Today, like most days, I’m running one-hundred and fifty miles in a lot of directions simultaneously. My in-box sounds like Ms. Pac Girl on steroids. Ping. Ping. Ping. Twenty-five unread emails and counting.

I want to take my palm and smack myself upside the head for ever feeling bad when I wasn’t working and checked my emails a thousand times a day and found nothing, not even spam. I was stoopid. Today, they’re hitting my inbox like a broken bag of rice spilling all over the floor. I want to scream but I can’t, my office has glass walls and people may get the wrong impression.  Like maybe she’s crazy? Lunatic? A fringe Line Producer?

I look at my emails again and ask myself what’s happened to live communication?  Don’t we talk anymore and then I remember this morning’s ‘quick meeting’ that turned into a three-hour marathon and I’ve answered my own question. “Meetings are bad. They are not the answer,” I say. “Then what is?” I ask myself. Clearly self-reflection isn’t going to help because the emails keep coming. I’m surprised my in-box doesn’t break. Ding, ding, ding. Lordy.

I hate to cut this short, but my screen looks like it’s going to explode and there’s a line of people outside my door waiting for me to sign purchase orders, approve locations, and spend more money that’s not in the budget.

Diary, I know I’m not supposed to be a crabby-ass Line Producer. I’ll be better next time. I promise.

Splat!  How can you avoid that god awful sound and the pointed fingers that go along with it while everyone else relinquishes responsibility and marks you with a large bulls-eye on your back, forehead, and anywhere else you can’t easily see without looking in a mirror.  But who has time to check whether you’re a marked man or woman – you’re too busy trying to make the production work, while someone else is just looking to place BLAME.  Splat!

Here’s what.   If you work in production, there will be mistakes.  No matter how well prepared you are – you’re typically running in crisis mode.  So, while you’re doing 1000 things right, when you do that 1001 thing wrong – own up to it.  If someone is looking to make you the next SPLAT – be prepared to either confront that person with all the WRITTEN ammunition you have –or better yet – get on with your life.  The person that threw you under the bus is a COWARD  and they don’t deserve your attention.

What’s a cost tracker? It is the Line Producer’s spreadsheet that tracks your production costs on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  It is used by Line Producers to monitor every single expense, as well as expenses yet to be incurred.  It’s a barometer that tells you if you’re on budget, under budget or headed for financial ruin.

There are several ways to keep a cost tracker, and I’ve yet to meet two Line Producers who keep track the same way.  As long as you know what you’re keeping track of, where the money is, and you can intelligently work with your production accounting department – then your cost tracker is working for you.  This is not a nice-to-have – this is an essential tool for any Line Producer.

Cost trackers are created by using an excel spreadsheet.  As in the example below, your spreadsheet should include the following:

1.    Account Number: Each line item in your budget is associated with an account number.  The account number comes from your accounting department.  If they don’t give you one, use the default given by your budgeting software program.
2.    Description of Each Item:  Self-explanatory.
3.    Total Budget:  The total amount allocated to that line.
4.    Actual:  What you’ve actually spent on that line to date.
5.    Balance of Budget:  The difference between what was allocated and what was spent.
6.    PO’s:  Purchase orders you’ve written for items that will be charged to your production.  The PO indicates the bill will be coming.
7.    Estimate to Complete:  This is an estimate of how much more you believe it will cost before final delivery. For example, if you’re getting lots of network notes and post production is taking longer, you will want to estimate higher in your editing lines and see where you can move money so that the over all bottom line doesn’t change.
8.    Estimated Final Cost:  This is an estimate of the final cost – all in – for that line.  Add your Actual Expenses to your Estimates to Complete and you will have the amount you are estimating it will cost for that particular line item.

In the example below you’ll see that we are over on many of the producer lines but we are saving money on the Supervising Producer and the Post Story Producer lines which gives us a savings on the bottom line.

