Reality TV budgets and schedules are tight and don’t give the Line Producer the luxury of concentrating on only one aspect of the production.  With such short production cycles you’re typically going to be shooting and posting simultaneously.  So get ready to handle it all; get your juggler hat on, and get yourself the best Post Production Supervisor your budget will allow.

FIND THE RIGHT POST SUPER AND GET COZY
Hire a Post Production Supervisor who has 5 essential qualities:
1.    They can create and manage a post-production schedule.  You need someone who knows how to move the schedule around like a rubix cube, because there will be weekly, daily, hourly changes.
2.    The Post Supervisor has to be able to manage the post- production budget, and provide you with weekly financial updates.
3.    They know how to hire and fire editors, assistant editors, post coordinators and post production assistants.  In other words, someone who can put together a good post team.
4.    The Post Supervisor must be able to manage many edit rooms at once and make sure each editor has something to do and is advancing the schedule forward toward on-time delivery.  This sounds like something that shouldn’t have to be said, but let me tell you, it needs to be said.  They must be able to walk into an edit room and ask the editor what they’re doing, and when they’ll be done.  They cannot be afraid that Mr. Big-Bad-Ass-Emmy-Winning-Editor is going bluster and blow them down. Because he will certainly try.
5.    They must know and understand what network deliverables are and how to get them to the network. Every cut, talent and location release, show bible and any other network requirement.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
No matter how good your Post Supervisor is, you are ultimately responsible for post-production.  Make sure you’re working with your Post Supervisor, checking in daily and getting a grip on what is happening in post, with the schedule, the editors, the budget and what needs to be delivered to the network.

The last process any series goes through is post-production.  Don’t be an absentee Line Producer when it comes to post.  Hire a great Post Supervisor.  Keep in constant communication.  Deliver a great series.  Get hired for your next gig!

Here’s how I work with editors –

Typically, I’ll string the time line together in FCP or Avid to get the story down.  Then I’ll turn it over to the editor.  At this point I’m very close to the story.  I’ve written it, I’ve shot it, I’ve screened the material and I’ve created a rough cut.  Time for some fresh, creative, professional eyes to take it to the next level and bring another dimension to the storytelling.

I’ll give the editor the script, my log sheets, notes, and footage that absolutely must be in the segment.  If animation has been created, I’ll supply that as well, unless the editor is going to create them in After Effects.  Once I  hand everything over I walk away.  Yes, walk away.  Let him or her work with it  like a sculptor with clay. Let them put their creative stamp on it, and see where it takes the piece.  You can always pull back.  But it takes longer to get something out of an editor if you’ve shut them down from the beginning by saying this is the way it has to be, no changes, no exceptions.

The other end of the spectrum is the producer who isn’t remotely prepared.  The producer who simply hands over the raw footage and says, “Over to you.”  This is just asking for trouble.  It wastes time, money and will wear on most editor’s nerves.  Why?  Because an editor isn’t a mind reader.  They haven’t been involved in all the discussions with the executives and the network.  They don’t have the time and you don’t have the money for them to shuttle  through all the footage making selects. It’s up to you the producer to screen the material before hand, make the selects, write down the time code that corresponds with the storyline or script and supply the editor with a ‘blueprint’ of what you want the story to say and where you want it to go.

Working with an editor is a fine line between having an opinion about every single cut and letting them spread their creative wings to help you create the best possible show or segment.

Be prepared, have a strong idea of what you want the show to say and then give the editor some space.  Together you’ll create TV magic.

I just completed a shoot where the agency was providing a sign the talent would hold up and after a few lines the talent would toss the sign away.  The sign arrived with three major problems; 1) it had very strange brown spots all over it, 2) it was too big, covering a large portion of the talent’s chest, 3) there was an exclamation point missing from the sign.  While I was out of the studio handling other things it was decided they’d shoot it anyway and then fix it in post production.  Needless to say, I went to the agency and said that was a big mistake.  Trying to fix all these errors would never happen in post production and if it could be fixed the cost would be exorbitant.  I suggested we rush out and get new signs made and shoot a different scene in the meantime.  The cost of getting new signs made on a rush basis was high, but not nearly as high as the cost of trying and potentially failing to fix that mess in post production.

As a producer, I always look for ways to save money and make sure the shot is right.  But I’m keenly aware that the ‘fix it in post’ route will always be the more expensive and painful way to go.   It really is easier to just shoot it right and know you’ve got what you need.