Sex up the sexting! Why text messages are the hot new boom area in TV shows
In the final episode of Ted Lasso's second season, Ted sends a text to his ex-wife that reads simply: 'Knock, knock.' Nothing too unusual about that you might think, but what is strange is that it appears to be the very first message he's ever sent the mother of his son. Stranger still, she has never previously texted him either. The blank white space above and below their messages reveals that the characters share zero messaging history.
It's a problem that used to plague TV. Why is the first message Emily in Paris has ever received from her boyfriend: 'Hey, how is Paris?' When Rebecca accidentally sends a text to her crush instead of her best friend in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, why is their history blank when we saw him text her about a housewarming party a few episodes earlier? In 2021, Wired journalist Zak Jason named a whole litany of shows in which characters don't have text histories – New Girl, Insecure, The Undoing – and argued that it was, 'inexcusable, and unnerving to witness'.
It appears that studios and streamers alike were listening. Because nowadays, television writers put a huge amount of thought into getting a character's text history right – even if it is only going to appear on screen for a matter of seconds.
In the currently airing dark comedy Your Friends & Neighbours, everyone texts regularly. When Jon Hamm's character Coop wants to meet up with his lover, we see a long history of past booty calls and even the bottom of a sexy snap. When his son texts his crush, it's apparent that she previously responded to something with the letter 'k'. Meanwhile, recently released thriller series The Stolen Girl features emoji-filled logs between spouses and colleagues: 'Grabbing lunch. Want anything?', 'I'm WFH today btw.' And Ted Lasso course-corrected in season three, showing viewers Ted's historic interactions with swathes of people, including a message to his upstairs neighbour: 'I swear to you, I'm not playing music.'
'It drives all of us crazy when there aren't text histories – it's something we've fought for years,' says Dave Henri, a managing partner of California-based graphic design firm Modern Motion, which he co-founded in 2009. The company developed Magic Phone, a piece of software that can be installed on prop devices on set. The app is paired with a Bluetooth keyboard that allows crew to trigger notifications, or the bubbles that appear when someone is typing, so an actor can tap out any old gibberish and still prompt the right message to appear on screen in real time. Magic Phone also enables productions to add text message histories with plausible time-stamps, and thanks to the realism of the software, it has been used by numerous Apple TV+ productions including The Morning Show, Shrinking and Ted Lasso.
'I think the studios and creatives have embraced the fact that we are so used to seeing these devices that, if it doesn't look right, the audience bumps against that,' says Modern Motion co-founder Chris Cundey. Or as Henri puts it: 'A lot of thought goes into it now because people are aware that fans are taking screen grabs, posting them on Reddit and dissecting everything.'
Modern Motion employee Rob Rogers worked on Ted's elaborate text history in season three; he says the graphics went through 25 to 30 iterations before they got it right. 'We met with the writers, directors and all the showrunners to figure out what Ted would have said to his mum, or what he would've said to the doctor three months ago,' Rogers says. Some graphics were even altered after the show premiered, to improve them for people streaming later on. 'If they realised a message couldn't have been sent at 10:53am for whatever reason, they wanted to fix it to make it perfect.'
A surprising amount of work goes into something that is on screen for just a brief moment. 'On just run-of-the-mill text messages, we would have 13 or 14 iterations. That comes down to thinking about what a character is named in a person's phone, what their contact image is, or whether they know each other well enough to have an image,' says Rogers. In one throwaway gag for eagle-eyed viewers, we see that Ted's mum has previously texted him to say that her internet is down, before attaching a picture of an unplugged router. 'We had like three or four different photos that they provided of that router – that's how deep we go.'
While it's fun to add Easter eggs like this, past texts can't be too distracting because then audiences will miss the 'hero text' that is being sent or received as part of the plot. Script editor Charlie Niel battled with this on The Stolen Girl. While texts that were important for the storyline were written into the script by the head writers, he filled in the message histories, which were then signed off by the writers and producers. 'The crucial, crucial thing is not pulling focus,' he says. Past texts can't be 'outlandish, attention-grabbing or long' because viewers' eyes will drift up. 'On the other hand, it's a tricky balance because I also find it distracting if the messages are too generic; if they're how no one ever speaks.'
Niel looked to his own real-life texts for inspiration. 'I would think, 'What do I text my colleagues about?' And it's stuff like, 'I'm going out for coffee, do you want one?'' Sometimes he would throw in a typo to make things realistic. But he also had to be careful not to include anything that would inadvertently affect the story or change the way we see the characters. Continuity was king – if a character gets a text on one day, it needs to be visible in their history the next day – sometimes with a few random other messages in between.