The cost tracker is one of the many weapons in a Line Producers arsenal that allows them to win the battle and bring the creative vision to completion on time and on budget.

Sit everyone down and make them go through the schedule.  Itinerary of flights, hotels, call times, what you’ll be shooting when, who’s doing make up, what production vehicles you’ll be renting, whose picking them up, etc., etc., etc.  ALL OF IT.  Do it all.  This will ensure two things; one -nothing falls through the cracks and two – you’re all shooting the same show.

I don’t need to endlessly repeat myself.  Without a pre-production meeting you will waste time and money.  A LOT OF MONEY.  Oh, and afterwards there will be a lot of finger pointing.

Photo Copyright:  The House Theatre of Chicago

Like Silly Putty, a production budget can occupy a line producer’s mind for hours. It too is meant to be stretched, pulled, and change shape.  Why?  Because it doesn’t matter how prepared you are, or how much information you are given when you initially write a budget, life changes, creative changes, production changes, and you need to think of your budget as something that can be molded into whatever is necessary to get the creative produced within the bottom line.

The hell you say?!  I have to make my budget do the contortionist jig and still hold the bottom line?   Yes, that would be correct.

When you submit your budget for approval, there will be certain things you won’t know.  You won’t know the exact price of an airline ticket.  You may not know the exact price of a location – because it is yet to be decided if the scene will take place at a pool house or in a submarine.  In these instances you guesstimate based on research or on previous experience.  However, here’s where you as the Line Producer need to be malleable because when you’re in production – anything can happen.  For example, the fictitious location you put into your budget a few weeks back? Well it has finally been chosen and you’re shocked to learn that many other production companies have used the same location and now they’re asking top dollar. In this scenario you can forget about getting another location because this truly is the only historic village that has everything you will ever need for your episode.  You believe it will be more cost effective (read cheaper) because this location is closer than any other, sparing you the expense of housing a crew overnight.  The proximity means less production vehicles, the talent can self-report, equipment can be rented locally, etc., etc.

But just because you believe it will be more cost effective because you’ve made an educated guess based on past experiences doesn’t make it true.  You’ll need to do an analysis of where you think you’ll save money, or possibly have some pad. I strongly suggest you create a cost tracker and do the math.  Perhaps you can take money from the production vehicle lines (including gas, parking and tolls) and move it into the location line.  Be creative, move the money around – in this case lines are meant to be crossed.

Either way as the Line Producer, in addition to your many other responsibilities money management is key.  I suggest you at least take a daily mental tally of where you are and then weekly go through your purchase orders and cost tracker so you know exactly where you are financially at the beginning of each week.

Remember, like Silly Putty budgets are meant to be changed.  The bottom line is not.  Keep careful track of your expenses.  Keep your Purchase Orders up to date.  Keep a cost tracker.

I tend to follow TV production people and film makers.  I would definitely call this group ‘rule breakers’.  Seriously, can you make a film or television show without breaking some rules?  By nature, this is a group that likes to talk and needs a place to promote their work.  That’s why I follow this group, I enjoy the conversation and I want to know what’s happening in the industry.  When some of the people I follow converse 50% of the time, promote 30% of the time and share information 20% of the time, it doesn’t bother me – we’re creatives not mathematicians.

Without a little rule breaking I would never have seen the film “Snow Bunny” at the Queens International Film Festival last night by the talented filmmakers @kingisafink Jessica King and Julie Keck from Chicago. (It was great meeting you Jessica and Julie, nice to put faces to the tweets.)

I also wouldn’t have known that  @MatiasB just completed shooting a profile of the US alpine ski team that will air on NBC January 30th at 8pm.

