Though I don’t know any of these skills enough to get paid to do them, I do know enough to be dangerous. I know when something’s not working, when an animation is too fast, when a font is illegible onscreen, when the text doesn’t line up or when the shot is not working. Call it intuition, sure. But I also know that there are plenty of situations that I need an outside eye to help me determine the proper diagnosis for the problem, or recognize when the job being done is not up to expectations. I call it in often.

“RENDERING” is the big joke between digital people and the non-digital people who pay them. Why is the job not ready yet? It’s “rendering”. “How long will it render?” “As much as it needs.” Why does it look that way? Bad render. Must re-render. (People love to hear that….) A producer steps in and gives context- see my earlier post on being the hub.

I was working on a online contest for a client once. We had to work with their IT department, their promotions department, not only get everyone on the same page but also make sure they were testing the content we were developing, creating the necessary lists, because we could not handle that part of it. I sent them timelines, yes, but I didn’t expect anyone to read it thoroughly. I just set reminders for myself that had me contacting them 1 week out from their deliverable, 3 days out, 1 day out, etc. By the first round of these, they got the picture: I was expecting them to deliver what was promised. I also shared some of the creative and got them to invest a little in it, even though they have a lot more than just my project on their plates. By the end of it, I didn’t even have to send the reminders, I was getting emails first, saying “hey, when are we getting the 3rd installment….we’re ready for it”.

When working on a film or a shoot, I think it’s important to meet all day players, be they just an extra filling out a scene or a PA for the day. Spending just a few moments with them talking about the project, their role in it, and sharing some of the excitement is key to nailing a shot in 5 takes as opposed to 20.

What does a producer do, anyways, Pt. 2: Be the hub.

When the scope of work is defined, the contracts signed, etc, there are a lot of players in the room (usually virtually, but you get the idea). Not everyone knows each other, most will not even interact with each other. But all will interact with you, the producer. You are involved in the deadlines, the money, the concept development, the execution, the approval process, all the way thru, and the key to that is what I call “being the hub”.

Choose your metaphor: like the spokes of a wheel connecting, or the central station, whatever, you are aware of every team’s responsibilities and deliverables, and often I find myself acting the part of the job’s team that’s not in the room, eg: Thinking like the client in the creative meeting, and vice versa, thinking like a creative in the client review, etc. Make everyone come to you for insight or inspiration on tough change requests, or the opposite, suggest recommendations on how to solve issues that come up. Interject yourself in every conversation around the project. If you are somehow not represented, make it known that you must be, because without you as the hub, nothing will be done satisfactorily. The stakeholders on the job will be happy, they can concentrate on what they like to do, or what they need in terms of the final product, and you translate/shuttle between to the two, one foot (spoke) in both camps.

Looking back on this post, it could be said, well how does this apply to purely creative tasks, like making a movie? Well, it does. You have only so many shoot days. You have to get the shot, and yes, if the DP is spending 2+ hours setting up the next shot, the producer has to step in, etc. Your “client” in this case is the overall project, which must be completed in the time allotted, or else it won’t get done. It’s the rare project that has endless time and budget, before the camera’s turned on, 80% of the decisions about the scene should have been made. I’ll leave you to your own percentages…..