Animals and Small Children

Almost forgot to add my two cents this week. Here in New York it’s like everything closes down for summer, unless you’re on production of course, which I blissfully am not.                                                   

Although I have roped myself into helping out a friend on a show that needs urgent transcription, this is not something I would ever usually do. In fact I’ve been successfully able to avoid logging as we call it for most of my career, however a friend in need and all that.

So I’m logging tapes of an international house buying show and watching these rushes it is amazing, utterly fascinating to see how different directors work.

The first couple of shows I did were the work of the series producer and I was utterly impressed, particularly having worked with him previously, at how skilled he is at getting people to say what he needs. You can damn near hear him editing the show in his head as they speak. He’s also wonderful at making the people feel comfortable and knowing when to let them talk and when to push them in a new direction. It was almost a pleasure to do those tapes.

However I got roped into doing ‘just one more show’ and of course this one is the polar opposite. I almost lost my lunch watching the director attempt to interview a young boy, about 5 or 6 who visible shrank into himself under the weight of the camera pointed at him and with open ended questions like; what do you think it will be like when you live in X?

Anyone who knows kids knows unequivocally that open ended questions are not the way to go. Better questions would have been;  do you like it better here or there? Anything with only two choices for the answer. Of course you can’t do one word answers which leads me onto the horror that was trying to explain the ‘say the question in the answer’ rule. I have to say that’s one of the first times I’ve really objected to anything I’ve seen anyone do on camera for a show I’ve contributed to. Interviewing a child to get a soundbite and putting them clearly under undue stress is pretty questionable. But not as damn questionable as having me transcribe it for them!

In case you’re interested, the only soundbite they’re likely to get from that one is ‘baguette’.

Next week: A look into the dangers of working with animals

It’s not what you know….

Another week down and I’m still working on development. Made a couple of steps forward finally, by engaging an ex colleague in the treatment and teaser. In fact this guy was head of development so it’s a clear case of who you know….                                                                   

He feels as I do that this idea has some substance to it (I keep wanting to say that it has legs but as it involves an amputee, I just can’t dammit) but more importantly he can pave the way to a direct line to an appropriate network, which is really just awesome.

But, this is the Production Managers blog not the development producer’s blog so today I’m going to write a little about networking. There are two reasons that this has come up recently, for one I am heading back to London for a visit soon and am using the time to network my ass off, more about that later. More relevantly I, as someone who once offered employment, often get calls, emails and texts from people looking for work.

This ranges from a direct text message, such as the one I received today which read:

Hi, this is xxxxxx xxxxx I worked with you on [name of show] and I was wondering if you knew of anyone in need of a PA.

To a faux friend / networking acquaintance who gets in touch when they’re looking:

IM: Still not found any work, getting so bored L

To the spec email:

Hi,

Cold Calling gives me the chills but I thought I’d send you my resume because I’ve just graduated from film school and am pretty sure I should be working already. I’m ready to direct because I took Directing 101 but I’m also willing to take any role like Producer, Cinematographer or PA. Here’s a link to my website www.iwanttheworldandiwantitnow.com.

Call me!

Xxx xxxx

Now it’s true I never actually received one quite like the last one but I do get plenty that are just like that and the cold calling part IS from a real email. In that instance I did what I always do when I receive an unsolicited email that is neither directed towards me nor particularly relevant. I replied.

My reply usually goes along the lines of…

Dear X,

Can I offer you some advice? If you’re planning to send unsolicited emails to people who you hope will employ you, you should really take the time to address it directly to them rather than to send one email to everyone on your list. This makes you look very lazy and doesn’t feel very personal for the person receiving it.

Best of luck

The Production Manager

I also usually ask them where they got my details. This separates those who don’t know any better from those who couldn’t give a shit. Those who reply and reply specifically to me get their resume read. Those who don’t are on my blacklist. It’s as simple as that people.

I’m not a big fan of the fishing friendships but they are a necessary evil as you never know when you’ll need someone in a pinch.

