For the most telling insights into broadcast production at TBWAChiatDay, seek out the agency’s creatives, who regard their heads of production, executive or senior producers, producers and all the related support staff as full-fledged creatives themselves.
Though he wasn’t at liberty to discuss specifics at press time, Rob Schwartz, executive creative director of TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, notes that the agency’s production department–part of the creative team–has played an integral creative/conceptual role in an upcoming project for client Visa.
“Our production people are creative, constantly providing us with ‘brain food,'” affirms Schwartz. “They’re not only uncovering new talent for us, but they’re monitoring culture for us, going to museums, getting immersed in the arts and communication, coming back with experiences and observations that spark the entire agency creatively.”
“Production and creative are one and the same,” relates Chuck McBride, executive creative director for TBWAChiatDay North America. “We work with producers as creative resources as opposed to an expediter of the creative team’s will. They are part of the creative team, contributing, providing different perspectives and informing us of great talent to tap into.”
Richard O’Neill, director of broadcast production at TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, observes, “The unique aspect of the broadcast department at all the TBWA offices is that we’re creatives, and are treated and respected as part of the creative team. We hire and promote producers on the basis of their creative ability…Our department is asked to be a resource in finding great directors, composers, editors, post and visual effects people. But we also serve as a great resource in bringing ideas to the table when asked to do so. The creatives often seek our input and feedback creatively, asking us to play with and to help develop ideas.”
Ozzie Spenningsby, director of broadcast production, TBWAChiatDay, New York, concurs. “We are part of the creative process,” he says, “and to show we’re all on the same team, look at how things operate. The production and creative people in New York are all situated on the same floor, interact regularly and serve as idea catalysts for one another. But the real test of team is simply that if there are accolades for the work, everybody shares in them. If there’s a problem, everybody has got that problem.”
Honest, open relationships with creatives are vital, relates Jennifer Golub, director of broadcast production, TBWAChiatDay, San Francisco, who has worked with McBride for the past six years. “I have complete respect for him as a filmmaker and writer,” she says. “He’s one of the most brilliant creative people I’ve ever collaborated with. And over a period of time, we’ve built a mutual trust. He knows and trusts that I am there for him.
“The creatives know I’m completely dedicated to them and focused on helping to realize their vision,” continues Golub. “I fully appreciate how hard it is to protect that vision through the entire process. But that’s a big part of what I try to do. My small yet mighty production department team here is rigorous and tenacious when it comes to that.”
Those same trusting relationships are important to build and nurture with the clients themselves, says Golub–as well as with talent outside the agency such as production house executive producers and directors, as well as other artisans spanning postproduction and other disciplines. “Building, maintaining and strengthening all these relationships is a major part of what we do.”
Golub also places great value in being involved in pro bono ad work, which in her case spans many projects, including volunteer efforts for Rock The Vote and Virgin Unite. “Being able to do good for worthwhile causes invigorates me creatively and allows me to bring that much more to my overall work,” she observes. “Pro bono projects also remind me of the important discipline of working lean. And public service endeavors also give you a connectiveness to the community you’re collaborating with that is really special.”
Mentorship Golub’s connections to TBWAChiatDay run deep; she’s been integral to its brand and culture for 17 years. However, her longevity there is eclipsed by colleague O’Neill who’s been with the agency for some 26 years. He and executive producer Elaine Hinton head a department of 32 producers and 13 assistant producers in Los Angeles. Of those, 27 started at the department and continue to advance their careers. Spenningsby is another agency vet, overseeing a New York production team that includes four senior producers, three producers and a pair of junior producers.
The spirit is one of mentorship across all the production departments. There are countless cases of assistants who have come up through the ranks to be savvy producers either at TBWAChiatDay or with another agency. “We encourage people to develop and further themselves,” says O’Neill. Prime examples would be Cheryl Childers, director of broadcast production at TBWAChiatDay’s Media Arts Lab (MAL), senior producer Mike Refuerzo, also with MAL, and MAL producer Serena Auroux, who all started out as broadcast assistants to O’Neill. Now MAL has taken a lead role in helping to realize TBWA Worldwide chairman/chief creative officer Lee Clow’s vision of the agency becoming “a total media arts company,” opening up new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers beyond the traditional touch points.
O’Neill runs a training initiative for assistants. The four-year program (participants can elect to pass in less than four years) provides mentoring, a formal as well as a hands-on education on agency producing. A test is administered to aspiring producers covering such ground as filing out Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) and Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) bid forms, defining technical and crew terminology, and answering situational questions in production regarding the proper course of action relative to client, account person, director and others.
“There’s a lot of grooming from within here, which I find most gratifying…to be able to help people along in their careers and as contributing members to our team,” says O’Neill.
“My senior producers are judged to an extent on the performance of their assistants and how they’re progressing, how well they’re being trained,” continues O’Neill. “Mentoring is an important responsibility.”
O’Neill also oversees A-V operations and the agency’s in-house post arm, Venice Beach Editorial.
“New opportunities are opening up all the time here,” says Spenningsby. Though he couldn’t share details at press time, Spenningsby noted that his department is about to embark on an ambitious Internet project for a client. And on another front for a global account, there’s a job pending that would entail projecting content on buildings in a foreign country. “The prospects are exciting,” he says, in terms of spreading one’s wings into nontraditional forms of communication. “Even when we produce a broadcast commercial,” notes Spenningsby, “we’re discussing how this is going to be used beyond television. We’re constantly looking to meet the growing mixed media demand of our clients and the marketplace.”
And much of meeting those needs comes from within. O’Neill says he and his staff are putting together an internal Web site devoted to what’s going on in the world as far as communication and entertainment spanning art at museums, movies, shows, festivals, whatever’s hot.
“The site is being developed by the broadcast department but it’s for all the TBWA Worldwide offices to access, learn from and to gain exposure to a variety of inspirational content and ideas,” explains O’Neill. “It’s one of our prime responsibilities–to keep everybody connected.”
