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Last updated: September 10, 2024

Free Radio Play Script Template

by Tony "Sparx" Palermo - Radio playwright, Sound Effects Artist, Composer

Advice on using my free MS Word template for writing radio drama scripts.

NOTE: Make sure to see my detailed lesson on How to Write Radio Play Script Cues. Between the template below and the lesson, you'll be able to work professionally in getting your ideas across to cast, crew and audience.

Radio Script Formats and Microsoft Word

Radio play scripts follow a special format that was developed in the 1940s. It does not look like modern film or TV or radio commercial scripts. Its conventions are well suited to efficient radio drama rehearsal and production. Other formats will work, but I've found this one to be quick and easy.  If you want to see what a radio script looks like, see a HTML rendering of an excerpt from my radio adaptation of Macbeth. The spacing isn't quite right, but it gives you a general idea.

This page regards using a free downloadable template for use with Microsoft Word for Windows and it will work with Word for Macs. Also, the template is in MS Word 2021 .dotx format--it doesn't contain macros that your system may think contain a computer virus.

First read through this page, then download the template and open it in your version of MS Word.

If you just want to see what the template looks like, click on RuyaSonic-Radio-Play-Script-Template.pdf. It's in PDF format and can be viewed using the free Adobe Acrobat reader for PC/Mac. If you are going to use the Word Template file, then go to page 13 of this PDF for info on how to install it, once you've downloaded it below.

What is an MS Word template?

An MS Word template is a special type of document that contains predefined styles, formatting, and content. It acts as a blueprint for creating new documents with consistent formatting and layout. The RuyaSonic Radio Script Template contains all the Word "styles" you need to instantly format the various types of cues employed in radio. You could do it yourself with tabs, the space-bar, underlines and capitalization, but the template styles allow you to just type away and get the correct formatting and margins in professional radio script format. Using styles saves a great deal of time.

Template files are stored in the MicroSoft Template folder. You can open my template and customize the text with, say, your name, production company, copyright, etc. and save it as your own customized template under a new name.

To create a radio script, open Word and create a NEW document, then, from your Personal templates, select your customized radio script template. Word will copy the contents of that template (the styles, text, sections, headings, etc.) into a new Word document. The styles will be displayed in the Word Home toolbar's Quick Style Gallery. My template includes a short, generic radio script, the text of which you can delete or just overwrite as you type in your own scenes, dialogue, etc. For example, to add a new scene, click the Q1-SCENE style from the Quick Style Gallery then start typing and your text is formatted with all the spacings, tabs, fonts, indents, and bolding used in radio scripts. Do the same for dialogue, music, sound effects, production notes, etc. As you are writing your script, it looks like a radio script.

Download the template

To download the template, RIGHT click (Mac CTRL-click) on RuyaSonic-Radio-Play-Script-Template.dotx then select "Save Link As".
Be sure to note where you've saved it on your computer, most probably your downloads folder. You'll want to move the template file to wherever your other Microsoft templates are stored. (To find that, do a Google search on "template folder"). Otherwise, the radio script template won't show up in your list of available templates when you open Word and click on "File" then "New".

NOTE: For info on how to install the template and customize it for your own use, see page 13 of the PDF version RuyaSonic-Radio-Play-Script-Template.pdf That exact info is also in the template itself, but you need to install the template before you can open it in Word and get to page 13.

What's in this template?

The template is a radio formatting course in the form of a dummy script. There are typical cues for dialogue, sound effects and music, as well as headers, footers, production notes, etc. The template also includes the extra pages I use for casting, rehearsals and production. It's taken me years to perfect this format, but it works very well and other professionals have no problem understanding what I intend for the radio program to sound like.

Title (a/k/a "fly" page)
Cast listing
Three-page demo script
Director's signals & notes
Casting Evaluation form
Sample of Casting Monologues
Sound Effects Cookbook listing
Sound Effects "How to" descriptions
Engineer's Equipment and Music Cue listing
Notes on how to use the template



(page 8 from my adaptation of Macbeth: Act 4, Scene 1)

OK, I can write and make it look like a radio play script. Now what?

Once you've started using the template, check out my other web pages about: How to Write Radio Play Cues,
Formatting Radio Play Scripts for Fast Rehearsal and How to Prepare Radio Play Scripts for Production.