A rose by any other name…

Last week I met an unprecedented number of producers. True I was at an event sponsored by the Producers Guild of America (of which I am a member) but really!                                                                  

 

As I mentioned last week, I met several people who introduced themselves as producers who clearly know nothing more about the role of producer than that it is an important title.  And following on from this in my DV camera class I met another actor turned producer and in my Final Cut Pro class a film student calling himself a producer and an utter twat that is bound to be calling himself an executive producer before too long. No doubt asking hard working professionals to work for free so he can create his masterpiece, an utterly self indulgent vanity piece.

Does that sound harsh? Well good it should, I’ve seen far too many upstarts come in and flood the industry promising the world and delivering nothing. This would be all fine and dandy but it has an impact on the rest of us in several ways. Firstly it muddies the water allowing far more people to be taken onto projects at a vastly reduced rate and woefully under skilled in exchange for a favorable credit. This in turn brings the overall quality down by flooding the market with under qualified by credited people who make huge errors due to their inexperience and compromise those who have worked hard to obtain their title of producer through hard work and the experience that is essential for them to do their job well.

For the record the Producers Guild of America has a breakdown of title and the responsibilities that come with those titles.

In case you’re wondering why a Production Manager is a member of the PGA, I’m part of the AP Council of Assistant Producers, Production Managers and Coordinators. However as a sometimes Line Producer managing budgets and delivery shows I’d fall into that category too. Happy reading!

 

 

DISCLAIMER THIS IS TAKEN FROM THE PRODUCERSGUILD WEBSITE – IF YOU WOULD LIKE IT REMOVED PLEASE CONTACT ME.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

1. The credit of Executive Producer is to be granted to the individual whose only reporting responsibility is to the entities financing and distributing the series.
2. Subject to the control of the Owner (see Rules of Arbitration, section I.B), the Executive Producer has final responsibility for the creative and business aspects of the production of the series, with direct participation in making decisions concerning a majority of the producing functions.

CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

1. The Co-Executive Producer reports directly and immediately to the Executive Producer, from whom the Co-Executive Producer assumes direct supervisory responsibilities for above and below the line operations.
2. The credit of Co-Executive Producer is granted solely at the discretion of the Executive Producer (previous producing credits are not required).
3. The credit of Co-Executive Producer shall apply only to primary creative contributors to the series that qualify under one of three categories:
   1. If performing services as a writer on the series, the contributor also must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a preponderance of the producing functions listed in PCOC Section 3; OR
   2. If performing services as a director on the series, the contributor also must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a preponderance of the producing functions listed in PCOC Section 3; OR
   3. If performing “Produced By” services on the series, and so long as no other person receives the “Produced By” credit on the series, the contributor must perform, in a decision-making capacity, a majority of the producing functions described in PCOC Section 3.

SUPERVISING PRODUCER

1. The Supervising Producer reports directly to the Exec. Producer and/or Co-Exec. Producer.
2. The credit of Supervising Producer is granted solely at the discretion of the Exec. Producer.
3. The credit of Supervising Producer shall apply only to primary creative contributors to the series that perform, in a decision-making capacity, a substantial number of producing functions.
4. The credit of Supervising Producer only shall apply to primary creative contributors to the series that qualify under one of three categories:
   1. Having received the credit of Writer-Producer for no less than two full seasons of this or other series episodes that have been nationally telecast; OR
   2. Having received the credit of Producer or “Produced By” for no less than two full seasons of this or other series episodes that have been nationally telecast; OR
   3. As a director who has responsibility for supervising all episodic directors on the series.

PRODUCED BY or LINE PRODUCER

1. The individual receiving the Produced By credit reports directly and immediately to the Executive Producer.
2. There never shall be more than one Produced By credit on any episode of a series.
3. The individual receiving the Produced By credit has the primary responsibility for the logistics of the production of the series, from pre-production through delivery of each episode; all Department Heads report directly to the Produced By.
4. If the individual who performs the Produced By functions is granted the title of Co-Executive Producer, there shall be no Produced By credit afforded on the series.

 

5.      PRODUCTION PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR/MANAGER1. The Production Supervisor/Manager reports directly to the person performing the Produced By functions.2. The Production Supervisor/Manager is responsible for the coordination and oversight of the production units assigned to him/her by the Produced By, including all off-set logistics, day-to-day production implementation, locations, facilities, equipment, budget, schedules and personnel.

 

PRODUCER, CO-PRODUCER or SHOW PRODUCER

6.      1. The Producer, Co-Producer, or Show Producer reports directly to the Executive Producer or Supervising Producer.

7.      2. The Producer, Co-Producer or Show Producer is responsible for the preparation and production of a single complete episode of a series.

 

8.      SEGMENT or FIELD PRODUCER

9.      1. A Segment or Field Producer reports directly to the Executive Producer or Supervising Producer.

10.  2. A Segment or Field Producer is responsible for producing one or more individual segments of a multi-segment production, also containing individual segments produced by others.

