What does it take to produce, from start to finish, an episode of “Madison on the Air”? And why the devil did we take on so much WORK? Oh, right, we kinda love it.
Step One: Picking a show to adapt.
It was easy at first to pick shows. I just focused on my favorites. But as we got noticed by fans of OTR, suggestions started coming our way. Now we’re still sticking with dramas and not comedies, but otherwise we’ve been expanding our options by fan recommendations. I’d never heard of “Candy Matson: YU-kon 2-8209” or really caught any episodes of “The Saint” or “The Adventures of the Thin Man.” But regardless of whether I’ve heard of the show before, I can’t recall all of the episodes to know which is a good fit for Madison. So step one, when I do choose a show to adapt, I set out listening to episodes until I find one I like. What makes it a good fit? Well, hard to really say in so many words, but definitely if there is a character who Madison could easily step into (and appears in the majority of the scenes). I’ve had her as a lot of sidekicks thus far, but now I’m also looking for characters that would give Madison more of a driving force to the plot.
Step Two: Transcribing
Okay, this isn’t one of the “fun” parts. My process to do the transcribing myself is this tedious process: Play the original show on my computer with headphones while talking into my phone with the “talk to text” app. That involves nearly line by line pausing so I don’t talk over the new dialogue while I’m reciting the other dialogue. Then I send the text file to my computer. I save it as a PDF and that allows me to copy/paste the text into my screenwriting program. Unfortunately, it loads in entirely classified as “action” so the next step is to go line by line and separate the dialogue and assign it all a character name. I do this from memory and usually am right… but sometimes I’ve lost track who was saying what. But the final step is my replaying the episode and following along in my newly formatted transcription to clean it up. I make sure the correct character has the correct lines and I fix all of the words that “talk to text” got mixed up or that I plain didn’t catch correctly the first time around. Overall, this process takes two sittings.
Step Three: Write it!
I start at the top and work my way through putting Madison into the script. It’s a great organic way to add her. Going line by line I can really live in the original script and imagine exactly how Madison might react to something or what weird personal story she’s going to relate to in that moment. I am on Google the entire time verifying pop culture references, historical references, and otherwise researching jokes. Of course, by now I’ve heard a lot of that original show’s episodes to choose the one I’m adapting, but I continue listening to episodes each night so I can really get a feel for the show’s lead/recurring characters. I want to use phrases they use and give them reactions to Madison that are still true to who they are.
Step Four: To the Cast!
As I’m writing, I’m envisioning which of my cast I want for each role. So when all of the polishing is done, I get the script out to the actors. I use Google Drive for us to share files. I also include a pronunciation guide of mostly character names or anything else unusual. It’s astonished me how I look at a proper name and feel like there is only one way to say it… and my cast will come up with pronunciations I never imagined! So I record myself saying the way I want it said for the show to keep everyone on the same page. Then the cast has three weeks with the material to record in their own homes. I give his huge lead time because we are not on a paying-basis (yet!) and I want the actors to be able to fit the recordings into their schedules while being able to prioritize their paying jobs.
Step Five: Editing!
Another tedious task, to say the least. But I look at it as an extension of writing. I ask my actors for a minimum of two takes per line (3 is great!) and I meticulously listen to each take to find the one that best serves the moment in the script. There are many “Franken-lines” where I splice together two different takes to get the one I think is just right! But, overall, this is a creative endeavor more than it is a technical endeavor. Which is why directors of films always want their own pass with the editor. Editing brings the story together.
Step Six: Audio Engineering and Music Composition
Aside from the cast recording their characters, this is the one place I am hands-off. My husband, Jeremy, is a musician. The only reason I felt like this project could be done was he had the editing software already (Logic Pro X) and more importantly, knows how to use it. So while I have chosen the takes and built the scene, including laying in the sound effects, Jeremy makes it sound pretty. He fixes levels, mic issues, background noise, all sorts of stuff. The challenge is to make everyone sound like they’re in the same room. He’s gotten more and more skilled as we’ve progressed. I will leave notes for him about the sound for his process, and then I’ll listen to his first pass and give more notes on things that might not have hit the mark. Then the final bit is his bringing all of the scenes together and creating the music. He listens to the original score from the show and finds a way to recreate the same feel of the original while allowing us to avoid copyright concerns.
Step Seven: Publishing!
There are a few steps to publishing. I build a web page for the show so I can credit the cast, I make a show-specific logo, and I build a video with title cards so I can upload it to YouTube. I also transcribe the show a final time, based on any changes that might have happened during production, so I can put that up on the show’s transcript page. There’s a one minute trailer… a lot of marketing related things. And then I sit down, the night before the 1st of the next month at 8PM PST, and upload it all.
How long?
Start to finish, the show’s full turnaround time is five months. Mind you, there are a lot of other things being balanced. While one show is being written, another is being edited, and while that one is being finalized, another is getting out to the actors for recording… And there’s the “Madison’s Mad Facts” in there, too. Let’s just say, I’m glad I have a professional background in production scheduling. Phew! There is a lot of cushion, because we aren’t doing this as our full time jobs and work/life can get in the way. But the momentum is going and I’ll hopefully keep it going because I look forward to absolutely every element of bringing this show to life.
-Chrisi (aka Madison)
