Drama Ministry Scripts Writer's Guidelines

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What you need to know before you submit a script.

Please be sure to have your script formatted according to our script style sheet. (see web site)

In general, we're looking for scripts that can be used in worship services to focus the attention of worshipers on specific themes or life issues that the pastor can then address in the sermon or message that follows. Thus, the best scripts dramatize and heighten the issues without always resolving them; resolution is left to the sermon or is subtle enough that the sermon can tie it in. Our scripts are intended to be supplementary to the message of the day, and not be the main event themselves.
Writer's Guidelines:

Sketches should be from 4 to 7 minutes long and use 1 to 6 characters.

Include a statement of purpose, time requirements, list of characters, prop list and any unusual sound or light requirements.

Scripts should be sensitive to the unchurched. Avoid Christian-club jargon and insider church terminology.

Must have broad appeal to both evangelical and mainline audiences.

Most of our scripts are not obviously religious in nature. Rather they pose human situations that can be addressed from the pulpit following the sketch.

No elaborate staging or costumes.

Problems should be identified without sarcasm or overly critical tones (hope-based vs. critique-based). We do not want scripts that scold the audience or try to shame the viewers. Scripts that ridicule the hypocrisy of Christians are not for us.

Avoid didactic lines. Specifically, avoid making "less spiritual" characters mere foils who present questions and/or problems for "more spiritual" characters to resolve as "teachers."

Prefer everyday situations to extreme situations. Remember that there is enough drama, whether painful or humorous, in most people's daily lives. For example, the temptation to tell a lie is much more common than the temptation to kill someone. Build your scripts around situations most people encounter in the normal course of living.

Avoid predictable endings. Prefer instead a conclusion that is unexpected but still a reasonable extension of the theme of the sketch.

Please be sure to have your script formatted according to our script style sheet. (See web site)

Send Scripts to:
Regi Stone
Drama Ministry
P.O. Box 40387
Nashville, TN 37204

PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ON YOUR SCRIPT.

Please note that your submission will not be returned.