Working With Your Closed-Captioning Company


If you are not content with the communication you have with your closed-captioning company, it is time to take a look at your part in the communication.  A good captioning company will ensure that your deadlines are met, that you receive quality service, a quality product, and that all your requests are taken care of.  There is typically a catch--they can’t work miracles (although, they would love to), so they need your help.  

You can do one thing to help the successful completion of each and every one of your programs--COMMUNICATE with your captioning company! Try setting a day that the project will arrive to the captioning company on a consistent basis and a consistent day that the captioning company will deliver the closed captioning final product (tapeless or tape, et cetera). If coming up with a set schedule is difficult (I know it is not always easy in the world of post production), let them know in advance when you will be shipping your program and when you need them to deliver the CC master to its location--especially if there is a tight turnaround—-so they can schedule the best team of captioners for your particular program. When you ship your tape always include the operations manager's e-mail in the shipment notification section of FedEx, UPS, or DHL. The sooner they know it is coming, the faster they can get working. All in all, a serviceable company, will make practically any request happen.  So, make it easy on yourself and your captioning company, and communicate!