A Better Tomorrow

The other day I asked, what’s all the brouhaha about Leno? And one of you kind people out there was kind enough to answer.  

It seems that because NBC have replaced 5 hours usually reserved for scripted shows with a cheaper format, all the people who would have worked on the 5 different shows are now out of work. There are those who might point out that it means job security and consistent work for the people who do work on Leno or that relocating Conan brought more jobs to the west coast while putting East coasters out of work and that changing from scripted to reality has already pushed a whole lot of people out of work already. These are all true points but not really relevant right now.

The sad truth is that it looks as though there will be a lot less work available in broadcasting in the future, so what is going to happen to those who don’t make the cut? By rights it should be that the best workers remain in work while those who are differently able are cut out. The truth is more likely to be that those who are best connected and those who are able to turn in projects on miniscule budgets are going to make the cut while everyone else, talented and deserving or not will be pushed out.

It can be very hard to consider giving up on production but it is starting to look more and more like ‘an expensive hobby’ as unemployed television freelancers now refer to their once glittering careers. A producer I know back home who has filmed the world over twice, is now 4 months out of work with nothing on the horizon.

On the reality front, it’s not all doom and gloom. Just last night I was at a wedding between two industry people and met a producer who is still moving from job to job without a breath between them (oh how I remember those days), while her editor boyfriend goes from MTV to RDF to Granada and beyond. So people out there are still gainfully employed and PAs I hear are in hot demand. But there don’t seem to be very many jobs for reality Production Managers and Line Producers at the moment.

While reality producers are still very much in demand, the support staff is considered more of a luxury. This is evidenced by a job I saw advertised online this week for a production coordinator to pull together 7 days of filming in LA and Chicago managing both locations in person. That’s pretty much insane.  You can see already that this poor coordinator will be on location in one place, spend their entire time setting up the next shoot, arrive to the second location exhausted and work 7 straight days with no over time and what will overall amount to less than a minimum hourly wage, once the number of hours worked are factored in.

That really does seem to be the future – and the reality for some – of working in television. I am used to doubling up or tripling up on shows and know how wearing the pressure and stress of managing every little detail of up to 40 or 50 episodes or web clips at a time can be on a production manager.

That’s why I’m waiting to see what happens in the next couple of months with production. While I’d be sad to give it up, the thought of running myself into the ground covering multiple productions, without a coordinator and taking on way too much in a bid to save a couple of thousand dollars is worse. If that sounds far fetched I’ve actually experienced this, overseeing two multi episodic shows shooting across the country requiring extensive travel without a coordinator for either show not to mention overseeing post at the same time.

There was a (more sensible) time when you would have had two coordinators, two PMs and two weeks to shoot a bi-state shoot. A coordinator in each place to oversee the shoot, organize the details and be on hand to manage the PAs, keep the schedule on track, dole out the cash, collect the clearances and make sure the projects are fully permitted when the police come to pay the set a visit.

It’s very easy to over look the role of the Production Manager and coordinators but this is a false economy. Not only are we masters of logistics and research, able to source whatever the production needs at a moment’s notice usually in the middle of nowhere. We keep the projects on budget and there has never been a more pertinent time for that particular skill to be put to good use. We’re also masters of the legal minefield of broadcasting compliance, the last line of defense between a production company and a law suit.

Very recently the Alexa Chung show on MTV in the US was pulled from airing in the UK on the day of transmission from airing due to ‘clearance issues’. And every PM in the land rolled their eyes.

Fortunately I’ve been asked to teach a class on the production office to a group of young hopeful PA’s. It feels good knowing I can instill some of the basics while they’re still at the impressionable stage.

Maybe one day in the future a PM won’t have to pull a program out of the online because someone neglected to get a signed appearance release from the interviewee filmed standing next to a Star Wars poster with Nirvana playing in the background… Well a Production Manager can dream can’t they?

Good advice is rare

Can someone please explain to me the brouhaha about Jay Leno moving from 11.30 to 10pm. I understand this is a change but is programming so centered around ratings that a change in protocol incites editorial after editorial (this one included)?

In response to the recession and challenges of the job market I am moving in two different but oddly complimentary directions.

The first is a move necessitated by circumstance, towards short form projects that seem to be a bit more accessible and a refreshing change from multi part series.

After the 3 days shoot the week before last I’ve spent the last few days bidding for a promo shoot for a well known cable provider. It’s an extremely undemanding shoot – compared to working in reality anyhow – with extremely lucrative rewards and totally worth my while considering it’s a one camera one location 4 hour shoot that takes about a day or two to set up.

At the same time I’m getting into or trying to move into community oriented documentary production. It’s an area crying out for investment of time from media professionals with a conscience. And you wouldn’t believe how many organizations there are dedicated to telling local community stories and teaching young kids how to tell their own stories. It’s a satisfying but financially unrewarding field.

When I first started out and will still trying to ‘make it’ in production, an established BBC chap took pity on my begging emails for advice and offered me what turned out to be the truest piece of advice I ever got in all my time in media. He told me entertainment is financially lucrative but soulless, drama is also lucrative but challenging and slow, documentary is rewarding but not financially. He then told me to pick one and follow it.

It was good advice although I have dabbled in each of these fields and it turns out he was absolutely correct about each of them. Goodness knows what he’d say about reality (please drop off your personal life at the door).

Modern Technology

Yes I know, I missed posting my mid week rant last week but with good reason. I, The Production Manager, was working. Yes I know, working. I almost can’t believe it myself. So I finally have some valuable information to impart.

The project, as the best of them do, started with an unexpected call. In fact it was the first voicemail I heard getting off the plane from the UK. What a welcome back!

The company is based out of LA and they found my details on the internet. It’s pretty brave of them to go with someone they’ve never used before nor had recommended but they lucked out as I’m pretty good.

It was a short project and new for me in several ways, firstly it was not for broadcast or online rather it was a series of interviews for a photography exhibition, secondly it was shot in studios in New York and I haven’t had the pleasure of working in studio for some time. The biggest deal with the project was that we were shooting on technology I’ve never used before; RED One.

For those who aren’t familiar RED One it’s a tapeless camera. It’s currently the new buzz camera and will set you back somewhere in the region of about $40,000 to buy.

In some ways it’s just the same as a regular camera, you have a DOP who sits behind it and says things like, ‘That looks great Chuck’ to the gaffer and it comes in boxes and the crewing company don’t seem to feel that shipping the equipment to or from you is their responsibility.

Its biggest difference is that rather than shooting everything on a tape that is labeled, numbered and ferried to an edit suite for digitizing this camera comes with hard drives, backup drives and a guy named Keith to ensure the smooth transition of the data.

I’m not sure I really believe in this tapeless workflow. So much can go wrong and with the number of inexperienced people on productions these days in a bid to curb spending it’s a recipe for disaster. I fully expect tales of RED One lost footage woe to surface in online forums in the next 6-12 months. However it’s important not to fall behind with modern technology so I’m glad I got the opportunity to work with it.

The shoot actually turned out to be great and I came away feeling I’d done a good job, that I’d had a good time and learned something too. To be honest I can’t say I’ve felt like that on a production I’ve worked on since I don’t know when.

To compound this point, the almost job offer from the woman who was so very excited about bringing me on board never materialized. An email from me to her nudged out that someone else she knew was available and I was back of the line. By way of compensation she told me, Scripps had said good things about me, as if that’s enough to make it ok. Well, it’s always nice to know you’re well regarded out there.