Producing anything from theatre to iPad games requires lots of knowledge, connections and hard hard work. However, there is one thing that, in my opinion, you cannot be without as a producer. I’ve told this to media producer students in my lectures and to people who’ve asked me about my job as an animation producer. Without this ability you can still be a producer, but you will be having a much harder time. Here it is:
- You need to know who knows what.
That’s actually everything you need to know to be a producer, when you boil it down to the bare minimum. In the olden times, when you couldn’t get a degree in film production, this is what made people from totally unrelated fields jump into the producer’s seat.
If you know who knows what, you know
- who can write you a script on a topic you want
- who should direct this particular story
- who should do the production design that fits this animation show
- which studio is best suited in terms of it’s talent and production pipeline
- which distributor or broadcaster would want your project the most
- where else you could find financing for your project
And so on and so on. Because the producer’s job is not to write, direct, animate or whatever. The producer’s job is to put together a great project bible, the best possible team and the financing required to implement the plans. And for that you need to know.
You might argue that this is actually just another way to say “networking”, and yes there are some overlaps. However I’d say that knowing who knows what goes beyond simple networking. It also involves thinking outside the box, combining unthought-of elements in a creative way and putting up new ideas to be critiqued.
So how do you get to knowing who knows what? I don’t think anyone can ever master this ability, but you can always try to improve. Some tips I can think of:
- Network within your industry, but also
- get to know people outside the industry. You never know who knows whom.
- Read a lot. Trade magazines, daily papers etc.
- Talk to people. Online, in person, on the street, in a cafe, wherever.
- Go to festivals. A lot. Here you meet people, see films, get inspired etc. Also others than just animation festivals.
- Go to trade events. The MIFA in Annecy is a good place to start.
- Watch films and note down interesting people in the credits, folks you could consider for future projects.
- Ask around. Your colleagues, on Twitter, at trade events. Ask who does what.
- Just be curious in general, it makes life much more interesting as well =)
These are my two cents. If you have an idea, on how to broaden your knowledge, please drop a comment below!
To keep current with Nick Dorra Productions subscribe to our mailing list:
2 Comments