analysis, most anyone can come out a winner in one demographic category or another.
Radio determines its listeners differently. Arbitron traditionally used diaries but discovered that because most radio listening occurs while driving in a vehicle, diaries were not reliable. Arbitron experimented with a portable people meter (PPM) to increase reliability and accuracy in their sampling. The small meter, about the size of a cell phone, is carried by the listeners wherever they go. The meter automatically detects the stations that the listener hears and records that data in the meter. Periodically, the meter is placed in a special docking station, through which the data is transmitted back to Arbitron for analysis. These more accurate ratings could bring about major changes in program schedules and content.
Radio stations’ sales departments also use other methods to determine who among the audience is listening, and how many. Contests, public service appearances, and direct responses to commercials present the client with some indication of the value of their advertising.
Figure 3.1. Ratings charts list the statistical data that provide the sales department with the information they need to convince a possible sponsor to the value of advertising at a certain time block or within a specific program.
Demographic groupings are arranged by a person’s age, income, education, gender, occupation, and home location. A different method of grouping audience members is called psychographics. Using psychographics, people are grouped by lifestyle, personal interests, hobbies, attitudes, beliefs, and political preferences. The groupings help target specific groups of people for specific products or services so that time and energy are not wasted on people who would not be interested in or capable of purchasing the product being sold. Both analysis methods also help manufacturers develop products for specific groupings and their responses to certain forms of advertising. Increasingly, the study of demographics and psychographics reveals gaps in targeting and provides for specific ethnic or minority groups that were not considered viable customers. As the diversity of the country increases, there are fewer true minorities, and all people, regardless of their background or origination, should be considered as part of the audience.
| Demographic | Psychographic |
| Age | Lifestyle |
| Income | Personal interests |
| Education | Hobbies |
| Gender | Attitudes |
| Occupation | Beliefs |
| Home location | Political preferences |
One of the most important classifications is age. Each category of age (e.g., children, teens, 18–35-year-olds, young adults, and older adults) responds to different products and to different stimuli. Therefore, every commercial must target the specific age group that will be interested in the product and, most importantly, can be convinced to part with their money. Children also have a major affect not only on products of direct interest to them, but also, as studies have shown, automobile, travel, and home purchases. Most advertisers, regardless of medium, like to target the 18–35-year-old group. This group, in theory, has disposable income and can be easily motivated to spend on impulse items. For that reason, much of radio programming, cable programming, and a high percentage of television programming is aimed at attracting the 18–35 bracket. This, in turn, attracts the high-spending sponsors of products that appeal to this age group.
Another difference among commercials depends on whether the spot is for a national product or a local product or service. Often, the two are combined in one commercial: a nationally produced automobile spot will be tagged with a message for a local dealer and that dealer’s address. Local commercials generally cost less for production, are less complex, and tend to be local personality oriented. The emphasis is on the address, phone number, and Web site URL. Also, they focus on price, loan figures, and availability of specific models, with an emphasis on local fashions and traditions. The local seller will concentrate on his or her product or service.
National spots generally are better produced, require a larger budget, have more complex production techniques, and emphasize the product and its quality, characteristics, and value. If a personality is used, then that person must be of national notice—a star in the media—and not the owner or manufacturer. The concentration will be on the institution or company, not a specific product.
Obviously, most commercials, both local and national, will use characteristics from both lists as the client’s needs occur, but exceptions do exist. Oreck vacuum cleaner and Orville Redenbacher Popcorn spots break the national rules and try to look as down-home and local as possible. If it works, they use it. Some local and regional advertisers may budget and produce commercials that appear to be national for added sophistication value.
Broadcasting survives through the support earned from income from commercials. That sum amounts to over $15 billion for television and a fraction of that amount for radio. But that amount began to decrease in 2004 as more advertisers spent their money on cable and the Internet. The development of digital technology has made it possible for viewers and listeners to be more selective in their use of media. Delayed recording and selective dubbing have made commercial placement less certain as the audience zips past or ignores commercials. The solutions include creating longer or shorter spots, more interesting commercials to hold the audience, and a technique developed years ago for motion pictures, product placement. A can of a specific band of soda is placed so that the camera shows the brand name clearly. Or a product’s name or image may be digitally inserted into the picture at the will of the sponsor, as is done on baseball and football games. That image may vary in the same production depending on whether the distribution is by theatrical film, broadcast television, cable, or DVD release, or for a portable player or game. Such variations in placement require you to study carefully to become aware of the planned distribution of the spot.
In an effort to better understand the audience’s reaction to commercials, studies concentrate on trend spotting to determine what the audience wants in both the announcements and the programs. Focus groups viewing samples have been used in the past, but some doubt has been raised regarding the value since the group knows they are expected to show a reaction; their true feelings might be different if they were not sitting in an auditorium for the specific purpose of making judgments. Instead, experiments have shown that watching people’s reactions without their knowledge and polling specific groups of people at work may provide more accurate data if a large and systematic sampling is taken.
The length of commercials has now come under question. Over the past 50 years, television commercials were reduced from 2 minutes to 1 minute, and then they settled at 30 seconds. Now longer spots, from 90–120 seconds, that allow for greater development of a story within the spot show signs of better reception from the audience and less of a chance of being skipped or ignored. The longer spots have shown value especially for brand identification, rather than for an individual product. Longer spots provide the base for explaining in greater detail the value of the product or service and its superiority over competitors. The extra time also allows space to reveal specific points on the operation of the product, as well as the specifics of purchase price, sales, rebates, and long-term purchase plans.
