BRIEF PLUS: Promo writing 101

By Hamilton Fisher and Andrew Jackson

“There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
–Alfred Hitchcock, British film director, 1899 – 1980

Sir Alfred Hitchcock knew how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats. A movie trailer or
television promo producer should aspire to do the same. There’s a formula for writing we use at BBC
America that guarantees you’ll create a first-class dramatic promo every time. We call it, “the Robin Hood”
technique.
Think of yourself as an archer and the promo your bow and arrow. The beginning of the spot is the
threading of the bow; the announcer’s copy is the pull-back of the arrow on the string; and the back-end
of the spot (the quick cuts and dialogue) is the release of the arrow on its journey towards the target, the
cliffhanger.
It’s a simple formula. The key to making it work is the amount of preparation you put into it on paper. The
more time you allow for structuring copy and clips on paper will reduce the amount of time you need in
the edit suite and add to the overall quality of your spot.
The Paper Cut
All promo-writers know the fear of starting production on a new promo. It’s that helplessness we feel
when confronted with a blank page of paper. Don’t panic. The following steps can help to show you the
way.
First choose the cliffhanger, the target at which to aim the narrative arrow. This is almost always a clip or
sound bite from the film that leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next. Everything else in the
promo builds to this moment. Then select a scene to place at the beginning of the spot, a short clip that
rivets the viewer’s attention, sets-up the storyline and begins the march towards the cliffhanger. Now
you’ve selected the two most important elements in your promo: the beginning and the end. You know
where you’re starting from and you know where you’re going. All that’s left is to fill-in the middle.
Logging
Before you can construct an outline on paper (the paper cut) you need to arrange the materials in front of
you in an easy-to-use manner. Yes, I’m speaking about logging the film, the most boring and thankless
part of the process. It’s also the most critical. Skimp here and you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage during
the rest of the process. A detailed log is a promo writer’s best friend.
As you log a film, make note of which sound bites or dialogue will help you to tell the story. There are two
general types of dialogue we look for when writing spots at BBC America: thematic bites, those moral
statements spoken by a character that define what the film is about, and the narrative bites, the
statements that tell the plot and define the characters’ motives. A list of thematic and narrative sound
bites will help you to meet your deadline later in production. This is especially true when the boss asks for
last-minute changes to your spot. There’s rarely time to go back and search the film for options when
you’re already deep into the process.
Copy writing
Now you’ve got a detailed log of the film and you’ve chosen the cliffhanger and the opening clip to begin
the spot. But before you choose the sound bites and action to fill-in the middle, write the announcer’s
copy first. The words you choose will help determine what dialogue and action will fit.
For many of us, the copy writing is the most intimidating part of the process. But, quality copy is what
makes a promo memorable, and you should budget as much time as possible to get it right. The promo
copy is typically a line or phrase (one or two sentences) that is a succinctly-stated truth, not a synopsis of
the storyline. The copy is not a book report but instead is used to give dramatic perspective, sensibility
and “relatability”. But be wary of sounding overly profound. The copy should sound underwritten. The
words should flow in a clear and simple manner to the degree that the viewer doesn’t even hear it in the
spot. Good copy is unobtrusive and registers “in the back of the brain”. But don’t be afraid of hyperbole; a
promo is a dramatic tease so doesn’t hold back!
The copywriter as’ mini-philosopher’
Before you write a word of copy, step back from the details of the plot and look at the story from a position
of wisdom. The copy you write should relate to the film’s theme, the overarching subject of the story. It’s
the copywriter’s job to make these overarching ideas in the film relatable. That’s why promo writers are
often called ‘mini-philosophers’. In other words, look for the film’s life lesson. This is the theme of the story:
fear, honor, truth, deception, greed, hope and sacrifice. It can be about what an individual may
experience in life…or what groups experience…or what nations experience under the same
circumstances.
Playing Chess with Words
To create the best copy a promo writer must aspire to be an aphorist, a writer of pithy sayings. The
dictionary defines an aphorist as someone who writes ‘any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely
expressed’. But it’s more than big ideas expressed in small language when it comes to writing promo
copy. You’ve got to write in a conversational manner using language you’d hear on the street as opposed
to thoughts you’d read in a book. For this reason I’ve personally kept a running list of memorable lines
I’ve heard from people I know or strangers I’ve met. To me, these street-sayings are gold because they’re
