There isn’t a production company in the world that doesn’t need extra hands.  Especially when you’re coming down the home stretch of pre production. With last minute script changes, location permits, meals on set to arrange, props, wardrobe, set construction and the like – the final days before actual production can feel like your head is stuck in the spin cycle of a washing machine.  Your budget is tight and as a producer you’re not going to even think about going over budget when you haven’t yet shot one minute of footage.  Interns to the rescue.  However, I’ve found that there are some production companies and producers who not only don’t understand the benefits of an intern but the responsibility that comes with hiring one.  If you’re just using your interns to take out the garbage, or file paperwork, then you’re doing both of you a disservice.

When I work with interns I make sure I give them some one-on-one time and the benefit of my years of production experience.

1.     Never, never let an intern sit idly.  Yes, it’s tempting, with the pace of production, it can have the apparency that it is easier to do it yourself than to take the time to teach a ‘newbie’ to do it.   In fact, it takes more time for you to continually do a task that is so far out of your job description, than it does to just spend the initial 30 or 45 minutes to give the data to an intern.  So, take the time, give them a little bit about the business and let them get on with it.  They’ll surprise you.  And if they perform the task and it’s not quite right – don’t accept it.  Don’t assume the viewpoint that you might as well do it yourself. That is so not the point. Thank them for their effort, point out what was right about it, and then tell them what needs to be changed and why.

2.    Take time each week to teach your intern something they don’t know.  Even if they’re not ready to do that particular job.  Give them something to look forward to, or something they can work on during their own time.  For example, show them how to research, give them a list of all the vendors you use, and have them check out their websites so they’ll know in the future who you order your lights from, where props can be rented, who are the food services people you use, etc.  Let them get familiar so if they do happen to be the only person back in the production office while you’re on a shoot or in the edit session, they’ll be able to help you out without too much preamble.  Seriously, who has time for preamble when you’re on location?

3.     Put your intern in a centrally located spot in the production office.  Stuffing him or her to the outer Siberia of your office will teach them nothing.  Put them in the middle of the fray where they’ll be able to hear and experience everything.  They’re working for free- if you can’t give them money then show them the love- put them in the middle of what’s happening.

4.    Once your intern has proven s/he has the staying power, include them in meetings, invite them to outside office functions and they’ll feel like they’re part of team.  Morale will be boosted and we all now, boosted morale equals increased production.

5.    Give them different things to do.  If you’ve got a ton of transcriptions from tapes you’ve shot – don’t give them ALL to the intern.  It’s tempting; after all they’re a warm body. But if you take the internship seriously, you’ll want to help develop a well rounded production person who can crawl they’re way up the ranks like the rest of us.  Give them a sense of all areas of production.  Not just typing up transcriptions and answering phones.  Have them log tapes, type up production schedules so they can see the logistics and maneuverings that go into creating a production schedule, have them create crew call sheets and then go over it with them.

There’s lots more an intern can and will do – but it’s up to you as the producer to take time out of your hectic schedule each day to give them some guidance and show them the love.  And on a final note, there can never be too much of “what goes around comes around,” – remember we all had to start somewhere.  Make their first experience a good one.

Apparently, while perched on top of a 10-story building in Los Angeles, contestants will race against a clock to answer trivia questions  in an effort to win MAJOR prizes and $1 million dollars in cash. Doesn’t sound too difficult, except for the ‘perched’ part, I’m not sure what that means, but I suspect it’s not laying back in a cozy leather recliner sipping champagne from gold flutes.  But, here’s the ‘fun’ part, while contestants are trying to answer the trivia questions, the life-size prizes and cash move along on a gigantic conveyor belt.  The players must answer all their questions before the prizes and cash run off the conveyor belt, falling off the building and smashing to pieces 100 feet below.  If the cash or prizes fall to the ground, the player is eliminated.

Have you seen the brilliantly written, prophetic movie by Paddy Chayefsky called Network?  I wrote an earlier post about it.  Well, Mr. Chayefsky clearly had a crystal ball, because this game could have been in his movie.  I don’t mean to be serious, but… there are starving people in the world and television networks are producing shows with major prizes, perhaps even a washer and dryer, being thrown off a roof?  Are you for real?  Haven’t touring musicians been arrested for this type of behavior?  Sheesh.   That’s the word for it.  Sheesh.

What’s the dumbest game/reality show you’ve seen lately?

