We’re the »history-meets-storytelling« service that helps actors, filmmakers, screenwriters & authors understand the past.
Need to get unstuck?
Oh hey, you’ve found a page with a secret offer I am currently testing. It’s not open to the public.
So… While researching your chosen time period or location, or while building a character — could you need a second pair of eyes? And an additional brain? (OK, I must admit: this sounded so much better in my head…)
But here’s the thing. We could probably get you unstuck during a short, concise conversation. I am a historian with 20 years of experience in writing fiction. Plotting stories, pitching stories, creating protagonists for stories, and finding plotholes in stories is what I do.
✨✨✨ I can help you audit what you have, and create a research plan for you (that you can execute yourself).
✨✨ I could help you understand the time, the setting or the person you want to write about, or play.
✨ I could help you develop an authentic historical character.
If this sounds good to you, then book a video call with me. 👇
Sample questions you and I could work on
- Strategy! Next steps for your research: Get a 30-day or 60-day plan.
- Audit of what you’ve researched so far, what to concentrate on (and what to leave out!).
Or we could work on this.
- General background information about the situation during a narrow time period, for example 1840s, 1920s, WW2.
- First steps in character development for one (1) character.
- Let’s solve 1–2 of your plot problems.
- Initial ideas to find your ideal setting.
- First ideas for travelling on location.
Other occasions where this is helpful
- You feel that you need to talk things through with an unbiased, knowledgeable expert who also understands your creative process.
- You just want to solve this tricky plot problem (so that you can get back to work as soon as possible!).
- You want to get to know me (hi, I am Dr. Barbara) before committing to a longer collaboration.
What this is not
❌ We can’t solve gigantic problems in an hour. This is just for a narrowly defined area.
❌ We can’t talk about multiple protagonists.
❌ We can’t research an entire setting.
✔ I am fast — but often, a longer time frame promises better results. Check this out.
How is this different from our other services, you ask?
✔ You. Me. On a virtual call for an hour. Ask me questions! It’s a conversation.
✔ I will conduct research for 3 hours before or after the call.
✔ Actively influence the way I research by guiding me in the direction you want me to go.
✔ See how I live-research on our shared screen. Get instant results.
✔ Get actionable tasks that you can execute yourself at a later date.
✔ Receive book recommendation, names, dates, image databases, URLs…
✔ Leave with a list of helpful resources.
Who will you be meeting with?
With our founder, Dr. Barbara. A historian by training, she has a set of extraordinary skills that support her history expertise — including lightning-fast comprehension, photographic (eidetic) memory, a highly developed biographical memory, speed-reading and German thoroughness. Publishing expert Jane Friedman wrote about her: »If you write historical novels and need help finding the best resources, here’s your woman.«
Barbara has consulted on over 130 historical novels, biographies, screenplays, scripts and film projects. With a Master’s degree in History and Archaeology, a doctorate in History and more than 15 years’ experience as a historical consultant, she is regularly called upon by clients in the publishing and film industries.
She founded The Research Ruckus to help actors, directors, agents, producers and writers immerse themselves in authentic, unpublished historical material. She believes that only by truly understanding who your historical character was, — how they lived, what they enjoyed, and what daily conflicts or struggles they may have faced, — only then you can write about them, or play them. And once you have immersed yourself fully?
Then make it your own.
»Oh, it was a riot with you! Thank you a thousand times for everything: for your ideas, your input and all the useful information. Sometimes I even had the feeling that you had been reading my mind.«
— K.P.
Dr Barbara is not only a knowledgeable historian, but she also understands plot and character development. We didn’t feel that we were talking to an academic, but that she was speaking our language. It made the entire process easier.
— E.W.
I’m an American screenwriter and creative producer who wanted to write about Germany during the Nazi era. Barbara was able to explain even the most complex 1940s events, procedures and regulations to me in a very clear way.
— S.
How much time do you need to invest?
Simply fill out the questionnaire before we meet. This will take around 15 mins. Our video call is 1 hr or a bit longer.
Is this confidential?
Yes, all calls and conversations are kept confidential.
Drucilla Strain, a Ziegfeld girl, by Alfred Cheney Johnston, ca. 1929 by trialsanderrors is licensed under CC BY 2.0 // Ziegfeld Girl by ky_olsen is licensed under CC BY 2.0 // Ziegfeld Model by Alfred Cheney Johnston by ky_olsen is licensed under CC BY 2.0