How to Write a Script for an Interview or Documentary Conversation

What do you write when you don't know half of it

In a voiceover script you write every word. In an interview you write only half the conversation: your questions, their order, and your intent behind each one. The other half comes from the subject — and if you knew it in advance, you wouldn't need to film them.

So the script here is a map, not a text: it defines where you want to arrive and leaves the route open.

The structure of an interview script

1. The opening question

Not your most important question — your easiest. Its purpose is to let the subject get used to the camera and their own voice, not to break news. Ask about something they know completely: what they do daily, or how they started.

2. The general themes

Move into your subject through its widest door: context, history, description. At this stage the subject is explaining, and explaining is easier than confiding.

3. The personal themes

Here you ask about experience rather than information: how did that feel? When did you think about quitting? What do you regret? Never start here, however tight your time, because trust is built in sequence.

4. The peak

One question you know is the heart of the whole film. Write it in its exact wording, because you'll need composure when you reach it — and don't ask it before the room has settled.

5. The closing question

A question that leaves the subject in a good place: what do you hope for? Or what would you say to someone going through what you went through? This is often where the film ends.

Write your follow-ups before filming

The common mistake is writing only a list of main questions, accepting a surface answer, and moving on. Under each main question, write two follow-ups: "why?" and "tell me about one specific day." Specific detail is what makes a scene; general answers don't.

Rules for phrasing a question

• Open, don't close. "What was that like?" beats "was it hard?", which can be answered with a yes.
• One question at a time. A compound question gets half answered and half forgotten.
• Don't suggest the answer. "You must have been terrified" puts your words in their mouth.
• Allow silence. Most of the deepest answers arrive two seconds after the silence an interviewer rushes to fill.

Cards suit interviews better than a document

Putting each theme on its own card makes reordering possible mid-shoot: if the subject opens up early, you jump to the peak card; if they stay guarded, you return to general themes. The card structure is covered in How to Write a YouTube Video Script in Bardiyah, Step by Step.

After filming: the second script

An interview produces a second script you didn't write — the subject's own words. Choose the passages you'll use, arrange them into new cards, then write the voiceover that connects them. At that point you have a complete script written after the shoot rather than before it.

Before you film

Read your questions aloud once. A question you stumble over will trip you up in front of the subject too. And if you find a question you can't explain the purpose of, cut it: your subject's time is finite, and every aimless question takes the place of one with a purpose.