Survey, Part 1. The Pandemic
1) We recently shot a production remotely for WW and DiMassimo Goldstein with their new spokesperson Ciara. Ciara was at home with her family and newborn baby in Seattle and our director, Cynthia Wade, was remote from her home in Los Angeles.
2) With Cynthia’s vast documentary experience, she has been shooting people remotely for years, which is a skill that has come in handy during the pandemic. Rather than getting caught up in some of its limitations, Cynthia really embraces the remote shooting. We have found that with remote shooting, clients are now able to see and be a part of these very intimate interviews in a new way. The access pulls back the curtain on our process and hopefully will lead to greater understanding and even better work.
3) Overall, during this time, I have truly felt a strong sense of collaboration with all of our agency partners. Everyone is working hard to make the best work that we can, given limitations and restrictions. I find that we have much more communication with the agency and everyone is really open to working with each other in new ways. It’s amazing to see how creative everyone can be when solving issues.
4) Again, collaboration and communication are key. While we’ve always believed that, the pandemic has really held our feet to the fire. Everything has to be rethought in a new light. Location needs are not only creative now, but they really must fit in with the new, more complicated logistics. We are always thinking, first and foremost, of everyone’s safety. However, we never want to have to compromise the creative. It’s really a puzzle. However, I think everyone is so happy to be on set again that there is a lot of willingness to work together to find solves.
5) We are finding now that having more time on projects is essential. There are so many more discussions and pieces of the job that need to be figured out, that having a more drawn out schedule truly helps projects to be better.
Survey, Part 2. Emerging filmmaking talent.
1) Not to sound cliché, but I do believe that every challenge is an opportunity. Everyone in this business is reimagining how they work now and how things will work in the future. I think there is a lot of opportunity for emerging talent to find interesting projects and ways to make their work stand out.
2) Again, we are rethinking everything we know. As a producer I think you need to be incredibly engaged in the process now and be really mindful of all the details. There are lots of new things to address and often we are working outside our comfort zones. Develop a system of checks and balances and over communicate with people if you need to.
3) I’m finding that I am relying on my peers more than ever for advice or just to vent. I’m lucky to have a small group of other experienced EPs that I can lean on. I feel like there has been so much more honesty and transparency amongst us than ever before. It’s helpful to hear their problems too. It helps to make me more able to react to the unexpected things that seem to arise more often now.
4) Honor Society has always prided ourselves on the diversity of our roster. We are looking to find new talent that pushes our perspective in storytelling even further.
5) Don’t really have anything that we can show yet . . .