Experiments include the production of shorter spots, lasting 5, 10, and 15 second in length, to help spread the sponsor’s budget and still remain effective in reaching the audience. Shorter spots must accurately target the audience with one key sales point. The spot must make the point obvious and avoid confusing the audience with too many facts and figures. Short spots become a matter of a rifle shot straight on target rather than the shotgun scatter approach of longer spots.
Commercial-free programs with simple brand identification at the beginning and end of the program have shown increased audience interest since the program continues without breaking the rhythm of the story. This is considered “institutional” selling, relying on building goodwill by avoiding annoying the audience with commercial interruptions.
All of these changes mean you must become extraordinarily aware of the audience and the audience’s control over its viewing and listening habits if your commercial is to first, reach an audience; second, be accepted by the audience; and third, make the audience understand and react in a positive manner to the commercial. If it does not sell anything, you have failed.
A critical concern of all involved in sales is the ethical guidelines and legal laws and rules of the communication business. Any consideration of ethics becomes a slippery slope since an ethical action on the part of one person may be considered unethical by another. There are no hard-and-fast rules of ethics. Personal ethics should be the guiding force for professional ethical judgments. But more often, the threat of legal recourse or professional punishment provides greater motivation for responsible ethical actions.
Whenever a discussion of ethics is raised, the issue of morals also appears, sometimes as an equal to ethics, and other times as the basis for making ethical judgments. “Moral” comes from the Latin, meaning “way of life,” and “conduct” and “ethics” from Greek, meaning “usage” and “character,” respectively. There is a difference, but to a commercial writer and broadcast sales staff, the difference is unimportant. What needs to be impressed is that ethics or morals, whichever is acceptable, should help those involved in the complex world of media advertising to use the best of the theoretical background of both.
Ethics involves a method of making choices between good and bad, fair and unfair, true and false, and responsible and irresponsible. Personal ethics is a matter of a person’s character; professionally, it is a matter of behavioral conduct when faced with critical decisions of choice. Because sales techniques use the best of communication persuasion techniques, care must be taken to avoid misusing those same techniques. A product or company may be described accurately with veracity, but it also may be described using half-truths, evasions, and untold truths, all of which are unethical. The disinformation disseminated by governments to pacify the press without telling all that is known falls into the same category of unethical communication.
Ethical decisions often fall well within a gray area between true and false, and the final decision, difficult as it will be to make, must be made on the side of truth. If commercials for a client consistently stretch the truth, the consumer will find out eventually, and the credibility of the product, the company, and the media operation will be severely damaged.
One major problem with maintaining ethical standards comes from the conflict between the news and programming departments against the sales department of a media operation. If a news story criticizes a client or even a type of client, that client has the right to withhold financial support from the media operation. The program or news story may well be of benefit to the audience, but, at the same time, may annoy or damage the client. Unfortunately, most of the decisions that must be made from such conflicts will be made on a financial basis. If the client represents major income to the operation, the story or program will be canceled. If the client does not represent a major sacrifice for the operation, the stories may be aired, and the operation will absorb the minor financial loss.
A second type of client control over programming comes from sales contracts that are written with riders containing cancellation clauses for conflicting programming. For example, airlines may have in their contract a clause that calls for cancellation of their commercial within a newscast if an airline crash is going to be covered as a news story in that newscast. This requires that the producer or news director decide whether the story is important enough for their audience that they are willing to lose the income from that commercial, or whether the story can be canceled, letting the newspaper cover it instead. At one time, sales departments were kept totally isolated from programming and news departments. In theory, the separation continues, but it is a very thin wall between sales and news today. News and documentary programs are expensive to produce, and the loss of any support from a major advertiser must be considered, regardless of the ethics of that decision.
In order to help maintain a minimal level of ethics, all media professional organizations publish and expect their members to follow the codes agreed upon by the membership of that organization. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the American Advertising Federation (AAF), and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) all maintain such codes to provide guidelines for their members. The codes have limited powers to punish any company that violates any of the rules, but unfortunately, the worst offenders do not belong to any of the code organizations. (See Appendix A.)
Of the many laws that affect citizens and businesses, this text will discuss six areas of greatest concern for writers of spots:
Freedom of speech (The First Amendment)
Deceptive advertising
Obscenity
Defamation
Privacy
Copyrights and trademarks
Freedom of Speech (The First Amendment)
The laws affecting the publication of information, whether as spots, programs, speeches, or print material, are reasonably clear, but through the past years changes in the political structure of the country and attitudes toward communication have brought about changes in how the original laws have been applied, and those changes will continue to occur. When First Amendment issues arise, you should consult an attorney with a specialization in communication law.
The law specifically protects writers from preventing distribution of their works except under three conditions:
1. If the broadcast would hinder a war effort
2. If the material were obscene
3. If the communication would incite acts of violence
Obviously, each of these three exceptions could be interpreted in either very broad or very narrow terms. But these rules are rarely prosecuted. Instead, as a copywriter, you should be aware that there are some specific laws to be followed. Cigarettes may not be advertised; beer may, but without any reference to alcohol content; and hard liquor and wine are not prohibited, but the NAB policy advises against advertising those products. NAB policy suggests actors not be shown consuming alcohol beverages on camera during a spot. Lawyers and medical personnel now may place advertisements, but pharmacists may not list prices of drugs. Some states apply individual restricts on some forms and methods of advertising.
