Interview Number 2 Ryan Phillips

David Rumble-Location Manager 

Michigan 

In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to “production” people?

I am a location manager so I really have a big job in that i facilitate all the departments. I have to make sure that hair and make up have a place to set up, parking is available, everyone being safe, and pretty much anything else under the sun that you can imagine.I think the most important challenge is to make sure all lines of communication are open all the time. If this does not happen then things can go bad really fast. If you communicate with everyone and keep a loud voice then things will run smoothly. 

Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong, or seemed like it was going to fall apart, but then ended up working out [or didn’t work out].

Yes, the last movie i worked on ran very low on money and needed to be shot in downtown Detroit for two days at the cost of 24,000. The producer came to me and said he wanted it cheaper in which case i replied that it was impossible to do because they only had 2500 so things were real bad. It was 6 days until the shoot and we needed a elegant boardroom and a downtown Detroit looking street. I was freaking out with nowhere to shoot, and then I found this amazing public library. It was just what we wanted, and we got them sign off on it (side note: make sure whoever signs the paper work is high enough in position to do so. In the past I have had someone sign papers who was not aloud to, and that can get bad fast) Anyway everything turned out good and the shoot went very well. I have also had bomb threats happen down the road from where we had been shooting, and we had to call the news to make them get there choppers out of the sky. Crazy crazy stuff....


Do you have any advice for a person starting out in the business, someone who is about to graduate?

You just have to keep bugging people, and be really really aggressive. Make sure people know who you are so they can match your face with your resume. Its also very important to look very busy on the job you are working on even if you are not because people will remember you for this.

Lindsey, War Stories

Nikki Hanger
1230 Windsor Avenue
Richmond, VA 23227

In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to “production” people?

I am a photo producer for still photographers and produce advertising campaigns. My job consists of creating estimates, handling the budget, hiring crew, location scouting and secure all permits and locations, model casting, ordering food, signing releases, paying crew/models, and at times art direction.. so I sometimes deal with people not having things ready or in order when needed, sometimes I am the one who comes in short with not having things in on time. Meeting the needs of a photographer/director and everyone else at the same time is challenging but also part of my job I enjoy, keeps me busy and able to stay focused on the tasks at hand.

Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong, or seemed like it was going to fall apart, but then ended up working out [or didn’t work out].

I can think of my one and only nightmare.. for a photo shoot. I managed to tell the entire crew the wrong time for the next day's shoot, since there had been a change, and the photographer the right time, so the photographer showed up but no one else did. It was awful, I could not believe I didn't lose my job on that one. I have quite the backbone so being yelled at was easy for me but I didn't hear the end of it for quite awhile and the photographer happened to be a friend of mine, but was not happy with me.


Do you have any advice for a person starting out in the business, someone who is about to graduate?

I worked for multiple photographers as a studio manager and learned all aspects of the business. Once I went out on my own as a photo editor/retoucher there was still time and money to be made. In order to get involved in this business I would intern during college and then find a employer that is willing to pay and teach. Learning on the job to see what aspects of the business you like and dont like is really important

This is not something I have always wanted to do, I did not even know about producing until I actually had my first producing job. I just fell into it but realized that with my photo background and my attention to detail, it is a perfect match. I also did not know that ad agencies have producers on staff. Other places, like NY and LA use a producer for all their assignments, but areas like Richmond the market and budget is so low that it is a hard job to get.
Producing for commercials and movies is a different market and more money.

Gilson War Stories

The person I contacted is a music producer in Nashville that would like to remain anonymous.

1. In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to "production" people? In your case I suppose that production people would be like A&R, Label execs, studio heads, engineers, that sort of thing.



A key challenge is maintaining a label's interest midway through a project. They will always ask you for advance samples of rough mixes and other unfinished works-in-progress. Avoid giving these out at all costs, especially when they say "I know the difference between a rough and a final mix." Play them something ONLY when it is ready, unless you really trust their ears.

2. Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong or seemed like it was all going to fall apart but then came together at the end [or didn't]?



Once I flew a very famous musician all the way from Lagos, Nigeria -- where he lived -- to Nashville to play on a record. At the studio, just twenty minutes before the start of the session, he said to me, "Did I tell you I only play in key of G?" My heart nearly stopped, because "no" he hadn't told me this.