In the end, Niel wrote between 10 and 20 historic texts for each interaction, for only one or two of them to ultimately end up on screen. At one point in The Stolen Girl, a character scrolls through the DMs sent to a media outlet's social media account and Niel had to 'adopt the voice of an internet troll' to write these messages. He also had to come up with the senders' names. Because every name that appears on screen has to be signed off by the legal department – so that, for example, a journalist named Amelia Tait couldn't sue if a journalist named Amelia Tait were featured – Niel christened some of the trolls after fellow crew members.
In the end, text message histories won't make or break a show, but they are often appreciated by audiences. 'Because TV viewers are so sophisticated now, they'll notice if one little text that we say happened on 26 April contradicts something else in the script,' Niel says. Actors, too, often enjoy playing around on their phoney devices. 'Making it easy for the actors, and seeing their reaction to it, is really one of the best things,' Henri says. Apparently Harrison Ford was a fan of Magic Phone on the Shrinking set. And Cundey notes that even actors who 'hunt and peck with just two fingers' while typing can look like master hackers thanks to the software.
Nowadays, if characters' text histories are missing, viewers can be a little more confident that it just might be on purpose. 'When a typing bubble appears and goes away and appears and goes away and nothing comes, that's a modern metaphor for something unresolved,' Cundey notes – texts can communicate so much with so little. And the crew behind these messages are happy that their work is starting to get noticed. 'We are an often misunderstood or passed over vocation of the industry,' says Rogers. 'But we're also ever-growing.' Or to put it another way: ppl don't say omg atm, but iykyk.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Dominic Sessa transforms into tragic young Anthony Bourdain in biopic
Dominic Sessa has transformed into Anthony Bourdain while filming scenes for the upcoming biopic Tony earlier this week in Massachusetts. The actor, 22, could be seen stepping into the shoes of a younger version of the late celebrity chef while on the set of the A24 project in Provincetown on Thursday. Bourdain was known for starring in shows including the Travel Channel's No Reservations and CNN 's Parts Unknown before his tragic death by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61. Dominic wore a pair of black flared pants and a red button-up, which was layered with a black leather jacket, befitting of Seventies style. The actor also sported brown curly hair as he shot scenes on a ferry. Dominic was seen holding a conversation with another person while leaning against a railing as the ferry slowly moved along the water. While the official synopsis has remained under wraps, the biopic is set to follow Bourdain's summer in 1976 in Provincetown, where he had his first introduction to the restaurant industry. In April, it was revealed that Antonio Banderas has also joined the cast, although his role is not yet known. The movie will be directed by Matt Johnson, with a screenplay by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe. Bourdain began his career in the food industry while studying at Vassar College and took on jobs at seafood restaurants in Provincetown. In an interview with Boston Magazine in 2017, the TV personality reflected on his time in the seaside town. He said: 'It's a very emotional place for me. I came of age there in the early Seventies in a very magical, golden, naive time that I don't think we'll see the likes of again.' 'And I will say being in Provincetown when I was 17… it was predominantly gay, as it still is. It was a time in history of boundless optimism when we really thought anything was possible. 'I think of the people I lived with and worked with and who befriended me then… whatever value system I learned then informed what came later.' Bourdain further reflected: 'That's where it all started for me. Those were the kitchens that formed my expectations. I thought it was going to be like that forever.' And while talking to The Guardian that same year, the author talked about his first job as a dishwasher in the Massachusetts town. He said: 'I only became happy - in fact, intensely satisfied - as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Provincetown in Cape Cod, my first job.' The late star added that he had been 'a shy, goofy, awkward teenager. But in this blue collar, factory-like environment, there was no blurred line, no grey area, no philosophical question to fret over. He said: 'Dishes had to go in the washer and come out taintless and doing this swiftly and competently meant I was acknowledged as a human being by colleagues I wanted to be like. The day they promoted me to dunking fries I was overjoyed.' Anthony had also been candid about his past drug use during his youth, and he later quit heroin in the Eighties. He had told The Guardian: 'I was an unhappy soul, with a huge heroin and then crack problem. 