The Producers

I just came across this over at Beeker Ideas.  I love it.  "Beeker" took my visual and added a "production person" in distress.  It's funny because it's true.

Production people often get the short end of the stick.  And for the record, they are essential to bringing ideas to life.  At Digitas, we have "The Studio".  They are a talented group of individuals, who during pitches make all kinds of cool stuff and leave behinds which make our presentations memorable.  In fact, they played a significant role in helping us win the Miller account.  Production is akin to the theater crews who work behind the scenes to make sure that what's happening on stage has impact.  They provide us with props, the proper lighting and sometimes even wardrobe.  In short, they make the actors shine.

Production people produce.  That's more than most of us can say.

It's Friday.  Give someone in production a hug.  Chances are you've made their life miserable at some point.  Now is your chance to make it up.  :)

Comments

[Cam Beck]

Having been on both sides of that graphic, I can tell you with certainty. Yes. That is exactly how it is. :)

[Valeria Maltoni]

Brilliant! And thank you for pointing to the site... interesting stuff there.

[John J]

Here's another production chime in. Been there, done that -- as a client of Digitas even ;)

[mindblob]

David,

This post is so full of empathy. Thank you for all the producers (... of the world... united). : )

Producers are indeed at the end of the chain, the very last step between ideas and reality. Finding solutions to achieve that goal, is probably what they like about their jobs. If you eventually "made their life miserable at some point" it is most probably because you took one or (worst) 2 precious pearls out of their hands: "decent timing" and "decent budget". This usually means pushing them to gamble on the quality of the production. And boy, they don't like that!

So remember, if you want to make a producer's day, try to forecast timing and budget with him/her, upfront, at the beginning of your project. If you do so... they'll give you a hug. Easy, isn't it?

[Lewis Green]

David,

I want to sing your praises for this week's post. They were fabulous! Seldom have I seen such a string of creative and thoughtful writing. Thank you.

[beeker]

we love our production. the orange man is the work of Tim, a very talented individual who will be made up to see his handiwork here.

[Jacqueline]

Hi David,

I have a question for you and can't reach you via email (tried it but your spamfilter didn' t seem to trust my email ;-( so I would to try it again via your blog. I promised my friend Frank (www.frankwatching.com, I;m blogging there myself too, in Dutch, remember?) to ask you if you are willing to redesign his MeMix-model. It needs a redesign to make it easy to use and understand and to make it more powerful. You can find it here: http://www.frankwatching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/memix2-1398.jpg
Hoping to 'hear' from you!

[Todd W.]

Thanks for the kudos to the unsung producers.

At my shop production is rarely "at the end of the chain" and in fact leads many key accounts. It's a differentiating factor to have concept and execution tightly integrated, something that traditional shops can't seem to get their minds around, let alone replicate.