To be hurt and annoyed at being dropped by the BBC?

I've been on the BBC for a similar reason and I find this very strange.

All the clothes sorting, hair cutting, writing your own script (who even does that??) was entirely your own choice.

They normally just want people to chat naturally about the subject, which is probably what the other woman did.

Yeh sure. Why don’t you post a link to the programme for us all to see. The BBC has strict rules about things like this. I can’t see any journalist jeopardising their whole career for a short piece on local history

I've been on the BBC for a similar reason and I find this very strange.

All the clothes sorting, hair cutting, writing your own script (who even does that??) was entirely your own choice.

They normally just want people to chat naturally about the subject, which is probably what the other woman did.

It doesn't surprised me. I rarely watch the BBC these days, but switched it on a while back and partly watched a documentary presented by a blonde, Love Island person, Zara McDarmack, who had absolutely no presenting skills or presence. It was awful! Google images shows that she's quite busty and spends a great deal of her time posing in bikinis, judging by the images of her...

After the Huw Edwards scandal the BBC could benefit with being defunded of public money. It has really gone to the dogs.

Who else was supposed to write the script when it was the op providing the information?

How did the BBC have your script, if it was something you'd learnt off by heart yourself?

Yeh sure. Why don’t you post a link to the programme for us all to see. The BBC has strict rules about things like this. I can’t see any journalist jeopardising their whole career for a short piece on local history

Hmmmmmm, as someone who's done a few of these as 'academic for hire' (although I do more radio than tele - I've got a great face for radio) I think you're both reasonable and unreasonable.

You are very reasonable to be FURIOUS about them using your material. Get straight back to the producer and say you've seen the show and you wondered why your words and research were illegally appropriated. Just ask the question, don't go into any feelings. Just ask why. Put the producer on the spot. And maybe do a bit of research online (gov.uk is good) about intellectual property etc.

But all the other stuff - make up hair etc - waste of time. You can't be annoyed with the BBC because of that.

And they rarely pay. Newspapers pay, but the BBC - rare. I do it as part of my job, basically. I've had travel expenses reimbursed.

But you have to understand a bit about programme making. Producers work at speed and they are really really good at talking with the tame academic and getting the juice out of the marrow, re-framing it for a generalist audience, then feeding it back to you as questions, or suggested bits to camera. For those of us used to long slow academic/book research, it's an impossibly simplifying thing. But a good producer is so so good at getting to the nub of a thing, very quickly, using the resources of other people's knowledge along the way.

Then they make decisions about sellability and watchability. They made a crap decision from your POV, and an unethical one - go for that angle.

But think about what you want out of it - a payment? an apology? Tele is even more than newsaper tomorrow's fish & chip wrapping.

Although believe me, it's almost impossible not to sound stilted & over-rehearsed if you do that. Far better to be confident enough & knowledgeable enough to be able to speak off the cuff.

From the OP it doesn't read like she was asked to write a script rather on her own initiative she wrote suitable words that she could learn and say in the piece.

That sounds a sensible thing to do if you aren't a natural off the cuff experienced TV person

Dropped for time, content, not being strong enough etc - sure.

Having your ‘script’ (that I’ve never known anyone be asked to write - we would brief you and interview you but not ask you to write a script) given to someone else verbatim? Nope.

In reply to the PP's saying it's not possible. It is possible.

I work on tv documentaries and we sometimes go back to the same location to film pickups after we're part way through the edit. This helps us to be more targeted with the final bits of filming.

The replacement may have been a member of production, not an actor.

Yes, budgets are TIGHT, but Directors are not the most budget / schedule conscious, as much as we try to get them to be!!

That being said, I've never heard of anything like this before! But maybe the producer was plain lazy. Or maybe someone had a transcript of the original interview, passed it on, and the instruction to re-write it was forgotten.

OP may have signed a release form stating they can use the contribution in any way shape or form. But if the producers did knowingly re-use her script then they should have at least told her they were doing so, and the reasons why. They could have offered a token fee as a nice gesture if they couldn't be arsed to re-write it. And they could have added her to the 'With Thanks To' section of the end credits.