My advice is: if you’re trying to keep your name out there, drop people you know a line every once in a while to see if there’s work available and maybe let the person know what you’ve been up to work wise.  I wouldn’t advise cold emailing or cold calling people unless a) you’re amazing at it and have a strong success rate or b) you know someone in common and refer to them in your communications.

However in these desperate times (yes I said it, there’s a cold wind blowing through the media employment world these day and there’s no point denying it), sometimes you need to network. Sometimes you may wish to contact people you think would love to employ you if only they knew who you were because you’ve exhausted every other avenue. There are ways to do that if you’re considered with what you say. Always be polite, be brief and explain how you come to be writing to them.

As an example, I recently made a very good contact on LinkedIn using the following:

Hi there X,

I apologize for sending you an unsolicited email, I notice through LinkedIn that we have a couple of people in common and as you’re Head of Production, I was hoping to be able to send you my resume as I have excellent skills in the following areas……

…Best regards

The Production Manager

This email alone very nearly got me a job (scheduling conflicts prevailed). But it goes to show that networking, done right, can have an impact while networking done badly can have an adverse affect.

 

Now onto networking in London; I’ll be off in a couple of weeks and I’ll do my best to report from there what the cold media front looks like and hopefully be able to send back some optimism for a brighter time ahead. I’ve been reaching out to people I have worked with in the past to set up informal chats usually over drinks, where I will discuss with them what kind of jobs they do over in the states in the hope to get some of that work brought locally. Hopefully when they are next shooting over in the US I’ll be able to handle their project locally and I’ll finally be in a position to start offering work again. So brush up on your networking skills and remember a little goes a long way

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks…

When I first found out I was going to be ‘The Production Manager’ I was sat in a hotel room devising daily schedules for the Rachel Zoe Project’s Fashion week shoot wondering to myself how on earth I was going to find the time for these weekly postings amid the 6 days weeks and 18 hour days.                                      

 

Thanks to the economy and stubbornness on the part of the US TV industry to actual give a hard working all rounder a chance, this has not been a problem I’ve actually had to deal with. Aside from a few pesky weeks on an abysmal MTV reality show that I hope won’t see the light of day, work has been very, very sparing this year, leaving me lots of time to pass on pearls of wisdom.

It’s hard not to feel a little like an imposter writing as The Production Manager while I’m not really managing any productions officially. I am as I’ve mentioned previously working on some development for a reality show, advising small outfits on budgets and pre production and working on a few bits and pieces of my own but I’m not balls to the wall busy, which is a definite pre requisite for Production Managing.

What I am doing with my spare time is learning as much as I can about the creative side, developing, producing, writing so when I find a good production to work on I’m able to offer a lot more than creative number crunching. Every other person I meet is a videographer who writes, shoots and edits their own stuff on their little identi-kit Macintosh computers, loading them on youtube and becoming local legends. I have to admit, it’s making me feel a little inadequate.

The one thing I do have over those people is a relationship with the networks, an understanding of what goes into making a series or a one of special aired to an audience of millions (and occasionally to audiences of 5000, I’m sorry to report) and the knowledge of how to do it right.

I’m trying to put this knowledge to good use and have recently begun working on a film making workshop for kids in the local area. This week we worked out how to break down their movie trailer into segments so we could think about what scenes we could film and then we had the children storyboard their opening shot, we taught them about establishing shots and close ups.  I’d like to tell you it’s rewarding but mainly the kids are bored when they’re not being creative – how very ironic. But it’s nice to know that they are at least aware that there is a planning process involved with film making.

Now, if I only we could teach this to the film schoolers and other creative folk my life would be so much easier.

 

 

 

 

Creative Vs Production

It’s funny how those of us who work on the production side of things are always led to feel that we’re just not part of the ‘creative’ process. There is this massive misconception that all production does is book cabs and order lunches; if only it were that easy!