The Biggest Loser put the bull’s eye on the back of obesity in America.  While millions of people watch the show, I think there are far too many of them lying back on their couches shoveling handfuls of cheese popcorn into their mouths and throwing back a few beers all the while cheering their favorite to lose 100 pounds.  If you look through the window of any fast food restaurant in the nation – it’s not typically the slim and trim set staring back at you.  It’s usually the people whose body mass index is wacked out of proportion.  So it seems appropriate that reality TV would reflect a reality that needs attention and a change.

Jamie Oliver has created a show and a movement with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.  Produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions, well known British chef, Jamie Oliver tackles schools and their idea of what consists of the basic food groups.  We’ve sunk pretty low, when schools consider french fries a vegetable – I’m just saying.

The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels, has a new series premiering this Tuesday.  She’ll temporarily move in with families and attempt to get them to live healthier lifestyles in Losing it with Jillian.  I believe they’ll either lose weight or lose their minds.

In August, The Style Network tackles the issue with a new docu-series, Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back from Daisybeck Productions. The series will highlight the emotional journey of four obese teens and one pre-teen who attend a weight-loss boarding school in North Carolina.

Obesity wasn’t a problem on the frontier.  If you wanted to eat butter you had to churn it (great upper body strengthening), if you wanted steak, you had to ‘hunt’ it before you threw it on the grill.  And bread, was a whole ‘nother matter.  You had to grow and harvest the wheat (back breaking work) before you could even think about turning into dough.   People worked hard, they didn’t eat preservatives and candy was a luxury.  We’ve become complacent, and we’ve become excessive.  Seriously, it’s time for a reality check when it comes to thinking MacDonald’s or Taco Bell can be anything close to a nourishing low calorie meal.  I’m happy to see that producers are creating shows that tackle tough issues and hopefully prompt a change.

Having been through six months of licensing deals with that production – I developed a keen ear whenever I watched a show featuring lots of music.  In the back of my mind I would think, “Oh those poor bastards at the production company, their heads must be spinning around like the exorcist child trying to make deals for the music.”

I had those same thoughts when I saw the TV show GLEE.  The FOX hit about a group of misfit high school Glee Club singers.    Each week the show features at least four songs.  I’ve come to discover that the show producers and Sony Music made a deal.  When the execs at Sony Music saw the pilot they jumped at the chance to partner with GLEE. And that was a very, very smart move.  The songs from the show have already generated over 200 million iTune downloads and the number grows weekly.  Can you hear the ‘cha-ching’ at the music publishing company?  A gold mind is being created and the show is giving re-birth to songs that were no longer bringing in the big bucks.

I don’t think many music publishers, labels or recording artists thought much about GLEE when it premiered – but Sony Music was insightful enough to see that this show had legs and would be advantageous to their publishing division.  When the show featured Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” the track went gold with over 500,000 digital sales.  Those sales figures are attracting attention and there are now many musical artists offering their songs, including Brittany Spears – all with the hopes of cashing in on the phenomenon that is GLEE.

UNDERCOVERS : From executive producer J.J. Abrams  (Alias, LOST, Star Trek).  This one hour drama features a seemingly typical married couple who own a small catering company in Los Angeles.  However, secretly the duo are two retired CIA spies.  When fellow spy and friend goes missing they are reinstated.  “Undercovers” has been described as a mix between “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “The Bourne Identity.”

THE EVENT: An emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker, an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée Leila, and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.

THE CAPE: An honest cop on a corrupt police force finds himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead.  He is forced into hiding, leaving behind his wife and son.  Fueled by a desire to reunite with his family and to battle the criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City, he becomes “The Cape”, his son’s favorite comic book superhero and takes the law into his own hands.

CHASE: From executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer (”CSI” franchise, “The Amazing Race,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” films)  U.S. Marshal Annie Frost, a cowboy boot-wearing deputy whose sharp mind and unique Texas upbringing help her track down violent criminals on the run.

OUTLAW: Cyrus Garza is a U.S. Supreme Court justice who abruptly quits.  Garza had always adhered to a strict interpretation of the law until he realized the system he believed in was flawed.  Now that he’s quit the bench and returned to private practice, he’s determined to represent “the little guy” and use his inside knowledge of the justice system and take on today’s biggest legal cases – and he’s making plenty of powerful people unhappy along the way.

LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES – Does this need any explanation? Although the original Law & Order filmed in NYC has been canceled after 451 shows, NBC picked up the show in a different location.

It appears that NBC is banking on criminals and those that bring them to justice.  Admittedly there are a few I’m looking forward to.  I’ll certainly tune into, J.J. Abrams’ “Undercovers”.  I was a huge fan of  “Alias” and I’m currently on pins and needles with LOST.