 

11.  ASSOCIATE PRODUCER*

12.  1. Reports directly to the Producer, Co-Producer, Show Producer, Segment Producer or Field Producer.

13.  2. An Associate Producer is responsible for assisting the Producer, Show Producer, Segment Producer or Field Producer by performing those producing functions assigned to them. This does not include positions whose primary function is research or talent booking.

14.  * May also be given the title of Associate Segment Producer or Associate Field Producer.

 

15.  PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

16.  1. The Production Coordinator reports directly to the Executive Producer, the individual receiving the Produced By credit, and/or the Production Manager or Co-Producer.

17.  2. The Production Coordinator interacts with various studio and production departments concerning any and all logistics of production and is responsible for facilitating production requirements including, but not limited to, equipment contracts, purchase orders, film inventory, insurance, day player contracts, crew deal memos, travel and shipping, call sheets, production reports, cast and crew lists, and compliance with various union report requirements.

 

 

Something to believe it

I’m going to write this quickly before I go to bed. I know you guys deserve better but this is an oddly busy week!

I’ve just come from a super shmoozy event – the PGA (producers Guild of America) East in conjunction with the Mayor’s office held an event sponsored by HSBC in midtown and all the hoi polloi were there. From models turned producer to… actors turned producer, sorry I jest (but I did meet both these people tonight).

I also met a lot of other people in the industry including publicists, other line producers, financiers, exec producers who I worked with in the past and everyone in between.

To be honest, it was a fairly nice event with people I knew and people I didn’t know and I think I’ve finally found a way to come to terms with my lack of work status. It probably helped that I met a lot of other people who had up until recently had thriving careers.

I chose to take a friend to this event because I always like to share the free cocktail and canapés with the people who are the most fun, not to mention people who can benefit from meeting fellow production folk. In this instance I took a senior producer from a facilities company I know and not only did she make great contacts, she also won an iPod touch in a raffle. Technically I own ten percent of that device so I got a couple of pictures taken with it by the Chrysler building and we’re quits J

What made today a really enjoyable day is I taught a class at the Mayor’s Office Made in New York PA Program. The class was on the production office and I’m hoping I was able to impart valuable and useful information. But more than that it reminded me what I love about working production, before the cynicism and the blame gaming and scapegoating – the enthusiasm is what drove us all to get into TV, to stay in TV when the chips are down and ultimately what I believe will bring me back to TV.

Having time off from the grind has given me a chance to give something back to the production community and giving something to the production community has in turn given something back to me…hope for the future.

I hope I can inspire you out there to think about what you can give back because I’ll bet you have a lot more to offer than you can begin to imagine.

Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 3*

Hot on the heels of last week’s news of Leno stealing our jobs and the general gloomy outlook for production jobs, comes a ray of sunshine on the horizon in the form of the fall schedule.

Packed full of entertaining, well made shows the networks have stepped back from the brink to deliver shows that are not only smart but also really, really good. This pleases me not only as a TV watching shlub but also as someone who works in TV production, or did until the jobs ran out.

Now sure, the economy blows right now and it’s finally hit me that we are in a bit of a disaster zone when it comes to making ends meet on a network, production company and freelancer level. But seeing a bunch of excellent new shows  grace our screen gives me a bit of optimism that maybe something good will come out of all of this. If this is the quality of programming that comes post writers strike, I have very high hopes for fall season 2010.

What also gives me reason to be cheerful is that of these shows that are new to air, there isn’t a single inane reality show among them. Hurrah! Sure that may mean less work for the likes of me, but it’s a small price to pay to be able to work in an industry you’re actually proud of.

As for me, I’m sitting out the recession doing a little of this and a little of that. Since I’m a PM extraordinaire specializing in factual programming I was born learning how to stretch a dollar to its farthest reach. After years of putting off my own interests and career development to coordinate or manage production after production with often only a weekend between projects (and sometime not even that!), I finally get a little me time. I’m trying to use the time wisely, but getting round to learn all these new fangled technologies that are not only here to stay but are likely to shape TV in the future now that everyone and their uncle can shoot cut and upload their own footage.

In exchange for helping out on some underfunded but incredibly worthy documentaries, I’m getting some serious training and access to digital resources. I start my Final Cut pro course this weekend and I am super psyched about it. Considering the last time I hands on edited was on a tape to tape linear editing machine from SVHS footage, this should be interesting to say the least. I used to love editing and hope that I enjoy it as much now as I did at college.

It feels good to be getting a new set of skills under my belt, particularly with the future so uncertain. You really never can know too much nor have too many skills to offer, although I was pretty gobsmacked to read a posting on craigslist from a ‘highly successful executive producer’ who was freelancing on the side offering networking tips to people looking for work into TV.

If you’re looking to break into TV I’ve got a little advice for you and it’s free: COME BACK NEXT YEAR!

*Please don’t ask me where Parts 1 and 2 are (google it)