Ours…
We aim to provide 3 clear alternatives for anything that doesn’t clear the gauntlet of sources in our reports. If we couldn’t come up with 3, that means we tried long and hard and only came up with 2. Dreaming up and researching those alternatives can be quite time-consuming as quite a few of the initial options often do not make it to the final cut of report inclusion. Depending on the type of things we’re clearing, we might research as many as 10 names before coming up withthe 3 included in the report.
We try to match up our alternatives with what’s happening in the script. If your scripted character name is an Italian opera singer named Carlo Corsi, for example, we’re not going to suggest something like Roger Duncan as an alternative. If your character is mainly referred to by his last name, we’ll find some new first names that will work — or if he’s mainly called Carlo we’ll work on substitutes for his last name.
Now that you know about all this invisible work, please picture your crestfallen researcher upon hearing that you don’t like any of his/her suggestions. Tears! Gnashing of teeth! Falling upon the sword!
Yours…
Recently we’ve worked with some shows that send us THEIR suggestions for alternatives to check in order of preference should the scripted element not work out. To any of you out there who are working on episodic television with usright now, feel free to give this a try. We like the time efficiency of this approach very much. You’ll like it too because you’ll get exactly what you asked for. Win/win.
First published June, 2015