Part One: Freelancing

Freelancing is a great deal…when you’re getting regular work. For starters you tend to get paid extremely well, you make A LOT of contacts in the industry and you have a lot of freedom to pick and choose the jobs you want to do.  But there is a negative side to it too. So after a year that’s left a lot of people aching for some form of job security, I could be considered crazy for turning down a permanent position complete with vacation and health benefits.

But that is exactly what I did last week. I took a gamble; trading in the chance to get a consistent wage, a set of people I would work with day in and day out, job security, the chance to grow with the job in favor of a shaky recovery, unstable finances and not knowing what I would be working on next, nor when nor who with.

Somehow though it seemed a lot more of a gamble to take a permanent job – it would be coordinating crews and shoots for an international company in case you were wondering – than it would to continue to navigate my way through the muddy waters of networking, interviews and uncertainty but where I would be my own boss and the opportunity for that elusive perfect job that we all get from time to time can forever be the carrot just around the corner that keeps me on this wild journey.

Because amazing jobs do come along and one of the very best parts about being freelance is that despite all the setbacks, disappointments and hustling you have to do, every time the phone rings or an email lands in your in box, it just may be offering the experience of a lifetime.

Post, reality and advertising

To coincide with my production hiatus I decided to give myself a blogging hiatus too. But the network have said our show MUST be delivered before the end of the year so I’m back to onlining the pilot, scheduling delivery and waiting with bated breath to see whether the series will be picked up.

It’s very recently been said to me that our industry is actually devolving and I’m inclined to agree. The show I’m working on at the moment, for example, is staffed at over 50% by very recent NYU graduates. Now I have absolutely nothing against graduates, it just doesn’t take a genius to follow the logic that without prior experience these kids won’t know what to do? They are extremely bright and well meaning but there is a marked difference between a post producer who has led an edit and someone whose experience is in a classroom or class projects without time constraints their financial implications.

A case in point, I popped in the other day for a scheduling meeting and in the edit there were 6 people sat around the director producing by committee. I’ve really never seen anything like it outside of a Network screening. I surely know the necessity of finessing a cut, particularly of a pilot but the idea of having 3 kids who have never worked on a show before saying things like, I think it looks weird, can we try it with another beat boggles the mind. Being the ardent professional that I am I pointed out their clock missed out a number, suggested they don’t accidentally cover someone’s face with a graphic and hot footed it out of there. I know when too many cooks spoil the broth.

In other news, there was finally some movement on our hip hop reality show. Unfortunately the direction was down the toilet as our talent proved to be entirely reluctant to cooperate with filming requests. Fortunately I have been approached about another and much better devised show that I see doing extremely well on Oxygen or Soapnet. The experience with the hip hop reality hell did serve one purpose though. I’ve become exceedingly better at shaping a show to be sold.

And finally, I have a serious problem with people who aren’t supporting their own industry. The other day I was at an industry event where we were discussing shows we are getting into these days (Breaking Bad, Damages, Heroes) when it became apparent that very few of these people were paying to view these shows, they were downloading them illegally from the net instead of using the multitude of legal options available; cable, on demand, hulu, Netflix, network websites.

One woman even said her husband refused to pay for cable since he could download everything they wanted for free. I pointed out that since they both worked in the industry wasn’t it in their best interest to pay $30 a month for something that contributes in the long term to their livelihoods?

If we can’t even be bothered to pay for television either with our money or our time then how to we expect the industry to survive, let alone thrive? Television costs money and it needs to come from somewhere if we expect to continue to watch the good quality programming we all enjoy. Sure there’s a lot of shit on there too but that’s another story. We’ve all experienced what the impact of smaller budgets has been. Imagine them shrinking further because advertisers don’t want to pay as much because of a shrinking audience, or move their entire operations into product placement.

Everything has consequences, even illegal downloads so please take a moment to think about the impact of your actions and whether saving that minute of your time of a hulu advert is really worth the cost to our industry and your career. Thank you – lecture over…. for now

Who’d be a Television Director?