A special category of advertising involves spots for politicians and political issues. An “equal time” rule requires a station to offer the same type and placement of a spot to any legitimate candidate within 60 days of a general election and 30 days before a primary election. The commercial must be offered at the lowest unit charged for the same time and amount of time, even if a single spot’s price is compared to the price for a large number of a bulk purchase of time. Any spot that identifies a candidate for federal office and any “attack” spots must run as commercials, not as PSAs.
Deceptive Advertising
Two systems of controlling deceptive advertising include self-regulation by the advertising industry and regulation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The advertising industry, over the years, has been attempting to avoid specific federal control of advertising by invoking self-regulation rules to their members. The control can not extend to agencies or advertisers who are not members of the professional advertising field. The temptation to stretch the depiction of products and their value often places the producers in a battle with the sponsor or the agency attempting to create the maximum sales effort.
The FTC regulations are designed to prevent “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”1 This means that any “material representation, omission, or practice that is likely to mislead a consumer acting reasonably under the circumstances”2 is a violation, and the sponsor may be required to:
1. Stop running the commercial
2. Run a commercial explaining or correcting misleading information
3. Run a commercial contradicting the original spot, admitting fault, and at the same time, run a like number of spots in the same time frame and the same number of times as the original spot campaign
This third punishment was invoked against the Ford Motor Company in reference to commercials selling the Pinto car in the 1970s. And in the fall of 2006, the United States attorney of the eastern district of Missouri reached an agreement with the Sporting News Company. For 3 years, Sporting News had been advertising illegal Internet and telephonic gambling enterprises in print, on the Internet, and on the radio. The company was fined $4.2 million dollars, and for the following 3 years, it must at their own expense produce and air $1 million worth of PSAs each year, informing the public of the illegality of commercial Internet and telephonic gambling in the United States. Such heavy fines and punishment should act as a deterrent for advertisers to try to skirt the law on what can and cannot be sold on the air.
The golden rule for writers is to make certain that all claims are accurate and independently substantiated for each advertised sales point. Great care needs to be taken in accurate pricing, especially for those commercials plugging high percentages of sales. The percentage must be based on the actual last retail price, not a price increased just before the sale. Endorsements and testimonials from famous people must be based on that person actually using the product, and the personality must have a full understanding of the qualities used in the sales pitch.
Obscenity
Copywriters must take care that the spots they create offend the smallest portion of the audience possible. A critical measurement of offense is material that might appear to be pornographic to any segment of the audience. Good taste and thoughtful consideration should guide a writer to avoid problems in this realm, but inadvertently, and possibly from an effort to appeal to a specific segment of the audience, material may fall within the categories of pornography. The term “pornography” refers to any material that is sexually explicit and is intended to arouse the audience sexually. That is a very broad category, but the two specific areas of pornography of concern to the media writer are spots containing material declared indecent or obscene.
Any material is obscene if is sexually explicit and offensive. Such material is not protected by the First Amendment and may be prosecuted and punished for distribution in any manner.
Material declared indecent is not necessarily obscene and may be distributed on some media, but not broadcasting. Broadcasters are regulated by the FCC, which sets a relatively high and continuously changing standard for what is indecent and cannot be broadcast without fines or threat of loss of the broadcaster’s license. The same material may be distributed by cable or satellite without fear of retribution from the FCC.
In 2002, only 8 stations of 15,000 were cited by the FCC for airing indecent content. In 2003, 15 were cited, and in 2004, there were 208 citations (189 of those citations were from two programs). In 2005, there was not a single citation. Unfair rulings have thrown a cloud over broadcast programming, with owners being overly cautious to avoid high fines for material that had been acceptable in the past and is still acceptable on other media but might possibly not be accepted on broadcast media. Even though 80% of the households in this country receive their broadcast signals over either cable or satellites, few viewers know or make the distinction between locally originated or broadcast network programming and broadcasting from cable or satellite programming.
An 8-hour time block, from 10:00 pm until 6:00 am, is considered a safe harbor from children viewing broadcasting. During that time, more relaxed rules allow broadcasting of material that might be considered indecent (but not obscene) at other times of the day.
The difference between indecent and obscene was set down by the Supreme Court in a 1973 case, Miller v. California, which defined obscene as any material fulfilling all three of the following characteristics:
1. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
2. The work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law.
3. The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
State laws also apply to the second rule and may add more restrictions. Part of the problem for broadcasters is that their signal may cover a broad area of different cities, states, and even national regions that, when taken together, have a wide range of community standards. Such a restriction means you must consider the lowest common denominator of standards when preparing copy for broadcast distribution. Your awareness of the distribution of whatever you create is critical. Edgier and more creative work may not be permissible on broadcast outlets; yet, the same material could play to the same audience by cable or satellite without the fear of punishment to the distributor.
Defamation
You must avoid attacking any person or company, especially in terms of reputation. The laws of defamation include libel (referring to written defamation) and slander (referring to spoken comments). With the rise of electronic communication, the difference between slander and libel has become so narrow that in most states the law applies equally to both, especially since electronic communication may be a combination of the two.
There are six aspects of a comment that attacks a person’s reputation that, if present, may very well cause juries to award damages in the millions of dollars.