I would never have had ‘conversations’ with TV producers @jokeandbiagio and discovered their terrific insights into making reality TV shows

I wouldn’t have discovered the truly remarkable viral distribution David Baker is creating with his film MissionX. @indiemoviemaker

And I wouldn’t have seen the very clever shorts created by filmmaker @philontilt

If you want to meet people in your industry, be inspired by others, then get on Twitter.  Break some rules, follow and unfollow people as you like.  And when you read about how things are ‘supposed’ to be done in a social media venue, be a creative, question it.  Is it right for you?

What has Twitter done for you lately?

Be Decisive
When the DP is being unreasonable or demanding, never let him see you sweat.  If you’re lip quivers, if you appear indecisive, if you’ve got beads of perspiration running down your neck you might as well hang a sign on your forehead that says, “Come and get me,” because you’ve just lost control.  You must remain calm, don’t yell back, don’t lose your temper.  Believe me; they’ll only remember you were the one screaming your fool head off.  Find out what he wants, hold a small, brief conference with the director present, and see how you can accommodate his needs while staying in budget.  Make him and his creative vision as right as you can, but hold the line on money, find a compromise and a way to work around the situation.

Be Prepared
Have several conversations with the DP before you shoot.  This may not always be easy; typically your DP is shooting other jobs before he’s scheduled to shoot yours.  Make an appointment to either meet with him in person or speak by phone.  Send him the script and or story boards well in advance.  Ask questions.  Make sure he sends you via email every possible piece of equipment he thinks he’ll need and then go over the budget to see what you can give him.  If there’s a piece of equipment you can’t afford it’s time to have a conversation with the director and the DP and find out what equipment will satisfy their needs within the budget.

Be Kind
The DP is going to be one of the hardest working people on the set.  The vision is in his hands; how he shoots it will be what you end up with.  So have a heart make sure he’s had something to eat, offer coffee or water, or whatever will make it easier for him.  Show him respect.

Be in Control
Without making the entire crew physcotic, make sure everyone is on schedule.  Don’t hover like a landing craft when their setting up the lights and the shot, but keep an eagle eye on the schedule and make sure it’s moving as fast as humanly possible.  The truth is, if you let him, a DP will spend way more time lighting the shot than you’ve allowed.  So stay on top of it, without being annoying.

Bottom Line
You control the financial bottom line.  The footage you end up with at the end of the shoot is  your responsibility.  If you’re dealing with a difficult DP, you’re going to have to suck it up and get the shot, because at that point you are stuck.  So make sure you don’t get upset, don’t yell, and for goodness sakes, be a bigger person than he.  Be professional.  You’ve got an entire crew waiting to see how you’re going to react, they’ll take their cues from you.  Show you care, you’re in control and that you can be creative and work around any situation that comes up on the set.

In my career I’ve worked with many terrific DP’s, and have had some wonderful experiences, but one day you may find yourself with a Diva on the set.

Let me give a little illustration –

Some years ago I was producing a music video and we were shooting in The Tombs in NYC.  For those not familiar with The Tombs, they’re the holding cells in NY for accused criminals waiting for transport to federal prison.  The client wanted to shoot there.  Yes, they did – something about authenticity.   So arrangements were made and we were allowed to shoot from 6pm until 4am when prisoners were sent below somewhere I wasn’t privy to.  As you can imagine security getting in and getting out wasn’t just tight – it was sealed up – as in, once the crew and talent were inside, no one could leave until the entire crew left.  That meant, there would be no runs to any store for anything that was needed once  inside.  Everything needed to be carefully and skillfully prepared before 6pm the day of the shoot.   In addition the crew needed to be a small as possible.  In particular, we couldn’t have catering or craft services on the ‘set’.  That meant I had to ensure all arrangements were made for the proper amount of food and beverage for a 10 hour work day.

While I have always been prepared to expect the unexpected, I didn’t think rats would abscond with the some of the food while we waited to take our meal break.  I was forced to order the food that had been picked at by those nasty rodents to be thrown out.  That left precious little for a crew that had been working for five hours in 102 degree heat with no windows inside an actual jail.  Needless to say, I didn’t just get dirty looks, at that point I had a bull’s eye painted on my chest and back and it was target practice time for the crew, because in the end, it falls on you the producer.

