Don't touch the script

Script: be careful, fragile!

The script is just a few lines or pages that appear in front of you. Before that, you'd never even seen it. But for your client, it's the result of days, even weeks or months of work, and you are the key element that will finally bring it to life. Unbeknownst to you, this script has gone through an impressive number of stages before arriving in front of you. The client's brief, the meetings, the strategic planning, the consumer research, the pre-tests, the back and forth with the creative team, the validation process... So obviously, your client has some sort of emotional attachment to the above-mentioned script.

We look, but we don't touch!

A word of advice: NEVER change it without discussing it with your customer first. Even if it seems to contain a monstrous error, even if the French mistake that has just jumped out at you seems outrageous, even if it seems to you that a small change would make it lighter... You get the idea. When you prepare your session and pre-read your script, if you have any doubts, speak to your client about it (diplomatically, of course - "What's this rag?" doesn't go down too well). There's a good chance that these are mistakes that have escaped everyone before you for many and varied reasons... but there may also be reasons for these blunders that you don't know about.

And perhaps the script has gone through an extremely complicated approval process and any changes will have to go up this complex ladder, and then back down again, which will put the production company in timing difficulties, whereas recorded errors would trigger faster changes...

In short, comment, but never change anything without talking about it first. Trying to do things right could cost you a customer. On the other hand, your comments and suggestions will show that you're professional, attentive and ready to go the extra mile - and that's always well received!

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