1. There must be actual defamation content, meaning statements that cruelly attack the person’s reputation.
2. The statement must be false, which is sometimes a very difficult aspect to be proved or disproved.
3. The statement must be distributed or published to at least one other person.
4. The statement must be specifically identifiable as referring to a specific person, the plaintiff.
5. Malice or the intent to do harm must be proved.
6. There must be intangible or actual damage.
You must be extremely careful to avoid any and all of the aspects listed above, especially in spots comparing or attacking a competing client.
Privacy
The concern for respecting privacy relates to defamation as well. Some of the aspects to avoid include the following:
1. The use of the name or likeness of a person without consent
2. Embellishing or fictionalizing information and placing an individual in a false situation
3. Trespassing without permission by using a long lens or super-sensitive microphones
4. Publishing embarrassing private facts
Again, in the effort to maximize points in commercial copy, you may be tempted to use such information for the benefit of the product or against a competitor. You must avoid such temptation since the courts have had little sympathy for such transgressions, especially in commercials or print advertising.
Copyrights and Trademarks
The control over a writer’s work is a two-edged sword. First, copyright laws protect intellectual property, that is, work created within a person’s own brain. That, of course, includes whatever you create. It means no one may use your work without permission or payment. The law was passed and has been revised over the years to give creative people a reason to publish and show their work without fear of losing control over and income from their work. The work must be original and must be fixed in a tangible means of expression; in other words, in the case of written material, it must be published. Published also means performed on an electronic medium.
Copyright protects the following:
1. Literature, including computer programs
2. Music, including lyrics
3. Dramatic scripts, including music if it is part of the original script
4. Choreography and pantomime
5. Photos, maps, graphics, sculpture, and animation
6. Motion pictures and other media, whether analog or digital
Copyright does not protect an idea, a concept, or a story plot, even if written.
Nor does it protect the basic information used to create a work unless that information is absolutely unique. Works for hire, that is, a script written by a staff writer or a freelancer on contract, is owned by the employer unless a specific contractual agreement giving the ownership rights to the writer was drawn before the work was completed.
A variety of time limits have been modified over the years, generally to increase the time the author or the estate of the author maintains rights and income. Today, works created after 1978 remain in the control of the author for life plus 70 years. Before 1978, works were protected for approximately 50 years. Once works pass into public domain, that is, without any copyright, that work may not be recopyrighted, but the copyright may be transferred by licensing to a new copyright holder.
You must observe and respect music copyrights. A recording of any music may not be used without receiving permission from and paying fees to two sets of copyright holders: first, to the composer and lyricists, assuming they are two different people, and second, to the recording studio that made the recording.
To facilitate what may become a very complicated search to find copyright holders of music, three licensing companies were organized to represent musicians, to collect fees, and to pay the copyright owners. The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) originated the process, followed later by a competitor, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), which originally represented European musicians but now also represents domestic performers. To use a recording, the writer or producer must contact the licensing society and negotiate the use and fee. Limits on the number of times the performance may be used with that fee partially depend on the potential audience of the final production or spot. The fee is separate from a performer’s fee for live performances, which is set by the union representing the performer.
Limited use of a portion of a copyrighted piece comes under a portion of the law called “fair use.” If a portion of the work is used to illustrate a comment, in a news story, as a criticism, in a classroom, or for research, the use may fall under fair use laws if the amount of the original work used is relatively small and is used for noncommercial purposes. That means commercials are not eligible for fair use, but, under some conditions, PSAs and promos may qualify.
With the advent of increased capabilities of digital modification programs, such as Photoshop and MIDI programs, it has not yet been determined by case law whether sampling of music and modifying photos, graphics, films, and video recordings falls under fair use. From an ethical point of view, nobody’s work should be used as the basis for a new work without the permission of the original author. At this point, the amount of modification and how recognizable the new work compares to the original may determine the owner of the new work.
Trademarks
Any name, slogan, or symbol that clearly identifies a company or its product is a trademark. Trademarks provide the company with maximum protection for their use in marketing and identification by the consumer. A company is granted exclusive use of a trademark and the rights attached from its first use and publication. A trademark does not need to be registered. Trademarks include titles of books, magazines, newspapers, film, and television programs, as well as slogans identifying a product or company.
A writer must be careful not to use a trademark as a generic term for an object or type of product. The following is a list of some of the common trademarks misused and their proper generic substitutes:
| Trademark | Generic Term To Be Used |
| Frisbee | Miniature flying disc |
| Pyrex | Heat-resistant cookware |
| Teflon | Nonstick coating |
| Coke | Soft drink (except in Texas) |
| Fiberglass | Glass fiber material |
| Xerox | Copy machine |
| Univac | Electronic computer |
| Scrabble | Crossword game |
| MACE | Disabling spray |
| Band-aid | Antiseptic or adhesive bandage |
For other possible substitutes, consult an up-to-date stylebook, such as the Associated Press Stylebook.
Systems and Placement
The broadcast day is divided into time blocks: early, morning drive time, midday, afternoon drive time, local origination, prime time, late night, and overnight. The blocks’ beginning and end times are not precisely set; the times depend on whether the distribution is by radio, television, or cable, and whether the station is non-network, independent, or network affiliate. Each block offers a different value to the sponsor, and the price varies accordingly.
