Classic filler text reads like something you might find in a typical newspaper but is vague enough not to contradict anything the writers have written so far or might want to write for later installments.
They are classic paragraphs that have been used in multiple TV and movie productions. The newspaper has a headline, maybe a byline, a photo and usually a lead paragraph that is relevant to the story.
But after that, it's all some combination of filler paragraphs, like these two:
In fact, the quoted paragraphs come from an article in a prop newspaper by Earl Hays, whose company, the Earl Hays Press,
has been providing Hollywood productions with many other printed props, like Stage Money and fake books, in addition to the fake newspapers, for roughly a century now.
Any filler text can be considered classic filler text if it has appeared in several different productions that are perhaps related only in using the same prop provider. See also Prop Recycling. May overlap with Freeze-Frame Bonus.
This plays into The Law of Conservation of Detail, by not loading more story detail onto a newspaper than is necessary.
Examples
Films — Live Action
- Back to the Future Part II:
- Hill Valley Telegraph, March 16, 1973. The top front page headline reads in almost all-caps "George McFly Murdered" with a subhead "Local Author Shot Dead". After an on-topic paragraph about how the author's wallet was missing and his known activism against BiffCo, there's a paragraph about a new court center that is not mentioned in the dialogue of any of the Back to the Future movies. That paragraph, however, appears in several other movie newspapers, and it is followed by various other classic filler paragraphs. Other stories on the same page have specific headlines that head up filler text only.
- USA Today recreated a fictional 2015 front page. The recreation contains no classic filler text. Every story is fully written and specific to the world the movie's set in, such as "3 injured when mom re-hydrates pizza slices".
- Dead Again: Several newspaper pages establish that Roman Strauss (Kenneth Branagh) is a celebrity. In each page, the first two or three paragraphs are on topic, but the rest are filler, making heavy use of the "common recognition" and "public hearing" paragraphs quoted above.
- Men in Black 3: A newspaper from June 16, 1969 has a front page story with a photo of Buzz Aldrin before he went on the Apollo 11 mission. The headline and subhead are on topic, but every paragraph of the article is filler, starting with the "future plans" paragraph, followed by "preliminary investigation," "unanimous agreement," etc.
- In Raising Arizona, a newspaper article about the "Arizona Quints" starts with a paragraph about the babies' release from the hospital. The rest of the article consists of paragraphs such as "Many persons feel at this stage that some legal action is forthcoming", the "common recognition" and "public hearing" paragraphs quoted above, etc.
- Silence of the Lambs: A newspaper with the headline "New Horrors in "Cannibal Trial"" has two on-topic paragraphs, followed by the "unanimous agreement" and "common recognition" paragraphs.
Live Action TV
- Quite consistently averted on Person of Interest. Finch frequently pulls up newspaper articles on his computer, and even though these flash by rather quickly, the producers still put in the effort to write articles that read as authentic. Since these are generally about the Mystery of the Week, there isn't much worry that these articles could cause continuity problems later on.
- The Pretender: In several episodes, like "Risque Business," Jarod reads newspaper articles about the person he's going to help in the episode. Often the newspapers appear only long enough for us to read the headlines, but sometimes we can also read the first two or three paragraphs, and catch a snippet of the "common recognition" paragraph and others.
- In 'Wild Child', Jarod helps a young girl thought to have been born in the wild. On a newspaper Jarod looks at, under the headline "Doctor arrested for abuse of missing girl," you can read the "Of no less importance" and "At this conference" paragraphs.
- Star Trek, "The City on the Edge of Forever": Right after "Edith Keeler, social worker from 21st Street Mission was killed today," the "public hearings" paragraph.
- Wonder Woman (1975) "The New, Original Wonder Woman": The headline "Major Steve Trevor Dies in Crash" heads up an article with one on-topic paragraph followed by the "legal action forthcoming" and "public hearings" paragraphs.
