Characters with the same name

spanielkoffa

spanielkoffa

So I have two characters with the name Cocka in my series. One of them has a second name and surname Kasandra Mercedes, so I often tag her as Cocka KM. My question is - do I have to do it all the time? Obviously, I do if they appear in one scene. But if there is only one of them in a scene and I let know which Cocka it is before, do I have to write KM every time she says? Sometimes it's also very logical which Cocka it is, so I don't see a need to tag, but I guess I have to do it anyway to make the script as clear as possible...
Ps. English isn't my first language, so if there are any mistakes, I'd be grateful to know 😅
 

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Not a good reason. When I read your script I'm not interested in
"some kind of vision", I want to read a good story with compelling
characters.

I will answer your question:
Yes, you have to use the characters name all the time. If there is only
one Cocka in a scene how does the reader know which Cocka it is if
you don't write it? So every time Cocka is in a scene you will write "Cocka"
and every time Cocka KM in is a scene you will write "Cocka KM".

Even writing this it is very confusing. My advice is to not confuse the
reader for some kind of vision.
 
spanielkoffa said:
Actually no, but they have been named like this for a long time and it's some kind of the vision
Click to expand...
True story: I was at an event yesterday where two women introduced themselves using different names to the ones on their birth certificates. Why? Because they both have the same first name, which happens to be very common in France (there was a third one at the same event) and independently (and long ago), they'd decided it was too damn confusing to stick with the "vision" of their parents, so each adopted a new, less common name.

Unless the plot requires the characters to have the same name, there's no good reason to deliberately complicate matters for yourself and your audience.
 
spanielkoffa said:
Actually no, but they have been named like this for a long time and it's some kind of the vision
Click to expand...
So does it ever come up in the film as being confusing? Meaning, the characters themselves get confused and think they are talking about the other one. And this leads to some Three's Company type humor? 🤣 I mean, if not, then yeah, why is it there at all, you are just confusing the actual reader which is never good.
Confused Threes Company GIF by MOODMAN
 
Well, I mean - it could work. It's worked before! 😆

Edit: For a second language, it's good, but still a bit "Engrish" as if it were put through google translate. I can only speak one human language, so it's better that I can do. Why are the characters in the script trying to bork each other's papers?
 
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I'm a bit puzzled by this discussion......

I feel like this thread could be condensed to -

Q: Should I intentionally sabotage my own work, with no upside?

A: No
 
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