The value is determined by the number of viewers or listeners calculated during the time of the airing of the spot. That number is determined by the use of the statistical calculations derived from the ratings system. That figure is then used to determine how valuable that time slot is in delivering an audience to the sponsor of the spot at that time of day. At its best, ratings are an approximation, but throughout the years of broadcasting, the sale staffs and sponsors have accepted and continue to accept those figures as accurately representing the value of their spot.
Programs are separated by a station break, generally running from 10–70 seconds. Programs plan on a specific number of breaks within the program, allowing for a specific time for breaks in a set length of time. Each of the holes planned within a program is designed to air a spot or series of spots. The spaces allowed for spots within a program and between programs are called availabilities, or avails. The avails must be scheduled and fixed in advance so that sales and promotion departments will know how much time is available for spots to be sold or scheduled. Generally, the sales department has first call for avails. If an avail is not filled with a commercial, than a promo may be inserted. As the value of promos has increased in building audience numbers, promotion departments may fill an avail rather than fill the spot with a commercial. If neither a commercial nor a promo is scheduled for an avail, then a PSA may fill that time slot. Every avail must be filled, with either a commercial, promo, or PSA, because the overall timing of the program has been predetermined to count on a certain amount of time to be filled with spots.
The value of an avail depends partially on whether the spot is placed within a program or within the break between programs. The spots between programs are called adjacencies. Ratings are counted by programs, so a spot within a highly rated program or one scheduled between two highly rated programs will be of greater value, and the sales department will charge more for that placement. For the past several years, the avail for a commercial sold to run within the football Super Bowl has cost approximately $2.5 million dollars for each 30 seconds.
Spot Timing
Generally, the break between network programs is 70 seconds long. That time allows for two 30-second spots and a 10-second spot to run within the 70 seconds. The 10-second spot may be only 8 seconds long if a 2-second station identification is required to run every hour on the hour. A typical local newscast will be scheduled to run for 28:50. That allows for a 70-second break following the newscast before the next program. Most newscasts offer 6 minutes of avails within the program. That leaves 22:50 for news, minus the opening, the closing, and section transitions, leaving, at the maximum, approximately 21–22 minutes for actual news reporting.
Other types of programs, depending the on time of day, offer approximately the same avails schedule. There are restrictions for programs produced for an audience consisting primarily of children, and there are more lenient times for late-night and weekend programming.
Avails for program interruption follow a fairly standard pattern of a break after the opening scene, which teases the audience and grabs it to stay with the program. The second break in a half-hour program will come near the mid-point, and the last break should be scheduled to follow the climax, but hopefully before the resolution so that the audience will stay through the break to find out how the story ends.
Timing of spots must be absolutely accurate. The completed spot will be aired in an avail that is computer controlled. If the spot is too long, it will be cut; if short, an anathema of broadcasting, dead air, will occur. In reality, no spot is aired until it has been viewed and time-checked before loading it in the playback system. Each word must count as a critical part of the spot.
The question of how much material may be squeezed into a specific spot determines the type of production and how much music and how many sound effects and other production techniques are used. General guidelines for you as a writer to follow are given in the chart below.
Copy Length, Determined by Time or Word Count
| Length of Spot | Word Count |
| 10 seconds | 25 |
| 20 seconds | 45 |
| 30 seconds | 65 |
| 60 seconds | 120 |
| 90 seconds | 180 |
| 2 minutes | 200–250 |
Accurate timing of copy is achieved by reading out load while including pauses for all effects and music that are critical to the copy.
The term copywriting belonged originally to the art and science of creating the words and designs for print advertising. Since that time, the term has been attached to any writing of advertising materials, whether it is for print, electronic, or now digital advertising on the Internet.
Writing copy for spots, whether the spot is a commercial, promotion, or public service announcement, is still copywriting and shares most of the techniques and methods of communicating to an audience. Certain differences exist among commercials, promos, and PSAs, but those differences were pointed out earlier in this chapter.
All spot writing may be compared to writing miniature dramas. Each spot must capture the audience’s attention, hold its interest, and then convince them to take some kind of action. To control the audience in that manner, you must introduce a conflict, characters, and a story line; build to a climax; and then solve the problem at the resolution. The solution, of course, is to motivate the audience to take the action anticipated and preferred by the sponsor. All of this may need to be accomplished in 30 seconds, or even sooner for a 20-, 10-, or 5-second spot. A 1-minute, 90-second, or 2-minute-long spot allows greater leeway in reaching the same goals, but those are still very brief time spaces to develop the story needed to accomplish the purpose of the spot.
The spot must grab the audience members, not letting them leave for a snack or potty break, but rather making them want to stay to satisfy their curiosity about the conflict laid out to them. The conflict is critical: it may be based on exposing a problem in the world that needs assistance (a PSA), a gripping story to be broadcast later (a promo), or a need aroused in the audience to purchase something (a comml). To develop that perceived need, the writer may use music to arouse emotion or as a reminder of good or bad times, humor to keep the audience waiting for the punch line, or a clever gimmick to intrigue it. You must dazzle the audience with your creativity as you develop the drama. A drama needs characters, but more important than strong characters is a strong story line. The story must show the audience members that if they stay with the spot, they will learn to solve a problem in their life.
Some of the tools used in dramatic structure include emotion by creating a sense of fear in the audience of consequences if it does not purchase or use the product indicated. Other emotions evoked are happiness, fantasy, and of course, sexual arousal. The product may show the user how to achieve a state of happiness, to reach personal fantasies about travel, to acquire wealth or power, and of course, to reach their sexual goals through the use of the product. The characters used to achieve these effects may be authoritative figures such as a medical doctor, lawyer, or scientist, or else they may use the testimony of a famous person. Such testimonials of sports and entertainment stars or personalities who gained fame through politics or adventures add credibility to the claims of the commercial.
