After having sometime to think about our situation with finding a purpose within our show, and potentially having to cut some characters, I have come to my own decision, which I have shared with the others.
Personally, I really like the idea of David & Jackie's children not seeing or contacting their parents and not letting their children have any contact either, due to their age and they aren't deemed as 'cool'. I think this will make for some really quite emotional touching scenes, which will be quite the contrast to the majority of the comedy, happy scenes the audience will see. Even though I love the grandchildren characters, I think it's best that they aren't major characters, as it makes the show more effective and creates an underlying emotion for both the characters and the audience.
Both Nisserin & Laura agreed with this, so we have decided that our characters purpose will be striving for fame and youth in order to have contact with their family. We have decided, however, not to get rid of those characters completely as we might want them within the season finale episode.
Since we have the purpose of the show, we found it a little easier creating an actual name for the show. Originally we came up with 'David & Jackie' which were the characters names, but we wanted it to change as it wasn't catchy enough and it didn't really portray our show in a unique way. We heard the suggestion of '60 going on 40', and we wanted something along those lines. Someone then came up with the phrase 'Young and Famous' and we all loved it. It basically does what it says - Jackie wants to be young, David wants to be famous, and this is now clear through the title.
After deciding on the title of the show, we moved onto character names. We had some starting names for everyone but we weren't 100% sure on all of them. We researched some names that were popular in certain years to help us gravitate our name choosing in the right time era.
Main Characters
To start our search of names for our two main characters, we knew we wanted names that suited well together and had a nice ring. We thought David & Jackie had a really nice ring to it, and it was memorable, so this is something we wanted to stay with our characters. With help from online websites we found names that were popular in the years that both characters were born, and we picked some out. We then put some together in a couple and discussed which ones we thought worked well together, and which ones we didn't like.
The final name couple that we really loved, and have stuck with, is Dean & Annie - or Annie & Dean (both have a good sound).
These names both suit our characters well, and they are both memorable together as a couple. They're also short and snappy which makes it easier to remember and recognise with just one glance.
We have decided to keep the little old lady neighbour's name as Betty, because we really love it. It's short and sweet, which is basically everything that Betty's character is. It's also a very old name, and it's quite common for ladies in the older generation to be known as Betty or something similar.
Round Characters
Our round characters are the other two couples that are Annie & Dean's neighbours. We used the same process, in which we found lists of names that were popular within the years they were born and chose the ones we liked.
The young couple: Claire and Ben.
We thought these names were simple, short and common names that young adults these days would have. They really suit our characters and they are easily recognisable names.
The middle-aged couple: David & Jackie.
Our original main characters had these names, but we had asked the actual couple that inspired us about using their names for the main couple, and they weren't too keen. We changed the main couples names, but we wanted to keep these names within the series somewhere. Hence, why we have called these neighbours David & Jackie.
Minor Characters
Our minor characters are people that aren't necessarily in every episode and also don't have much part within the story line. They have some part within the story, but it's not that big and also they aren't seen or mentioned too much.
The middle-aged couple's son: Jacob.
We had a lot of thought about this name, as we wanted something that was a little different but also, it had to fit his character. This name suits him well, it's sweet, short, and is a mix of common and un-common, which is what we were going for.
The children: Brian & Marie.
These names, we thought, went really well with 'Annie & Dean', and they also match the characters personality. They aren't overly common but they also aren't not known, and we thought that Annie and Dean would pick names that were in between common and uncommon.
The grandchildren: Lewis, Violet & Alexander.
Lewis is Brian's only son and he's a typical teen that likes to be inventive. We thought his name really matched his character and it also matched Brian's character. It's a name that Brian would choose to call his son, and it suits his son well.
Violet is Marie's daughter and she is a typical preteen girly girl. Marie is a creative person who is quite wealthy, and we thought she would choose to give her daughter an uncommon name that is quite quirky and stylish. The name we have chosen really matches her personality and goes really well with her mum's name.
Alexander is Marie's step-son and is a very posh, well spoken, funny but in the jokey sense, boy. His name matches his posh personality, and it portrays him as a smart, wealthy, well bought up little boy. We thought his Dad would be from France or a posh area, so we are really happy with the name we have come up with for him.
We are really happy with the names we have come up with for all of the characters. They might still change, but right now we are very confident with all the names. We think they all match their personalities and they are all recognisable, which is something we thought was really important. We want all our characters to be remembered and we think their names will be a big factor in that.