spoken words, verbalized in a spontaneous manner by people who were inspired by the moment. The
following are examples of observations I’ve recorded outside of work and used later for inspiration in
writing copy:
In a Holy war, nothing is sacred- an observation made by my wife while watching a television news
report from the middle-east.
You’re not breaking the rules; you’re breaking the law- spoken by my 8 year old nephew while playing
cops and robbers.
And I’ve recorded some helpful comic observations:
What do you do when you’re surrounded on all sides? Shoot in all directions- from a story I heard
from a Vietnam vet. I used these lines in a movie trailer for a Bruce Willis action flick.
Between dating and divorce is a state of limbo called marriage- muttered by my sister after her
second divorce.
The Danger of the ‘Disconnect’
Have you ever read a book and found your concentration drifting away? That’s when a break in the linear
progression of the story causes the reader to lose focus. This usually happens when the author’s
storytelling becomes disjointed. The same is true for promos.
As you continue to structure the spot on paper, keep the phrases of the copy close together. If the copy is
broken-up by too much dialogue or action, the viewer may experience a disconnection between what was
said earlier and what’s said later. The break between each phrase of copy should be short enough in
length to insure that the viewer doesn’t lose the promo’s train of thought. Otherwise the viewer may lose
focus and interest. It’s helpful to write your copy in a manner that allows each separate phrase to stand
alone and still make sense. For example: “we don’t make headlines” – sound bite – “we make history”.
Each phrase in the sentence makes sense regardless of the distance between them.
Revisiting the paper cut
After you’ve finished your first outline on paper, don’t relax. It’s only your first draft. The paper cut should
go thru numerous versions (try switching the end with the beginning) until you’ve exhausted every
possible sequence of sound bites, copy and action. This is the best way to create the most impact in a
promo and save time in the online edit.
The Radio Cut
Congratulations, you’ve got a detailed log, the announcer’s copy and the spot’s structure on paper. You’re
now ready to take the project to the next step: the edit suite. But before you even think about the pictures
and graphics, consider making a ‘radio cut’ first. If you have the budget, go into the audio suite with a
sound designer and edit together the announcer’s tracks, music, sound effects and sound bites. This step
will help save you time when you enter the video suite.
The grammar of a radio cut
Most people recognize four basic building blocks of radio drama: speech, sound effects, music and
silence. Bronwyn Woodhead, an editor at BBC America, calls the use of these audio elements the
‘grammar’ of a spot. She punctuates her promos through the deliberate placement of sound effects’ hits,
drum builds and drones. To Bronwyn, this approach is similar to the use of commas, semi-colons and
exclamation points in writing prose. The grammar of a spot, she says, allows the editor to stop and start
the spot or change direction, all in an effort to keep a viewer’s attention from wandering. Bronwyn likes to
remind producers not to overwrite a spot with wall-to-wall copy and sound bites. Instead, leave enough
space in the structure of a spot for the editor to create an ambience or atmosphere.
The Use of Music
Though traditional music beds give a spot its feel, wall-to-wall music (from the beginning to the end of the
spot) has become passé. The opinion today is that music beds feel one-dimensional. This is not to
discount the use of music entirely. A production score works well in the last third of a spot, the ‘back-end’,
and helps the spot build to the cliffhanger.
The Pictures and Graphics
Now that you’ve got your radio cut you’re ready to go into the actual online edit suite. Take along the
time-code numbers of the film’s sound bites that you placed in the radio cut. Align the bites with the
pictures and voila! You’ve got a spot with 90% of the pictures already in place. Now you can relax and
enjoy creating the eye-candy, the quick video-edits and explosive graphics that make a promo fun to
watch.
The Idiot Check
When the spot is cut and you’re ready to show it to the boss, remember to first do “the idiot check". Go
back and recut the promo every which way you can imagine. Experiment with the structure like you did
with the paper cut. Reverse the beginning of the spot with the ending. Move around the middle elements
to see which sequence works best with the copy. Try every combination you can think of until you're
satisfied that you’ve found the best structure for telling the story and building to the cliffhanger.
Finally, watch the spot with and without the sound on and ask yourself, ‘do the pictures tell a linear story?’
Then listen to the spot without watching the pictures and ask yourself, ‘does the sound design tell a linear
story?’ Don’t be satisfied until the spot’s message can be understood both ways.
The resolution
Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have been a first-rate promo producer. Though he liked to criticize movie
trailers for giving-away a film’s plot, the master of suspense understood what makes a trailer (or promo)
work: it’s not enough to make the audience want to see your film, make them want to see what happens.