A Film Consultant: Why To Hire One
May 3, 2011It is well-known practice for a film consultant to be added to the writing team on a movie or television undertaking. The main writers for a project may lack expertise on all the necessary technical details of their script. Still, they want to ensure that scripts are believable and dialogue sounds realistic. Accordingly, the writers will often bring in a technical expert to consult on the script.
The consultant can come from a variety of areas. Law procedural programs such as Boston Legal may need several different consultants – a legal expert, a police officer, and perhaps a scientist. Other programs like Grey’s Anatomy may require a medical film consultant. Therefore, authoritative persons with graduate degrees and lots of work experience in their subject matter are brought on to make the script realistic.
This practice has been used for a long time. In recent years, the use of film consultants has burgeoned due to more sophisticated audiences. In the mid 1970s, many films with plots involving computers had very corny and ridiculous dialogue. This was at a time when a low percentage of people owned personal computers. However, the majority of Americans now own a laptop, so movies can’t get away with lame dialogue any longer.
Some examples of areas where the sophistication of scripts has increased are medical shows and cop shows. These include a few of the longest lasting and most well known television shows. For example, the CSI franchise is a huge hit for its network. Many doctor dramas are very popular as well – a few of them are Grey’s Anatomy, House, and Scrubs. In these dramas, medical issues overlap with the dramatic human elements of the script. In order to ensure that plot developments are realistic, a film consultant is an essential part of the creative team. The consultant can also help with dialogue that requires technical jargon.
If the spoken words in a script lack precision, a movie or tv show may be subject to bad reviews. Worse yet, it may lose viewers and go down in the ratings. Hence, it is worthwhile for a show to hire a film consultant to look at the script. Because audiences are able to judge dialogue on its realism, they will be likely to keep watching programs that have quality production values. A large audience means better ratings and more advertiser money. Only when a project has a small budget should the medical jargon in the script be left to the in-house writers. Although there is lots of information available online for most topics, it is better to have a qualified expert review the script.
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