Production Management

Production Management; it’s one of my specialties. I’ve worked for ESPN as a production manager, I have managed news and political programming, live events, pet projects, press junkets, and often end up helping to manage productions even when I’m serving in a different capacity on a shoot.

I like the work, there is an element of trouble shooting that comes with production management. It’s like solving a puzzle, but the puzzle is never the same. Everything depends on production size, budget, type, talent, the number of variables is endless. When you work a live event, literally anything can happen. I’ve had “the house” forget to give production control of power, I’ve seen Iowa bungle counting in the form of the 2020 Caucus, I’ve had a gospel choir making a walk on entrance into a football stadium based on a cue from a man who never reads a script the same way twice, racers fall down, blizzards prevent crews from getting to their next assignment, flooding prevents the building of event stages until the last possible minute, and the FAA gets heavily involved with drone cameras. At the end of the day working with people, finding solutions, and getting a show on air all depends on being able to roll with the punches and think on your feet.

This all leads me to my current project. I know all the best practices of how to set up a production but it never fails that when I am working on a pet project I go through 10 different iterations of workflow before I find my groove. Maybe this is because I’m not beholden to a set of rules by my employer, maybe it’s because I work in a solo capacity or much smaller crew when I’m working on my own projects but it’s always a bit of an adventure figuring out and perfecting the art of getting it done.

I’m on the 5th iteration right now of “getting it done” for my Family Recipe project. It is of course all subject to change drastically once we are out of quarantine, but I think I’ve finally found a basic solution as I head into shooting episode 6. We’ll see how it works out, but for now half the fun is in the puzzle.

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