Every year, production companies spend millions of dollars developing shows for film and television. Those projects can be heavily funded by advertisers and major networks, all who have a reputation to protect. Ill-informed casting decisions and highly-publicized scandals can threaten everything you’ve worked so hard for. At the very least, a dangerous or dishonest contestant can produce a hectic PR scramble, dismissal of contestants and a rush to find last-minute replacements. Worst case: violence, lawsuits and the loss of major revenue.
Many of these situations can be prevented with comprehensive and thorough background checks. We are a leader in this industry and have worked with networks and production companies on hundreds of shows. Prior to starting Collective Intelligence our owner worked in the industry for a decade, so we understand production needs from your point of view: budgeting, casting, coordinating, filming and meeting deadlines. Save the drama for the show and let us help you make the most successful talent and crew choices.
Here is an overview of some of the searches we conduct:
This is the first step in identifying false information provided on a job application. From these searches we verify that the social security number was actually assigned to the Subject, the state of issuance, as well as other names the Subject has used and a complete address history.
Once we have established the counties that a Subject has resided in, we can then conduct a seven-year criminal history search using their name, date of birth and social security number. We search for all felonies and misdemeanors in each county of residence. Results include case number, violation date, filing date, charges, plea and disposition. This search also produces any active warrants that an applicant may have. We suggest that criminal searches be done in all names that are discovered for an applicant. Mary Jones-Smith may not have a record under Mary Smith, but under her maiden name possess one or more criminal convictions.
Civil searches can include such information as workplace harassments, negligence, breach of contract, evictions, restraining orders, personal injury lawsuits, divorces, etc., and combined with criminal searches, are a valuable way to ascertain the character of an individual. Results include case number, filing date, type and location of case, all plaintiffs and defendants and judgments (if any) or pending court dates.
The Nationwide Criminal Database Search is a comprehensive database search that provides criminal information from 40 states and 49 state sex-offender registry. This search may provide criminal records for counties other than those produced from a Social Security Trace and offers you same day access to the largest criminal database available with millions of offense records. It is a valuable information resource that may discover convictions in counties not identified in a Social Security Trace or Credit History Report if the subject never lived in the county. Records from states are indexed from state correctional institutions, sexual offender and violent offender lists, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) and some state and county court records.
The jurisdictions included in this search are as follows:
- Alaska Courts
- Arkansas Courts
- Arizona Courts
- Arizona Corrections
- California Court Index
- Connecticut Courts
- Connecticut Corrections
- Connecticut Traffic Court
- District of Columbia Corrections
- Florida Courts
- Florida Broward County
- Florida Corrections
- Florida Palm Beach County
- Florida Pinellas County
- Florida Suwannee County
- Foreign Nationals
- Georgia Corrections
- Iowa Corrections
- Idaho Corrections
- Illinois Corrections
- Indiana Corrections
- Kansas Corrections
- Kentucky Corrections
- Maine Corrections
- Michigan Corrections
- Minnesota Courts
- Minnesota Corrections
- Missouri Corrections
- Mississippi Corrections
- Montana Corrections
- North Carolina Corrections
- Nebraska Corrections
- New Jersey Courts
- New Jersey Archived Corrections
- New Jersey Corrections
- Nevada Corrections
- New York Corrections
- Ohio Corrections
- Oklahoma Corrections
- Oregon Corrections
- Rhode Island Courts
- South Carolina Corrections
- Tennessee Courts
- Tennessee Corrections
- Tennessee Supplemental Courts
- Texas Courts
- Utah Courts
- Utah Corrections
- Virginia Courts
- Virginia Fairfax County Circuit Court
- Virginia Traffic
- Washington CLJ Courts
- Washington Corrections
- Washington SUP Courts
- Wisconsin Courts
- Wisconsin Corrections
- Sex Offenders Multi-State:
- Includes all states but NV
A county criminal search is generally the most accurate way to determine felony and misdemeanor history in the counties where the subject has resided, in addition to active warrant information. Statewide searches, available in 45 states, can provide additional case information not available at the county level and provides more comprehensive results when added to county level searches. Specific statewide pricing and coverage is available upon request.
Federal Courts (U.S. District Courts) have jurisdiction over cases where the parties are from different states and are disputing $75,000 or more, as well as offenses that cover more than one state, such as drug smuggling, customs violations, interstate firearms violations, etc. It is conceivable that a person that is not a career criminal could have no record in a county or state court, but have a record in a U.S. District Court. This should be considered when ordering criminal and civil checks. Turnaround time is 4 hours.
Per Megan’s Law, sexual offenders must register when they move. There are currently more than 664,731 registered sex offenders nationwide. Sexual offender registry searches are statewide searches of registered sex offender databases. This search is recommended when applicants are working with children or other people at risk. A signed release is required for certain states.
We conduct an extensive nationwide and local media/press coverage search for articles related to your applicant in LexisNexis, IMDB, myspace and Google. This can uncover both positive and negative group affiliations, negative press, additional criminal history and other potentially harmful information about your applicants.
This search reports on foreign nationals (individuals and entities) that the U.S. government currently has sanctions against; whose property may be blocked; who is restricted from exporting by the U.S. Department of Commerce; and whom no U.S. person may have dealings with. Individuals on the list include known terrorists and international narcotics traffickers. This search contains information from the following sources:
- Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
- Bank of England Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions
- Bureau of Industry and Security
- OSFI Terrorism Financing
- DTC Debarred parties
- European Union Consolidated List
- FBI Hijack Suspects
- FBI Most Wanted
- FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
- FBI Seeking Information
- FBI Top Ten Most Wanted
- HKMA
- Interpol Most Wanted
- United Nations Consolidated List
- Terrorist Exclusion List
- Unauthorized Banks
- MAS
- Non-cooperative Countries and Territories
- Non-proliferation
- OFAC Sanctions Programs and Countries
- OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals & Blocked Persons
- Politically Exposed Persons
- Primary Money Laundering Concern (PMLC)
- World Bank Debarred Parties
Driver’s histories can provide several useful pieces of information. It first can provide a description of the person, in the case of someone using improper identification. It can also provide information on criminal matters outside of the applicant’s county of residence(s) such as DUI’s. It will also provide information on failures to appear, which reflects on an applicant’s attentiveness to personal business.
This search can produce records of defaults, tax liens and judgments at the county, state and federal level.
Approximately one-third of all applicants falsify information on their employment applications. Our specialists will verify dates of employment, position, salary, duties performed and eligibility for rehire and return results to you generally within 24 hours. Please note that non-responsive employers can delay these results.
Verification of education/license information is important to some employers who require a specific level of education/degree or license. Some employers also use this as a tool to assess the honesty/dishonesty of an applicant. Results typically include dates of attendance, degree obtained, major or program and GPA.
Through our alliance with LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, we are able to offer our clients a nationwide network of over 10,000 laboratory collection sites (including Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) for our clients’ convenience. We offer 5, 10, 11 and 12-Panel Urine Screens, DOT Compliance, Hair Testing and Breath Alcohol Testing.
We also offer free Medical Review Officer (MRO) services for all positive test results. A certified MRO will discuss the results with the applicants and inquire about any possible medications that might lead to a false positive result.
We can conduct searches at the county and state level to uncover fictitious business names, corporations and identities as well as individuals affiliated with these companies.