Next, the audience must be held through the sales pitch, which may be a hard sell or a more soft, subtle sell, which the audience might not even recognize as a sales message. Although hard sells used by cars dealers and furniture sales personnel appear to cross the line of maintaining reasonably good taste, the techniques work, or else there would not be so many spots produced in that mode. The most subtle type of spots are called institutional, produced to keep the company’s name in the memories of the audience, without any specific sales goal in mind.
Other sales styles may be more sophisticated and appeal to a different audience. From blue-collar settings to fancy settings, the targeted buyers, such as homemakers, potential home purchasers, vacationers, hunters, sports fans, and travelers, all may react to a different appeal. Other audience segments chosen by a study of demographics (as covered earlier in this chapter) may indicate that the spot should be designed to appeal to a specific ethnic or nationalistic group. As the diversity of this country increases, minority groups once thought of as too small to be specific targets have gained significance. Spots appealing to Hispanic, African-American, Southeast Asian, and Eastern European populations have proven beneficial to both those populations and to the sponsors.
Young people, who make up a major portion of the population with disposable income and easy-to-affect spending habits, may respond to their music and to characters depicting their lifestyle, from new wave to punk rock to high tech. Too narrowly targeting a specific demographic group may turn off other groups who disapprove of others’ lifestyles and habits. You cannot write a spot to appeal only to you or your immediate group; the spot must be written as a result of research that shows where the appeal must be aimed to accomplish the sales goal.
Once you have the audience interested, then you have to close the deal by showing the solution. For a commercial, the solution requires the audience to purchase a product, attend a event, or take a vacation. For a promo, you want the audience members to be certain to watch or listen to the program and to tell their friends about it also. For a PSA, you hope the audience members will send money, volunteer their services, or in some manner take part in activity to support the nonprofit organization. Without a response, you have failed as a copywriter.
Some of the techniques that work show (remember, television is a visual medium) how something works better than anything produced by a competitor; that the price offers an excellent value, beats the competitor, or cannot be matched by anyone else. The best commercials concentrate on the product (except for some local spots, which may concentrate on the dealer or local merchant) to build loyalty beyond the one spot. The name value is important; it is critical that a spot will leave the name of the sponsor imbedded in the minds of the audience. If a few minutes after the spot has aired the audience has no idea who or what it has just viewed, then the spot failed.
The solution must tell the audience where to get the product, where it can help a nonprofit, or where and when it is to watch the promoted program. The price also must be shown clearly, especially if price is a key sales item. Such sales pitches as percentage off, rebates, or other money matters should be obvious, with clear indication as to how such matters may affect the final price. When a sale occurs, it should be clear how long the sale lasts, when the item may be available, and location, location, location. The location includes the address, being specific in a large metro area where finding a merchant may be confusing and difficult for the consumer, who will not bother if it is a problem. The location also includes the phone number, including a 1–800 number if available, and the URL of the Web site for the company, which is becoming more important every day. You must make it easy and convenient for the consumers to find the product so that they may make a purchase. The specific times and dates of the promo must appear so boldly so as not to be missed and, in such a manner, to impress in the mind of the audience the time, date, and channel. If a program has its own URL, that should also be featured in the spot. PSAs also may be time- and date-critical, with such information clearly shown. URLs are very important for nonprofits.
Writing Traps to Avoid
Research will target precisely who the audience should be, and the copy should accurately reflect that target by appealing specifically to that audience. No time may be wasted with extra verbiage, and the choice of words must fit the audience without sounding pretentious. Slang expressions should be avoided unless those expressions are part of the targeted audience’s normal method of communicating. Remember, even though you may be targeting a specific audience, broadcasting is a mass medium, and many in the audience will not be members of the targeted audience and may very well be turned off or away from a spot because of the language used.
Avoid passive verbs. They take space in a spot but say nothing. Always use action verbs that move the subject forward.
Avoid gender-specific terms unless the product is aimed at a specific gender. The person operating a camera is not a cameraman, but rather a camera operator. Use firefighter instead of fireman.
Avoid false claims, exaggerations (beyond reasonableness), false testimonials, false depictions, and language and scenes in poor taste. Taste is very difficult to determine because taste may be determined by cultural and age differences. Use common sense and the golden rule: do not write anything you would not do or say to your grandmother’s face. Stereotypes are a necessity in spot writing due to the short time allowed to develop an environment, a story line, and characters. But negative stereotypes must be avoided. That means using a specific ethnicity, religion, age, gender, or cultural class as a negative character or example is not acceptable. Positive or neutral stereotypes help the audience quickly understand points made in a spot without lengthy establishing scenes or dialogue.
The temptation to use sexual or violent scenes or language to make a point must be avoided. Using attractive actors, if the product or scene requires such casting, is acceptable as long as the attraction is not based only on a sexual basis. The argument that sex sells cannot be denied, but quality copywriting avoids using sex and violence gratuitously as it turns people away from viewing rather than attracting them. Targeting the incorrect audience must be avoided. Specifically targeting young people for beer commercials when a portion of that audience would be underage and illegal for purchasing or consuming such a product is unethical. To use high-speed and dangerous driving depictions to sell cars that appeal to young people also is unethical.