I’m also looking forward to seeing what Jimmy Smits does with his role in “Outlaw”.  I loved him in the last season of “The West Wing” – and the story line has that David and Goliath feel that usually attracts me.

These new scripted dramas will replace the cancellation of Heroes, Mercy, Trauma and Flash Forward.  Only time will tell if this new lineup will revert their recent down trend.

Do any of these shows appeal to you?  Are there any they’ve canceled you’ll miss?

THE PLAYERS

Ben Silverman
Producer and Television Executive
Founded Reveille Studios in 2002 and produced such hits as The Office, Ugly Betty and The Tudors.

In 2007 he became Co-chairman of NBC Entertainment.  In 2009 NBC chose not to renew his contract.  I’m guessing the network was disappointed with the ratings under his helm and expected to see the kind of genius he displayed at Reveille. The reason for his departure from NBC matters little, because Ben Silverman landed on his feet- as most smart, savvy, eye-for-talent network executives do.

Barry Diller
Media Executive
Does he need any other introduction?  He was Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Chairman and CEO of Fox, Inc. and CEO of USA Broadcasting.  He’s now Chairman and CEO of IAC InterActiveCorp, an internet company with over 50 brands including Ask.com, The Daily Beast, Evite, Excite, Match.com and others.

Elisabeth Murdoch
Chairman and CEO of Shine Entertainment
Shine is one of the largest British television production companies with a string of hits such as, The Biggest Loser, Masterchef goes Large and Gladiator.

THE SET UP
Elisabeth Murdoch knows media, and her company Shine Entertainment not only produces mega hits, but has created franchises for those mega hits across multiple platforms.  At a recent NATPE conference (National Association of Programming and Television Executives) she firmly stated that television executives needed to stop whining and get on board with the new entertainment model.

“We in the television business have to catch up with what our audience is doing.  Social networks are a tool with which we can tell our stories. And like moving pictures was to radio, you can decide not to embrace social media, but I predict that before the end of this decade to do so would be akin to resisting Technicolor.”

NEW GAME/NEW ALLIANCES
In July of this year, Ben Silverman landed on his feet by forming Electus, a television and digital media Production Company with Barry Diller’s IAC/InteractiveCorp.

Electus then teamed up with MTV to develop and produce the first-ever multicultural, interactive telenovela titled Pedro & Maria.  This is a modern-day Romeo & Juliet where viewers will have the opportunity to vote and decide the direction, characters and story lines.  The show will run across the web and television, while being networked into Twitter and Facebook to further allow audience interaction with the series’ direction.

America Ferrera from Ugly Betty fame, will executive produce the series with her production company, Take Fountain.  And Procter & Gamble Productions, with its long history of producing soap operas, will also have a hand in the production. (Can’t wait to see the credit roll on this one.)

GETTING IT OUT THERE
It’s not enough to be on TV, the web and social media. Distribution is the next logical step both financially, and in creating a programming franchise.  That’s why Electus and Elisabeth Murdoch’s company, The Shine Group announced a distribution deal for all of Electus’ programming.

SCORE CARD

Are you with me so far?

• Ben Silverman, Ex Co-chairman NBC, teams up with Media Mogul Barry Diller and creates Electus.
• Electus teams up with MTV
• Electus and MTV team up with America Ferrera
• America Ferrera teams ups with Proctor & Gamble Productions
• Electus teams up with The Shine Group to distribute the programming worldwide

In other words, there’s a lot of muscle behind this machine.

MY THOUGHTS
Many individuals and companies are already producing interactive series and programming for the web, but on paper, and in press releases, Pedro & Maria seems unique.  Why? Because the players behind it bring the necessary ingredients for success:

Ben Silverman –  produced a string of hits that were outside the television programming norm
Barry Diller – owns internet companies that are making money
Elisabeth Murdoch –  has success in programming, distribution and multi-media
MTV – is a brand name
Proctor & Gamble Productions– has produced thousands and thousands of hours of successful soaps

It’s clear that in the very near future most of the population will not be sitting around waiting and watching ‘appointment television’.  Entertainment will reflect our ‘got-to-have-it-now-while-I-do-twelve-other things” lifestyle.  Entertainment will be on demand.  BUT, whether we get our entertainment how we want it, when we want it, or whether we can change the beginning, middle and end of our entertainment choices, we still want to be entertained.   The platform may change, but the one thing that will never, ever, never change is that people want good content.  I repeat, they want to be entertained.