'I hurt, disappointed and offended many, many, many people and I regret a lot. It's a shame I have to live with.' He later dropped out of university and graduated for the Culinary Institute Of America in 1978. The star notably worked as a chef in restaurants in New York City throughout the Eighties and Nineties. He had also been the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, beginning in 1998. Anthony penned a number of books during his career, including as Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly (2000), which became a New York Times bestseller. The chef had also written articles for publications such as The New Yorker - which published a popular excerpt of Kitchen Confidential before its publication - The Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and The Independent. He gained wider recognition due to his television appearances after hosting shows including Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) on the Travel Channel. The digital series Explore Parts Unknown (2017) garnered the star an Emmy win for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction Or Reality Series. Bourdain tragically died by suicide in France at the age of 61 while filming Parts Unknown.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Shahs Of Sunset star Lilly Ghalichi files for divorce from same husband for the fourth time
Lilly Ghalichi is ending her marriage to Dara Mir - again. The Shahs Of Sunset star filed for divorce from her husband for the fourth time, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. Ghalichi submitted the filing on June 20, listing June 19 as the official date of separation. has not received a response to its request for comment from Ghalichi. The couple first tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in May 2017. Since then, their relationship has been a rollercoaster. Mir initially filed for divorce in 2019, but the two reconciled. Ghalichi then filed twice in 2020 - each time later calling off the split. Now, the pair appears to be moving forward with dissolving their marriage. They are requesting joint legal and physical custody of their two children, daughter Alara and son Kashton, per the outlet. The filing also notes that a prenuptial agreement is in place. According to Bravo, Lilly began her romance with Dara in March 2016 when she was applying for a parking space in the apartment building where her future husband was a board member. 'I not only found my equal. He far surpasses anything I could ever be,' the influencer and vlogger told Bravo's The Daily Dish in 2016. 'He is a very private so many fake people. There's so many users. 'You never really know people's intentions and with him you don't even have a shred of doubt because he doesn't have these things. He doesn't care about these things.' The self-proclaimed 'Persian Princess' was previously in a decade-long on/off relationship with a Houston-based lawyer called Ali. She native rose to fame in 2012 when she put her career as a lawyer aside to become a reality star on the popular Bravo show. She appeared for two seasons. Lilly is also the entrepreneur behind the highly acclaimed Lilly Lashes worn by many A-list stars. Shahs Of Sunset debuted on March 11, 2012, and ended on August 29, 2021.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Huge popstar and reality TV favourite pulls out of gig just days before taking to the stage
POP fans have been left gutted after one huge star pulled out of a massive gig just days before she was due on stage. The singer, 22, had been due to headline at a big Pride festival but has cancelled due to a "scheduling conflict". 6 6 JoJo Siwa had been due to entertain thousands of fans at Back Lot Bash in Chicago next weekend. The Pride inclusive music festival is taking place across two days and JoJo was supposed to be headlining on Sunday June 29. But an announcement on Backlot Bash's official Instagram account today read: "Due to a scheduling conflict, JoJo Siwa will no longer be performing at Chicago's Back Lot Bash." No further information has been given by organisers and JoJo has not commented on the cancellation on her own social media accounts. In the lead up to this year's Back Lot Bash, the Bulletproof star had appeared as the main headshot on the event's promo flyers. On ticket website Do312 the festive had been billed as the '21st Annual Back Lot Bash with Jojo Siwa'. The news comes just days after Celebrity Big Brother star JoJo announced she was also postponing her American tour. The star had an 11-date run of gigs booked back home in the States in July. But during the week, JoJo - who has been practically inseparable with Chris Hughes since meeting him on CBB in April - dropped the bombshell. JoJo Siwa says she'll NEVER break up with Chris Hughes saying their relationship is 'earthquake proof' In a statement, the former Dance Moms star said: "I've got some news that breaks my heart to share... my US tour has to be postponed. "I promise I'll be back before you know it to perform for all the beautiful people in the US!... "Announcements will be coming soon, including some Europe shows!:). "Thank you so much for your understanding and support. I can't wait to see you all soon! "To my Dream Guest VIPs, my team will be reaching out to you individually to plan something special. "Refunds will be issued at point of purchase." New direction JoJo is believed to be plotting to spend more time in the UK amid her blossoming romance with former Love Island star Chris. She has also reportedly been 'dropped by Columbia Records' after they signed JoJo just one year ago. Other stars on the record label's books include Adele, Beyoncé and Harry Styles. But the dancer is no longer listed on Columbia's website, where she was previously featured. The Sun previously contacted JoJo's rep for comment following the claims about her future with the record label. In a recent interview with Hits Radio, JoJo spoke about her new music and hinted that she was going it alone. JoJo admitted she choreographed and directed the music video for her current song Bulletproof and was turning over a new leaf with "more genuine" songs. 6 6 6
