I've been writing a six part TV drama and have finally finished the first draft. My MC is a young artist called Lottie Cole.
Out of curiosity, I have just googled the name "Lottie Cole" and up popped an artist with that name and a similar age. Urgh!
I could ask the real Lottie Cole to change her name, but apparently she's quite established, so I don't like to. Lesson learnt.
Has anyone else had this problem?
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I google every single character name that pops in my head before it ever hits the page. I'd say about 40% of the time, the name I've come up with is already an established athlete, or business person, or politician. Usually, I just keep altering the surname until I find something that has very few notable results.
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Yes, it happened to me and after the occurrence, I now check and double-check my names and titles before making it an official book or script title.
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I don't think it's an issue - in the UK there's a soap opera called Coronation Street - one of the male characters a few years back was called Joe McIntyre which was the same name as an American singer and nothing was ever said...I guess you could put at the beginning that someone calls her Charlotte and she says that she's known as Lottie - that sort of thing ?
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in television land, there is actually a job to clear character names, locations, props, merchandise, legal stuff before production.
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I agree with Dan M. In the movie making business the producer is responsible for getting clearances not the screenwriter.
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Thank you for asking this question. It can be a problem: a really big one. My main character of evil is Paul Carter and the story is true............ apparently there was a film released in late 2020 using similar, - very similar story line and the "fictitious" antagonist of the same name. My lawyer just filed suit. So yes we should do due diligence. As Dan MaxXx said, it's someone's job to clear names and over sight can sting
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Look into John Rambo, as in the Sylvester Stallone franchise. I'm pretty sure there are clear cut established legal precedence that you can't copywrite a name however; you also can't steal a persons "likeness". Would anyone reading/watching confuse the two Lotties?
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Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll just call her Meghan Markle and be done with it!
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It happened to me as well...damn, don't make me name my characters Dxxrtbz or Kkrtzzhjh...:)))