Case Study: Miss Scarlet and the Duke
By The ImageApprovals Team ·
“I have to say I don’t know what we would have done without you! Your attention to detail and organizational skills helped to streamline the approvals process greatly and certainly made it much less painful for us and our cast!”
— Patty Ishimoto, Producer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Key Project Wins
- Untangling over 20,000 stills in disarray into an organised format that meant images could be found and identified quickly by the post-production team and distributors.
- Using call sheet data, we grouped and labelled images by episode — ensuring everything aligned with production and editorial workflows.
- We curated the full image set into a focused, manageable selection for cast review, removing unneeded shots whilst preserving range and choice for approvals.
- All cast approvals were completed within 20 days of us receiving the files, keeping the process efficient and avoiding delays during a critical delivery window.
Their Pain
With over 20,000 images shot across 31 days of photography submitted to production in a disorganised way, full of duplicates and confusing file names, the production team had no idea where to start — not only in untangling the mess, but in getting them approved in a way that didn’t leave them vulnerable to breaching actor contracts due to errors.
They knew the actors would not want to review all 20,000 images, so they needed to select only the best, usable images to present for approval. With stills submitted by photographers on a day-by-day basis, they also needed to identify which episode each image was from and organise them accordingly.
How We Helped
1. Identifying Episodes
After receiving their hard drive, we created a working duplicate and used the production call sheets to identify which episode each image belonged to.
2. Image Renaming
We organised everything into episode folders and renamed the images so that each file contained unique, descriptive information — making it easy for post-production and distributors to find exactly what they needed.
3. Curation
Our expert image editors curated the full set down to a more manageable number for cast review. The production opted for a mid-level edit: removal of duplicates, blinks, false expressions and technically poor images — bringing the total count for approval to approximately 6,000 images.
4. Logins
We created accounts for each cast member and supplied Welcome Packs for production to forward on. These packs contained each cast member’s unique login information and a quick user guide, so production did not have to field support requests throughout the process.
5. Additional Account
We also provided an account for the movie’s producer, so she could oversee cast progress without needing to chase each actor or their representatives directly.
6. Image Delivery
Once approvals were complete, we returned the production’s stills drive with everything organised into Killed, Approved, and Approved Selects folders. We also supplied download links for all approved images grouped by episode, ready for easy distribution.
Timeline
The Season 3 approval cycle ran on a tight schedule across a single month of February:
- 8th February — Original images received
- 14th February — All images organised and online, ready for cast to approve
- 28th February — All cast had completed their approvals
Twenty days from receipt to completion. The ImageApprovals platform makes that kind of turnaround possible by giving each cast member a private, easy-to-use login — no email chains, no spreadsheets.
Long-Term Collaboration
Since that first season, we have worked with the Miss Scarlet and the Duke production team on three subsequent seasons. Ongoing work has included:
- Auditing thousands of image files
- Organising stills into episodes, portraits and behind-the-scenes categories
- Tagging cast members quickly and accurately
- Batch editing and brightening low-light scenes
- Captioning key shots and embedding metadata
Across the Seasons
Over all four seasons together, the numbers tell the story:
| Metric | Total |
|---|---|
| Images handled | Over 41,000 |
| Stills curated out | Over 28,000 |
| Cast approval rate | At least 80% |
| Coverage | More than 86 days |
Do you have a cast with stills approvals rights? We can handle the organisation, curation, and approvals workflow from end to end — contact us for a no-obligation quote or learn more about how ImageApprovals works.