So – here’s a little tip.  If you find yourself in a position of having to shoot in a place you can’t leave make sure your food budget is large.  And then make sure you keep the food under wraps – as in hermetically sealed.

The path from not knowing what you’re doing to being able to get the perfect interview every time requires doing some homework before you even set up the camera.

Research the person.  Before you even think about going to tape, you should know your subject.  If the person you’re interviewing has written a book – do yourself a favor and read the book.  Read articles they’ve written or been interviewed for.  Find other video interviews they’ve appeared in.  This is an on-line age; chances are you can find lots of information from a Google search.  But don’t limit yourself; check the library, Amazon and trade sources, whatever you need to do to get as much information as possible.  The research phase will not only help you to formulate your questions, it tells you whether you have a story or not.

Once you’ve decided you have a story and your ‘subject’ has agreed to the on camera interview set up a telephone pre-interview to go over the questions you’ll be asking.  This gives them the opportunity to prepare succinct, witty, clever, or intelligent answers.  And it gives you the opportunity to get familiar with the way they speak.  If they’re slow, drawn out speakers who hem and haw between each adverb and adjective you’ve got a couple of choices.  You can re think your questions so he’s made to give shorter answers, or you can find another interviewee to supplement the first.  This allows you to edit between two ‘experts’ in a field, with one being a bit staid and sluggish and the other a picture perfect ‘sound bite.”  In any case, the pre interview gives them time to prepare, and that will put them more at ease.

Chances are you won’t be in the shot and no one will ever here your questions.  So, remind your interviewee that they will need to either repeat your question, or incorporate your question into the answer.  Believe me there is nothing worse than sitting in an editing room trying to string together sound bites that don’t work because you don’t know what the person is responding to.

Example:
Interviewer:
“I read that you won the peach baking contest 10 years in a row.  How did that make you feel?”
Interviewee:
“It felt wonderful!”

“It felt wonderful,” can refer to anything, making it difficult to use that sound bite without a voice over setting it up.  However, if your interviewee had incorporated the question – the answer might have been: “Winning the peach baking contest for 10 years in a row was a wonderful feeling.”

Take a breath.  Seriously, take a breath.  When interviewing a subject and you’re not on camera – you’ll have to remind the interviewee to wait a beat before they answer your question.  And you too will have to wait a beat before acknowledging the answer.  Otherwise your voice will ‘step’ on their speaking making it a nightmare in the edit room to cut a clean sound bite.

Example:
Interviewee:
“If we don’t stop this vicious practice the American people will continue to fall prey to this folly.”

Just as the person says the word ‘folly’ you’re so excited you say, “Wow that was amazing.”  The editor will have to struggle, with your “WOW” on top of the interviewees “folly.”  Make it easier for everyone, take a breath and wait a beat before you respond.

Don’t be afraid to ask the interviewee to repeat their answer, or ask them the same question in a different way if you believe you can get a better answer.  However, there’s a fine line between interviewing and badgering.  If you’re new to interviewing on camera people, practice in the mirror.  Look at yourself – are you relaxed, comfortable and willing to engage another in a conversation.  What you see in the mirror is what an interviewee sees –so practice.  If you’re calm, they’re calm.  Remember, they’re sitting in the hot seat, with lights shining on them, a camera pointing in their face, a sound man stopping them every so often because there was a noise in the room.  Putting them at ease is important and a big part of your job.

Before you begin the interview, have them say and spell their name and position.

Always make sure that you have your interviewee sign a release form.  It protects you and allows you to use the footage in whatever manner the release form states.  Otherwise, you’re limited and in this age of multiple media outlets, you don’t want to be hampered because you didn’t get a release form signed.

Remember, if you’ve done your research, if you’re prepared, and if you practice, it should go smooth as silk.