Executive Producers believe Line Producers hide money in a budget – squirreling it away for a rainy day. They would be right. We have to. It’s self-preservation. Because we’re not going to have rainy days, we’re going to have tsunamis and we know this from past experience. It’s reality TV and there is always going to be something. So we plan and we plot. We’re not typically plotting against you – in fact we’re always trying to help you get what you need. With our special powers, we turn the budget into silly putty and we stretch and bend and do whatever it takes to move the money around and get you what you want.
BUT – when it finally comes to the ungettable ask. When you’ve asked beyond what the budget was meant to do – and you top it off with – “find the money,” then I have this to say – YOU show ME the money, cause I looked under my desk and it ain’t there. I even checked my wallet just to make sure I didn’t accidentally misplace it. Asking for the ungettable ask – just pisses me off. Don’t do it. Because I’ve just given you 100 and 1 things that were never planned for, now you need to come up with a creative way to make it happen without costing more. That is why they’re paying you more than anyone else on the set.
And that’s what Line Producers really think.