It’s certainly true that particularly in the reality side of things there are certain skills and techniques one learns from working up the creative side such as writing a decent script, knowing what will look good on camera and how to edit in your mind while filming. However it’s also possible (and becoming increasingly common) for people to work on the creative side and still have no more idea how to shoot a coherent  episode than a chimp. More than once I have heard people tell me that they’re making art and don’t want to be bogged down with details such as clearance forms. To which I reply “Dude, if you’re looking to make art, you’re in the wrong fucking business”.

And I stand by that, who would call Paris Hilton’s My New BFF ‘art’? Probably the same people who marvel at a life size replica of a horse about to mount a filly on a roulette table complete with disturbingly realistic 3ft hard on (fucking hipsters).

There is a point to all of this and that is I’m now back to developing the observational reality series I’d been waiting to receive a teaser tape for. This finally came and I was really pleased to discover that all those years of working with television professionals – yes there are some still out there – had really paid off. I was able to see instantly not only what worked and what didn’t but more importantly why, which goes a long way to persuading the creator of the masterpiece to make these essential changes.

It’s actually a really great show with a whole lot of potential to be entertaining and interesting and I must admit I’ve been a little discouraged of late as I keep hearing advice that chills me to my bones. “How can we market it to kids?” Ewwwww that kind of talk just makes me balk, as a thirty something independent thinker of medium education and decent intelligence I’m starting to wonder whether anything is every going to be marketed to my demographic, outside of Daily Show, Stephen Colbert and all the subscription based programming I can’t afford. The few reality shows I enjoyed are starting to lose their appeal and there is a teeny tiny reprieve with the news that MTV have finally done away with these reality obsessed marketing creative executives who turned the station that we are grew up loving into some kind of McDonalds inspired child catching demographic focused mess that we have today.

With the formation of their new comedy development department, maybe we’ll finally get back to some seriously good programs that are just universally  good rather than brand specific

 

N.B Excuse the lack of focus to the piece this week, I’m halfway from recovering from the flu and know not what I say

 

Is it worth it?

Finally a reprieve!

After what seems like a horrendously difficult year so far, things finally feel as though they are getting back to normal, death of Michael Jackson aside of course.                                                     

 

I’m now in the running for not one but two good jobs at reputable companies which is quite a relief. It’s not often I turn to the teacher training pamphlets but I came dangerously close this time.

A lot of people I’ve been speaking to are asking similar questions of themselves, the question we freelancers don’t like to entertain; is it really worth it?

Now, you may be one of those lucky people who has a wonderful career, you’re never out of work, you get paid well and are never exploited, your craft and hard work are respected and you enjoy every day of your job. I hate to break the news to you but if this is the case, you’re in a very small percentile of people who work in our industry.

I doubt there is a person reading this who hasn’t suffered a 20 hour day followed by another 20 hour day or who has worked their butt off sacrificing weddings, births, reunions for work only to be cursed out by a co-worker who have themselves made the error they blame you for.

Sure, the pay is (usually) good and we all often laugh at how this sure beats working for a living. But when I tell people the nitty gritty of the work I do, the hours, dedication, the sheer volume of work I have to contend with they are often understandably shocked and most likely secretly glad they don’t work in television or film for a living.

But now that work is becoming scarcer and if possible people are being even more exploited (shorter schedules, less staff, impossible budgets), it’s perfectly viable to ask whether it really is worth it. For the most part my colleagues have no job security, no sick pay or overtime and the idea of a 401K is laughable. Sure there are unions and freelancers union are going a long way towards providing benefits but it just doesn’t provide the same job security.

With this in mind it is certainly understandable that people are questioning how to make it work. I mentioned a few weeks ago about having temping as a back up and that certainly is an option. But for a lot of people who have families and mortgages to pay the need for a steady paycheck is a priority and trying to work out what skills are transferrable from a career in television can be pretty tricky. Even harder is convincing people from other industries that you’re serious about making the move.

Hopefully next week I’ll have good news to share and be able to provide inside scoops from one of the two jobs I’m gunning for, if not next week will read: Film industry Bloggers, The English Teacher.