Script Doctoring - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 160

Scope
The first thing to find out is the scope of the work being asked for. This is both
harder and more important than it sounds. It's harder, in that the people remaining
on the team may not actually know what is wanted or needed. After all, many of
them were probably on the team when the circumstances requiring a script doctor's
attention were created. On the other hand, they may have just been brought on
themselves, which means their grasp of the project may be imperfect.
Establishing scope. Without knowing how much there is to do, you can't get
started. Without knowing how much work there is to do in the time available,
you can't prioritize your time appropriately, and you risk spending either too much
time or too little on the first deliverable you tackle. That means that the first thing
you have to do is figure out what you have to do.
Find Out What the Actual Assignment Is
“Fix the writing� sounds great on paper, but in real life it's spectacularly unhelpful
in providing direction. What any script doctor actually needs to know is the answer
to one simple question: What am I expected to do? Without getting a definitive
answer on that question, you're going to have tremendous difficulty in going forward
with the actual work of writing. So it's vital to get your actual expected deliverables
mapped out and agreed upon.
Find Out the Assignment Parameters
What anyone doing script doctoring needs to know can be measured with numbers:
How many lines overall? How many variants on each line (if necessary)? How many
cutscenes? What's the total word count allowed by disc footprint? Find out pa-
rameters before you start writing, or you may end up throwing out work when you
overwrite a strict guideline. That, incidentally, is the one thing you absolutely cannot
afford to do: waste time on work that can't or won't be used.
Time. Knowing how much time you have is key. Knowing exactly when each chunk
of what you're doing needs to be delivered is vital prioritization. When you're on a
tight deadline—and script doctoring deadlines can be as tight as, “We're in the studio
now, can you think of a better way to say this?�—organizing the tasks at hand by
priority is an absolute must. Having a firm schedule to order your workflow around
will make your life easier; not having one will make your life impossible.
Number of lines/scenes/etc. The quantitative side of what you're doing is impor-
tant, as well. Knowing how many lines/scenes/missions you have to write tells you
how much time you can give to each one. Getting those numbers laid out for you by
the person you'll be reporting to serves another purpose, as well; it's protection in case
someone else suddenly decides to add an extra thousand lines when nobody's looking.
If you have a list of deliverables, you can use it to ward off excessive, ill-thought-out,
or impossible requests.