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.

Ellingwood-War Stories

War Story Assignment

 

 

Client: Dan Rogers

Job description: Senior Project Manager

Company: SC Film Commission

E-mail danrogers@scprt.com

Phone: (803) 737-0496

 

1. How to manage the expectation between community and the film world. So that entails meeting the clients’ needs and meeting the needs of the community. Or example, closing roads for a film, but making sure there is an alternative route for community traffic.
2. There was a film called The War that starred Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood. The story was about Kevin coming home from the Vietnam War in the 1970’s. While searching for a house they find a majestic tree with a tree house. The film commission had to find that tree for Hollywood. A specific tree. The tree that was chosen was in a residential neighborhood. Cars going into the neighborhood went through one side of the tree, while the other side was the exit. So the first ordeal has to take out the entry/exit and moving it to another location. First permission had to be given by the community. The road still had to be big enough for fire trucks. Then a problem came. The new roads were to close to the marsh. Special permission was needed to have the road that close to the marsh. After that problem was solved, it was figured that the tree was where a lot of planes passed by. So times of plane flights were needed as well. After all these things were done, the film was successfully made.
3. Know your craft and know it well; always network, who you know gets you in the door, but what you know keeps you in the door.