The world of audio drama is versatile, far-reaching, and accessible. If you have a story to tell and you want to explore scripted mediums, you can get professional quality results on a far smaller budget than you would need for a feature film or television production.

For starters, your first recording setup could be a basic studio mic (about £100) and a duvet fort. There’s some great free editing software out there, and freesound.org is full of options for sound design. Or you can raid your fridge and get creative snapping carrots next to your microphone.

Getting your worlds and characters into a script that can successfully communicate your vision is another matter. An audio script is designed to be used by everyone except the listener, and for many writers that’s where the challenge begins.

The words on the page form the foundation, not the end product.

THE COMPLETE COURSE

Sign up to the Writing for Audio Complete Course for a 10-week programme that will help you to get a script from start to completion, alongside a series of talks on character development, casting, directing, and more.

Learn more

QUICK GUIDES

I’ve drafted a set of quick guides that can get you started thinking about your script. You can find them here.

Emily Inkpen

Emily Inkpen is Creative Director at Alternative Stories and the writer/co-director of the BSFA Award-winning audio drama, The Dex Legacy. She is a repped novelist, co-presenter of The Writers’ Gym podcast, and co-host of the Audio Drama Writer’s Forum - a monthly meet-up for audio writers with guest appearances from fellow creatives, including the teams behind Red Valley, Victoriocity and Big Finish. Emily has extensive experience directing professional actors asynchronously, remotely, and in the studio, and has worked as a voice actor in multiple roles.