Creating efficiency through automation of end credits for ITV's daily soap

End credits, also known as closing credits, are an essential part of any TV or film production, recognising individuals and organisations for the role in making the production possible. In 2024, ITV Studios approached Marquis regarding an opportunity to develop a solution to aid in the production and management of end credits for their long-standing soap, Coronation Street. The key idea was to create efficiencies - in time, resources, accuracy and cost - for their end credits production process.

The existing solution

All the names and job roles for the credits are gathered by the clearance team from each area of production via email, call sheets or script pages. These are combined into a single document that is then reformatted to take out spaces, realigning text and setting fonts. This is then converted into another format that can be imported into the edit application by an editor, who will import this into a titling tool, where various templates will be used to create the relevant media. These white titles on a black background are then added to the sequence in the correct order. Each one is known as a Card'.

The primary issues in the existing workflow included:

When the information has been gathered, there follows a number of manual steps to create the correct format that the titling software will accept.

There is a risk that information added through the chain may be incorrect or may contain errors.

These end credits needed to be created in the edit suite for each episode, adding time and cost.

The request

ITV Studios wanted a replacement process, allowing for the use of a single reference database that can be administered by users from each department containing the details on all job roles and their associated names. This data source can then be used by a new desktop tool that will allow the cards to be created with roles and names added in a defined layout and format.

The solution will be browser-based and built around Google Chrome and Google Sheets and accessible by multiple departmental users. The output from this tool should be a single AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) for the rendered sequence of cards, which automatically applies the required duration for the credits. This AAF can then be used in their editing system of choice.

The result

After months of development, testing and training in conjunction with the ITV Studios post-production team, the fully-automated end credits solution has been adopted in production by Coronation Street, realising significant operational and business benefits. Further enhancements are being considered that will further optimise the workflow.

Coronation Street produces over 300 episodes a year, with each episode requiring a unique set of end credits, explains David Williams, Head of Post Production, Coronation St. for ITV Studios. With over 1000 people - including cast, crew and support staff - who contribute to making the show, the credit creation process was time-consuming, expensive and open to errors.

I approached Marquis with the aim of simplifying the credit creation process, making it more efficient and creating credits without the use of specialist hardware. Not only would the application need to be simple to operate but it would also need to adhere to the ITV branding and DPP requirements.

Following initial meetings, Marquis was confident it could create a web-based application that would move the function of creating the credits away from the edit suite and into the admin office, whilst ensuring all technical elements were correct.

With a number of months in design and development, the Marquis team has created an application that fits perfectly with our brief, adds Williams. The credits can now be created remotely using domestic technology whilst still maintaining the technical requirements for broadcast.

It's been a pleasure working with the Marquis team, with special thanks to Simon Fearn and Graham Carson who have been very patient in developing the application around a busy production environment. We expect to roll the application out across other areas of ITV in the very near future.

LINK:	https://marquisbroadcast.com/component/k2/item/96-itv-end-credits...
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