Skippy: guidelines for scriptwriters

In the late 1960s American programming dominated our television screens and homegrown drama series were still comparatively few.

Skippy script supervisor Moya Wood had trouble finding suitable scripts for the show – Australian writers often had experience writing for radio drama but not the visual medium.

These documents are extracts from the Skippy Guide for Scriptwriters and they emphasise that action is paramount, dialogue should be kept to a minimum and 'let camera tell story'.

From the list of tabus (sic) and basic story requirements, you can also glean that Skippy was always intended to be a family show and that it was produced on a tight budget.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen and Adam Blackshaw