So I took a deep breath and thought....how can we work with this? The song we were doing was in the key of "B." I went to the singer and asked if she could possibly move the song up one half step to the key of "C" and still song well. Luckily, she was fine with this plan, so I went back to the musician and said, "just play in the key of G (which is the dominant chord in the key of C) and everything will be fine. Just play what you feel!" The track worked out beautifully and his part was written about extensively in the critical press. More importantly, I didn't have to explain to the label how I failed to record this musician after paying $1,000 in airfare to bring him to Nashville from Lagos!

3. Any advice for a person who's just starting out, someone who is about to graduate?


An internship is a great way to break in!

Gilson Interview - Steve Fishell. Producer, Nashville TN

1. Can you briefly describe your job to me?

A record producer is in charge of all the creative aspects of recording, including song selection, performance recognition, artist coaching, song arranging, personal motivation, etc. He or she also serves as a liaison between the artist and their record label, management and fanbase. Your main task is to help your artist achieve their musical goals in the recording studio.


2. How did you get started in this business?



I came up as a musician. I play the pedal steel guitar and toured and recorded in Emmylou Harris' band in the 1980's. She taught me everything I know about the recording studio.

3. How do you tell someone over you (your boss) that you can't accomplish an assigned task?



I'm not sure I understand this question. If I worked at a record label and my task was to record an artist and make a great record, I would do everything I could do to find a great song and produce a session at the highest quality possible. If the artist then had trouble with the song, I would explain to my boss that the song and the artist were mis-matched and that I would work harder to find better-suited material for the artist's next session.

4. Do you have any advice for a media student who is just starting out?



"80% of success is showing up." ---Woody Allen

Intern for a good studio, producer or engineer and learn the ropes in the studio through them. Use the internet as a way to demonstrate your talent to prospective artists and clients. Be nice to everybody; the person you are rude to may soon be running Sony Records.

Thank You Note (E-mail)

Steve,

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to answer those questions for my class. I hope to visit Nashville soon as I plan on possibly moving there in August. We'll have to get together!

Thanks,

Alex Gilson

University of South Carolina - Media Arts

Hardy Warstories Assignment

I interviewed Johnathan Fletcher. He is a grip in Austin, Texas. His email address is fletcherjohnathan67@yahoo.com 1.) In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to "production" people? Well a lot of the times, you know that doing some tasks are a lot easier and more efficient by doing it a certain way, but a lot of people who don't know this want it done they way they think is best. I tell them that this is my job and I have been doing this for 20 years so I know what I am talking about, but they still want things done their way. 2.) Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong, or seemed like it was going to fall apart, but then ended up working out (or didn't work out). I would have to say that the most nerve wrecking incident was when I was working on this shoot out in El Paso and my team had been setting up lights all day in this big warehouse. There was an awful storm outside but they wanted to get this scene done. It was thundering and lighting really bad but the show went on anyways. Anyways, as soon as we finished setting up the lights, the power went out for at least 5 hours. I kind of laughed to myself because we were working hard all morning and afternoon and it was for nothing. The director was pissed though. 3.) Do you have any advice for a person starting out in the business, someone who is about to graduate? The biggest thing is to start out small. Don't try to do too much at once. Take baby steps and it will all fall into place for you sooner or later. This is my thank you note. Mr. Fletcher, Thanks so much for your insite on the questions I asked and I will definitely like to contact you again in the future for some more advice and queries regarding the production and entertainment industry. Thanks again for your help. Acie Hardy

Smalls:War Stories

1.I am a ‘production’ person. I find that if I meet with people in the production team before they do their job we can all discuss what is expected and eliminate most problems. If I understand the jobs of the various crew members we can best work as a team. If I’m not suse about something I stop and ask a question or two. Learning never ends.

My real challange is when I can’t get to talk with the decision makers outside the production team. ( The money people. ) That’s when I get stuck dealing with a middle management type who does not have the authority and rersponsibility to actually make firm decisions. A lot of time is wasted by the production team. It can also result in many changes being requested way too late in the process to be handled efficiently.

3. Plenty. -Don't be a diva.-Learning never ends. You have two ears and one mouth.....listen twice as much as you speak.-The whole world of production is always in flux. Keep your thinking flexible.-Watch 'Dirty Jobs' on Discovery. -After you have it 'in the can', don't be afraid to experiment.-Visit Home Depot / Lowes all the time and learn to be a fifty cent engineer.-Learn what needs to be new and what doesn't. Shop eBay.-Know the difference between duct tape and gaffer tape! And where to use each! LOL-Never be afraid to mentor. Hoarding knowledge is just wrong.-Always use spell check.

