Interview with Vanessa Boris – Senior Producer of Multimedia

Vanessa heads the multimedia production team at IDG Enterprise, a publishing company focusing on IT based in San Fransico, CA and Framingham, MA.

1. Can you briefly define your job to me?

My job is to be a producer of all media. As the senior producer, I see a project through its inception to the final product and help conceive what needs to be done. I also do studio directing, audio editing, and video editing. We typically produce videos, webcast, podcasts, advertisements; it depends on what the client wants, and it’s very mixed media. Our most important audience is CIOs from some of the big name IT companies.

We usually don’t have to hire other editors, but it depends on the budget and the timeline. In some cases, we’ll bring in a sound designer or whoever we need to complete a project, but most of the time we work with a small team. We’re expected to do all of the production work. The type of work varies from day to day. One day we could be working on actual production, and another day could be meetings and conference calls. It’s a lot of fun and a lot of work.

2. How did you get started in the business?

When I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to do something with filmmaking. I did lots of internships and did some advanced coursework. Eventually I got a job working for Richard Leacock, a documentary filmmaker. I was his right hand man. I soaked up everything about documentary filmmaking and the art of making a story.

Eventually, I had to decide what I wanted to do next. I decided I wanted to do video editing. I got a lot of jobs doing educational videos. I worked on PBS kids shows, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, you name it. After a while I decided I’d had enough editing, and I’ve worked in publishing ever since.

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

Most people I’ve worked for understand the constraints. I’ve been lucky enough to work with people that propose reasonable deadlines and recognize the limits. I would say, instead of saying “I can’t,” you could say, “This task isn’t working, here’s an alternative.” That’s to be expected, especially when working with deadlines. It’s important to take a step back and reevaluate. Explore various options.

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

Rick (Richard) used to tell me, mange the film—that is eat the film. Be an incredible consumer of movies if you want to make movies. If you want to do advertizing, watch tons of commercials. If you want to do documentaries, watch every documentary you can get your hands on. I’d say mentoring is important early in your career. Find a mentor and learn everything you can.

When I was teaching, I would always tell my students to take risks. Remember that filmmaking is an extremely collaborative experience. Think a lot about the story. Never lose focus of the story. Stay in touch with the people you work with. Start building a network now. Always remember that you can make changes later on in your career.