The form that copy takes on the printed page signifies whether the writer is knowledgeable of professional writing techniques and standards or not. The standards vary among levels of media and even among individual studios and production operations, but there are basic tools used to place written material on a page so that everyone involved in the actual production of the spot understands what the writer had in mind and what concept the writer was trying to express.
Two basic formats dominate the industry: single-column, sometimes called film style, and double-column, called television or AV format. Spots produced on film and single-camera digital video tend to use single-column as most directors with a film background prefer that format. Directors with live television backgrounds tend to be more comfortable with double-column scripts. Double-column scripts also tend to include much more specific shot framing and movement detail than single-column scripts. Single-column scripts describe briefly scenes and general action but seldom specify shot framing or talent movements. The double-column format very often specifically indicates framing, movement of both camera and talent, and transitions. Graphics, audio, and special effects, along with storyboards, are more easily incorporated within double-column scripts than single-column ones.
Both single- and double-column scripts are viewed with the assumption that you have carefully written precise instructions after much thought of how you want the spot to look and what the audio should sound like. Indicate music type, tempo, and a possible example of the type of music you were hearing in your head. Special effects, either audio or video, need to be described in enough detail that the director will know what you envisioned. Be specific, but do not try to direct the spot. Let the producer, director, and producing crew understand what you are trying to say, and give them the tools to fulfill your vision. Use professional abbreviations and terminology. (See Chapter 2.)
Instructions for Dual-Column Format Using Microsoft Word
Header
Pull down VIEW → HEADER AND FOOTER.
Within the block, insert name, code, date, titles, and other pertinent information.
Tab to the right, and add copy on that side (it automatically formats flush right).
Double-space, and then add VIDEO at left margin, and AUDIO in the middle.
Double-space again.
Double-Check
Pull down PRINT PREVIEW. It will show the header in position on the page. Click off, and then click CLOSE in the header frame.
Pull down TABLES. Select 2 columns and 4–6 rows.
Adjust the vertical border by pulling to approximately 2.5.
Setting Spacing
Wipe the AUDIO column.
Pull down FORMAT, click PARAGRAPH, and click DOUBLESPACE.
Removing Borders
Wipe the entire page.
Pull down FORMAT.
Click BORDERS AND SHADING.
Click NONE.
Entering Copy Within Cells
Video cells are always in caps.
Copy will automatically single-space and will expand the cell, if needed.
To move to the AUDIO cell, hit the TAB key.
Audio cells require caps for instructions, and uppercase and lowercase letters for all copy to be read.
Copy will automatically double-space.
At the end of the pair of cells, add an extra line at the bottom of the VIDEO column.
To Add Cells
At the bottom of the last AUDIO column, press TAB, and a new pair of cells will appear.
Modifying Cells
Pull down TABLE and follow the options.
Figure 3.2. Spot dual-column script format is the same for other media productions, including specific details of shot framing, transitions, and audio.
Every shot must have some audio indicated, even if it is a continuation from a previous shot. Each shot should be described in the following order:
Transition (A zoom is a camera movement, not a transition)
Shot framing
Subject description
Subject movement (if any)
Camera movement (if any)
Graphics and background visuals must list everything to be shown and the framing for each item. Indicate the background, color, spacing, and texture. Double-check accuracy of telephone numbers, addresses, prices, and URLs.
Avoid abbreviations in copy to be read, and spell out words as they need to be pronounced. (NASA is as a single word, but K-U-H-T has each letter pronounced separately.) Phonetize unusual, non-English, and difficult-to-pronounce words. (Place the phonetized version in parenthesis before the actual word.) Spell out numbers to make them easier to read accurately and also to provide for an accurate word count. Use contractions only when a contraction would be part of a character’s method of speaking. Avoid AM and PM. Use morning, afternoon, or evening instead.
Instructions for Single-Column Format Using Microsoft Word
Header
Same as dual-column, except single-column does not use a header on every page.
Setting Tab Positions
Set margins at 1 inch for the top, bottom, left, and right.
Place numbers for reference only, as illustrated below:
Make certain tabs are set for 5 spaces.
Automatic Formatting
It is recommended that ALL automatic features are disabled. Go to FORMAT, pull down to AUTO FORMAT, and check OPTIONS for the settings you want.
Using Tabs
Tabs are useful to move cursor from the left margin to the “5” and “15” positions. You must watch for ending lines at the “45” and “55” positions.
Using Centering
It is usually faster and more convenient to use the centering control for entering characters’ names, the delivering mode, and in some cases, the actual dialogue. As you type the delivering mode, make certain it fits within the “20” to “40” space. Make certain the dialogue fits within the “15” to “45” space.
Bottom of the Page
Make certain you do not split a scene at the bottom of the page. Start at the top of the next page if an entire scene cannot fit on the space left at the bottom of the page.
Radio Copy Instructions
Each line of radio copy needs to be numbered, even if the same character continues a speech. Margins for line numbers and character names can be flush left, but the margins for copy to be read should be set at 1.5 inches from the left and 1.5 inches from the right. The wider margins make reading easier as the reader’s eyes scan back and forth from one line to the next. Single-space for instructions, double-space between announcer lines, and if possible, triple-space between lines read by different talents.
Figure 3.3. Single-column spot script copy is the same as dramatic script format. It includes dialogue and complete scene descriptions.
Figure 3.4. Radio spot script copy format uses a number of each line and wide margins.