In a world where there are 1000’s of entertainment choices, I think Pedro & Maria could make it because it is surrounded by a group of people who understand how, when and where we want to be entertained.

Tell me what current web series I should be watching?  I’d love to know what you think.

“In the 1940s, [going to the movies] was the national pastime. Approximately 67 percent of the American public — every week, on the average — went to a movie. And they didn’t just see movies — they saw newsreels, they saw cartoons, animation, shorts, a second feature — but it was their weekly pastime. Today, less than 10 percent of the public, on the average, go to the movies in a week.”

I don’t have to go back as far as the 40’s.  I can take a trip down memory lane to the late 80’swhen I spent an afternoon in a movie theater around the corner from my apartment on West 71st in NYC and sat through a double bill of Lina Wertmüller ‘s – Swept Away and Seven Beauties. (If you’re familiar with Ms. Wertmüller ‘s work, you’ll understand when I say I needed oxygen and a trip to a relaxing spa when the credits rolled.)  Regardless of my emotional state – I loved the fact that I could spend an entire afternoon in a movie theater.  It was normal to go to the movies at least once a week.

So, what happened?  Why is it that only 10 percent of the population goes to the movies now?  Is it the price of the ticket?  Perhaps it’s the fact that I can download a film on Netflix soon after its release.  Or could it be there’s a dearth of good films being made?  I can recall going to the movies a few months ago and watching the trailers for upcoming films.  My comments ranged from “Oh, that’s definitely a rental,” to, “I wouldn’t see that film even if I was locked in the bathroom on a cross Atlantic flight and it was playing on a screen in front of me.”

So the question is – Do you go to the movies?  How often? And why do you think there is such a dramatic decline in movie going?

“The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu” (CBS), Worldwide Pants, Inc.

“Noodle Road: Connecting Asia’s Kitchens” (KBS1 TV), Korean Broadcasting System

“A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains” (ABC), ABC News

SesameStreet.org, Sesame Workshop

“BBC World News America: Unique Broadcast, Unique Perspective” (BBC America), BBC World News America, BBC America

“The Cost of Dying” (CBS), CBS News 60 Minutes

“Independent Lens: Between the Folds” (PBS), Green Fuse Films, ITVS

“Glee” (FOX), Twentieth Century Fox Television

“The OxyContin Express” (Current TV), Vanguard on Current TV

npr.org, National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org)

Diane Rehm, Personal Award, talk show now available to National Public Radio listeners after decades on Washington’s WAMU-FM

“The Day that Lehman Died” (BBC World Service), a Goldhawk Essential Production/BBC World Service Production

“In Treatment” (HBO), Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg in association with HBO Entertainment

“Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times” (PBS), Peter Jones Productions

“No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” (HBO), Mirage Enterprises and Cinechicks in association with The Weinstein Company, BBC and HBO Entertainment

“Sabotaging the System” (CBS), CBS News 60 Minutes

“Brick City” (Sundance Channel), Sundance Channel, Brick City TV LLC

“Thrilla in Manila” (HBO), Darlow Smithson Production, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary Films

“FRONTLINE: The Madoff Affair” (PBS), FRONTLINE, RAINmedia

“I-Witness: Ambulansiyang de Paa” (GMA Network), GMA Network, Inc., Philippines

“Independent Lens: The Order of Myths” (PBS), Folly River, Inc., Netpoint Productions, Lucky Hat Entertainment, ITVS

“Hard Times” (OPB Radio), Oregon Public Broadcasting

“Iran & the West”, Brook Lapping Productions for the BBC in association with National Geographic Channel, France 3, NHK, VPRO, SVT, RTBF, VRT, NRK, SRC/CBC, DRTV SBS, YLE, TVP and Press TV

“Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson: Covering Afghanistan” (NPR), National Public Radio

“The Great Textbook War” (West Virginia Public Broadcasting), Trey Kay Productions

“Mind the Gap: Why Good Schools Are Failing Black Students” (KLCC Radio), Nancy Solomon

“Endgame” (PBS), Daybreak/Channel 4/Target Entertainment, Presented on PBS/MASTERPIECE by WGBH Boston

“Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On” (Now-Broadband TV News Channel), Now-TV News, Hong Kong

“BART Shooting” (KTVU-TV), KTVU, Oakland, Calif.

“American Masters: Jerome Robbins — Something to Dance About” (PBS), Thirteen/WNET

“Chronicle: Paul’s Gift” (WYFF-TV), WYFF 4, Greenville, S.C.

“Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard” (KHOU-TV), KHOU-TV, Houston, Tex., Belo, Inc.

“Derrion Albert Beating” (WFLD-TV), FOX Chicago News: WFLD-TV and myfoxchicago.com

“Where Giving Life Is a Death Sentence” (BBC America), BBC World News America, BBC America, BBC World News

“Up in Smoke” (KCET-TV), KCET, Los Angeles

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE ORDER

1.  Deliver final master to the network
2.  Create all the deliverables for the network. (Contracts, final scripts, releases, DVD copies, etc.)
3.  Close caption your show
4.  Mix your tracks
5.  Final on-line edit
6.  Rough cut delivered to the network.  Factor in the various executives who will need to weigh in, comment and approve.  You’ll need time to get their comments, make the changes, deliver those changes, and then get a second or third round of rough cuts and comments before you’re ready for your final edit.
7.  Shoot your series/show.  Schedule your shoots based on location proximity and not script order.
8.  Write the script, factoring in time for revisions from the network.
9.  Scout Locations
10. Rehearse Talent
11. Cast Talent
12. Research
13. Budget developed and approved
14. Idea/concept

Reading the list from bottom to top are the sequence of actions you would take during a production (with a million other details thrown in).  Reading it from top to bottom is how you develop your production schedule.  Why?  Because it is rare that a delivery or air date change.  Anything else in between, can be squeezed, squashed, maneuvered and manipulated.

To ensure you’re on track during production, write daily reports against the production schedule.  It allows all key personnel to know what’s been accomplished, what needs to be accomplished and what’s back logged.  It is also an opportunity for any one with concerns to speak up.  The sooner you know about a scheduling difficulty the easier you can solve it – otherwise you will be running around like a schizophrenic at a multiple personality surprise party.

Whether you’re shooting a video to upload to You Tube, working on a series for a TV network, or producing a film – a workable schedule will give your production a strong foundation.

The basics of Marketing 101 are to get your product known and get it sold.  Therefore, it would seem obvious that the purpose of a commercial is to sell the product.  It doesn’t matter how many Clio awards one wins for best ad of the year, what matters, or what should matter is moving the product into the hands of the consumer.  I know, as creatives, we don’t like to hear words like sales, profit, and bottom line – but as a producer or client, those words are almost lyrical.  The message, while wrapped in a creative package, should make the viewer want to pick up the phone, log onto a website, or grab their car keys and buy, buy, buy.

Consumers buying lots of products is what every company hopes for when they put money into advertising.  So why be ambiguous, ethereal, or vague with the ad?  Why be so clever that you hurt the bottom line?  I think that’s exactly what the Droid did with their initial ad campaign.  The Droid is a smartphone from Verizon, Motorola and Google.  This seemingly unbeatable trio had a one million dollar ad campaign to introduce the Droid as the answer to Apple’s iPhone, and yet I don’t think they hit the mark.   The results are in the numbers – the iPhone sold over 1 million phones during the first weekend of its release, and the Droid will potentially sell 1 million during their first quarter.  How could this be?  Verizon is a superior network with more customers, Motorola makes good products, and Google is ubiquitous.  I think it was the ad campaign.  You just didn’t know what the heck they were selling.

The iPhone ads tell you exactly what you’re getting.  They even tell you it’s a phone.  The Droid’s announcement was a commercial called “The Stealth.” It featured several stealth bombers dropping “bombs’ on remote locations throughout the U.S.; in the middle of an ocean, on a deserted highway, in a forest – and finally in the front yard of a desolate ranch. It was beautifully shot and very reminiscent of the “Independence Day” movie trailer.  The last shot features two older men walking toward the crater that is now the front of their ranch while the ‘bomb’ opens up to reveal something we can’t identify.  The older rancher says to his companion –“What in the world is that?”  A question, I say needs an answer, because the commercial told me nothing.  It didn’t even tell me it was a phone.  And furthermore, it is highly unlikely that two ranchers in the middle of nowhere are interested in a phone that will give them a wireless connection to the internet, a convenient way to watch YouTube, a built in application to keep all their contacts straight and the ability to take photos at a moment’s notice to send to friends and relatives.  Here was an opportunity for Verizon a better network, with more customers to steal the thunder from the iPhone.  More people own PC’s than Macs, more people use the Verizon network than AT&T and they’re showing me stealth bombers and remote locations in the US.  I think they were too creative for their own good.  And I believe that’s why the Droid’s sales didn’t crush the iPhone.

What about you – any commercials you’ve seen that were so creative the message didn’t reach you?