War Story by Alana

1. In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to “production” people (they will likely know exactly what you mean, production refers to producers, location people, coordinators, assistant directors and pa’s). Another way of asking this is to question how a production person can best help facilitate this person’s job.
In the world of TV it’s always meeting schedules. The producers try to condense the shooting time as much as possible to try and save money but it doesn’t allow people that need to get things ready very much time. The big thing is always timing and scheduling. If you’re shooting on location and they want to shoot at location five days then it’s up to production designer and art director what needs to happen at that location before it needs to be shot. Might need to create big design or cover a garage they don’t want to see and figure out what you’re going to build in front of garage; you need to get a lot of people in there to get it together, so its hard for scheduling. The most important thing in any of the relationships between producer and you is communication. Be clear about what you want, knowing what you want and knowing you only have x amount of money to do what you want and be flexible to do what you want. Very important that everyone communicates, between producer, director, art director and then my crew (art crew).

2. Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong, or seemed like it was going to fall apart, but then ended up working out [or didn’t work out]. If the story relates to producing or locations, that is terrific.
I’ve never been in something that actually was about to fall apart. The machine that is the film industry has a lot of checks and balances. Most of the screw ups I’ve had are working in features. They have bigger budgets and then you have a director or producer that suddenly decides they have something or need something last minute. Because they have the money to do it then as the art director you have to be able to get it done in a short amount of time. One director walked on to a set and decided he didn’t like the paint color of the set so they had to call painters in that area and get it done all that night. You have to have the money to do that though. On TV series you see the sets before they are shot and they don’t have as big a budget. Sometimes stunts or special effects can go wrong on features. We had rented a very nice hotel room in Toronto and the windows were supposed to blow out and they hired a special effects person to create the explosives. To do this we only get one shot at it, and everything was in place and when the explosion went off and it blew up every window of the stores across the street. The special effects person put to much explosives in the room so they had to pay for all the damages.

3. Do you have any advice for a person starting out in the business, someone who is about to graduate?
The best thing to do is start apprenticing for a production and learning what all the different departments do and see which one you’d like to work in. Once you know which one you want to work in, lighting, camera design department and so on and you have a feeling for what those jobs entail then you get the training you need. Go to design lighting school and so on. It’s important to know where your passion lies and then you get the training you need for it.

Film from lighting class

Check out this film my lighting class lit:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/5c1d67b038/2-guys-on-a-roof

It was shot at George Fulton's studio by Publix.
If you think it's funny, hit the funny meter!

Floyd- War Stories

The person I interviewed wished to remain anonymous. He is an executive assistant and works in Downtown L.A.


1. In your job, what are some challenges you have to deal with in relating to “production” people (they will likely know exactly what you mean, production refers to producers, location people, coordinators, assistant directors and pa’s). Another way of asking this is to question how a production person can best help facilitate this person’s job.

I don't really deal with production people per se--I work more on the executive side. My job is to manage and convey necessary information to the correct people in an efficient manner. In effect, that is my one simple "challenge" that encompasses a range of skillsets, from phone etiquette to taking care of the needs of A-list clients and management. The solution to this is to convey information CLEARLY, CONCISELY, and QUICKLY. Easier said that done when you're drinking out of the proverbial firehose, information-wise.


2. Can you tell me a war story, or a story of when something went badly wrong, or seemed like it was going to fall apart, but then ended up working out [or didn’t work out].

A contracter running cable for the new office's Local Area Network quit halfway through after screwing up the job and realizing that he was in over his head with no way to fix it. Solution: I learned how to splice Cat5e cable and finished the job for him.

3. Do you have any advice for a person starting out in the business, someone who is about to graduate?

You're going to start as an unpaid intern if you want to work at a Hollywood production company. If you start interning before you graduate, you might have an assistant spot somewhere out there if you made a good impression while interning. Might. How to play your cards right? Best advice I can give on this is to intern like you're getting paid. Your degree goes but so far in Hollywood. They want people who can get the job done. If you get that lucky chance to intern or work in your chosen field, always be seeking out new ways to get things done for your bosses. When given a task, push yourself to get it done correctly and efficiently by learning how to solve problems quickly and self-reliant-ly (i.e. without making more work for the people you're trying to help). That makes you an asset, and this is show BUSINESS.