Music and SFX may be underlined, but this is not necessary. Indicate whether music is up full, faded under or behind dialogue, or faded out completely. If you use music lyrics instead of dialogue, the lyrics must be transcribed and cleared with ASCAP or BMI. Be careful to avoid overpowering dialogue with music or SFX in the background. Do not describe something you cannot hear. Describe the sound effects so that they tell the audience what it will hear.
Despite the best intentions of you as the writer and creator of a spot, you have little control over the final production or the production techniques used to produce your spot. Both are set more by financial matters. The budget allotted to produce the spot and the distribution methods both will affect the funds available to actually produce the spot. If the spot will be distributed locally, the costs will be less as compared to the same spot if it were to be distributed regionally across several states or in major cities. Regional spot budgets do not match budgets produced for a national marketing campaign. Most local spots, depending upon the size of the market, will be produced by a small agency, a local television station, a local production studio, or a cable outlet. The format choices will be between multi-camera in-studio video or single-camera electronic field production, recorded in either standard definition (SD) or 16-mm film. Each of these formats with today’s equipment will provide the basis for a highly professional production at a minimal cost, depending on the complexity of the script.
Regional productions step up the quality by using higher-quality equipment and larger crews and by taking more time. The same basic formats will be used, with the addition of 35-mm film and medium-quality high-density (HD) recording, but more likely there is a greater chance that the final distribution will be through HD or 35-mm film.
National spots increase the budget, size of crew, and quality of equipment and may handle a much more complex script. Recording and distribution more than likely will be on an HD format or on 35-mm film. Each of the variables depend on two basic factors: the complexity of the script and the availability and size of the budget. As a writer, you need to be aware of not only the budget, but also of the plans for distribution and the demands of the client in order to meet their specific desires.
And the last hint: whatever you place on paper, your copy will not be the same as you thought it was going to be. By the time the sponsor, producer, director, and talent make their “suggestions,” you probably will not recognize your work. But the possibility always exists that the final work will unfold even better than you had envisioned.
Spots, as aired on broadcast stations, cable channels, motion picture theaters, and on the Internet, fall into three categories: PSAs, promos, and commercials. PSAs sell the audience to support nonprofit organizations. Promos sell the audience to watch another program on the same channel or station. Commercials sell the audience products and services. The funds raised by selling commercials pay for production costs and airtime for programs distributed on visual and aural media. Promos are internal productions, so no cost passes within the stations creating and using them. PSAs are aired without cost as a public service of broadcast stations but are not required by cable or satellite operations. The three must sell a concept, a product, a service, a program, or a charity.
Avoiding unethical, deceptive, and obscene copy, and not defaming or invading the privacy of individuals or companies is critical to the business of writing spots. Copyrights, music licensing, and trademarks must be respected. Timing and targeting specific audiences is a necessity for success in spot writing. Script formats for writing spots vary little from standard dual-column, single-column, and radio formats. The scripts a writer creates for spot production seldom will be finished as originally written by the writer; they will be modified to please the client and to meet budget requirements.
1. Double-check all laws affecting your spot.
2. Make certain you are well within ethical and moral standards.
3. Make certain you are not deceiving the audience.
4. Make certain you are not breaking obscenity laws.
5. Make certain you have not defamed anyone or any corporation.
6. Make certain your have not violated anyone’s privacy.
7. Avoid violating any trademarks or copyrights.
8. Double-check music, performance, and union clearances.
1. Visit the local radio or TV station that has been on the air the longest. Ask if they have a history of the station: when it started broadcasting, what type of programs they aired, and how the programs were first paid for. Write a brief history of the station’s changes in terms of how it paid for itself.
2. Record a half-hour TV sitcom or dramatic program. Break down the format of the program. How long before the first commercial, and how long is that break? How much time passes before the next commercial break and the third? Calculate the ratio of programming to commercial time.
3. Do the same as Exercise 2 with a TV newscast.
4. Do the same as Exercise 2 with an hour-long block of your favorite radio station.
5. Do the same as Exercise 2 with a cable sitcom or drama. Make certain it is not from one of the major TV networks, but rather that it originates from the cable network.
Day, Louis A. Ethics in Media Communications: Cases and Controversies. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1997.
Friedmann, Anthony. Writing for Visual Media. 2nd ed. Boston: Focal Press, 2006.
Garrand, Timothy. Writing for Multimedia and the Web. 2nd ed. Boston: Focal Press, 2001.
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Hilliard, Robert L. Writing for Television, Radio, and New Media. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2004.
Kessler, Lauren, and Duncan McDonald. When Words Collide: A Media Writer’s Guide to Grammar and Style. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2004.
Lutzker, Arnold P. Copyright and Trademarks for Media Professionals: Broadcast, Cable, Film, Internet, Multimedia, Satellite, WWW. Boston: Focal Press, 1997.
Vale, Eugene. Screen and Television Writing. Revised ed. Boston: Focal Press,1998.
Willis, Edgar E., and Camille D’Arienzo. Writing Scripts for Television, Radio, and Film. 3rd ed. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.
Zelezny, John D. Communications Law; Liberties, Restraints, and the Modern Media. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2006.
Web
www.televisiontoys.com/Old TV spots
1 15 U.S.C. sec. 45(a)(i)(1999)
2 Amrep Corp v. FTC, 798 F 2.nd 1171 (10th Circ. 1985)