 

I’ve just got back from a documentary storytelling class that I’m taking at a local community media company and I’m sure you’re wondering what that has to do with production management, particularly in television.

After all doesn’t a production manager just fiddle with schedules and budgets? Well yes this is indeed true, I’ve often tried extremely hard to keep out of the creative side of the shows that I work on. When I first, first got interested in production in my teens I was dead set on directing. And of course in reality, when I came to get into production as a career I discovered that everyone else wanted to direct too. So in order to just make a living doing what I do, I relied on my strongest skills, organization and a good head for business.

And this served me pretty well. I got to work on all sorts of shows because I wasn’t responsible for their content, in fact I was responsible for everything but. As time went on I began to get secretly pleased I wasn’t directing some of the shows I worked on because the larger scale reality seemed to have too many people meddling in the creative, while on other docs I realized that there were real ethical compromises involved with drawing out the real story to make it ‘entertaining’.

But recently I started to get more involved with the creative side in documentary film making, which seems to me like such a different beast. I’ve been AP-ing and learning Final Cut, DV Production and Interview Techniques. All of which seemed so unrelated to the work I do in television. But suddenly with this class deconstructing documentary the link between what I’m learning and what I do for a living is becoming so clear. And more importantly I’m starting to see where it can take me.

While the others in my class are using what they learn to further their own independent documentary making I’m seeing how structures, story and technique can be applied to the show we’re making. It’s part expository and part verite as we follow people at work and the drama is creating by putting what they’re doing against the clock. Easy!

I’m hoping that with this class and by taking a more active interest in how the team are editing I could potentially love into Supervising Producer role, something not usually associated in my field as a natural progression. In my experience Supervising Producers who come from the Creative side are terrible when it comes to compliance and other jolly marvelous things that are boring but can bring down a company or production. Or alternatively they are from Production Management and have so little idea of the creative side that they stand back, way back, and risk letting the creative get tied up in knots costing a fortunate in the edit.

It’s a sad thing that so many people seem to learn their craft on the job or in film school. What about television production school where you learn what it means to actually do the job in real terms under time constraints, budget restrictions and to networks? Do they teach that out there and if not, why not? Just think of all the super people there’d be making television the old fashion way, fun and efficiently. Now that’s a nice thought isn’t it?

 

Post

 

I’ve recently started working on the post production of a couple of pilots for The History Channel. I was brought in as I often am, as a pinch hitter to see the shows through to delivery.                                               

Ironically this was actually a job I interviewed for over the summer but they went with a different PM and Supervising Producer. It really reinforces to me in stark clarity how people use titles to boost their wage bracket without actually having the skills required for the position.

In this particular show there is an obscene amount of footage shot without any consent and worse, in NYC tunnels, Police Officers and Customers Inspectors. I simply cannot get over how many so called producers have absolutely no idea about editorial compliance. The idea of shoot it now and worry about it later is clearly the motto of those who have no experience in post. (One email exchange between Coord and PM included – I’m sick of this post shit – as they tried to establish shooting formats with the network). What worries me is that the people who worked on these shows are people who I know, with experience in the same shows and companies as me. The mind boggles really how they manage to get so far with only half the skills they need to get their job done.

It is however a lovely challenge for me, which I’m definitely rising to. I’ve managed to cut the post deal of the century with the makers of 30 Rock no less (yes I went with them for the hope of a glimpse of Tina Fey). I’ve developed an excellent workable schedule, which sees us delivering the day before Thanksgiving; a full week before air date. I’ve got a team of APs and Interns clearing archive at the rate of knots and I believe they’re actually beginning to understand that just because something is in the script doesn’t mean it can’t be changed.

It’s nice to be working again, particularly after such a difficult six months. I can only hope it continues to go well, there are a lot of graphic elements, aspect rations and resolutions to be checked and verified before the week is out.

 

 

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)

 

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.

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