Technological developments occur at a dizzying rate. Schedules are tighter than ever. New directors continually come on the scene. More than ever, agency producers need to stay on top of the rapidly changing world of commercial production and postproduction, but with their heavy workloads, it’s a daunting task. So it comes as no surprise that a number of agencies have set up in-house education programs to keep their spot producers informed.
Bates USA, New York, now has a series of seminars and presentations, known as the Broadcast Production Professional Education Series. The agency has conducted educational events for several years, but last year John Caffera, senior VP/director of film and broadcast production/executive producer at the shop, and producer Odelia Goldfarb set up the more formalized program.
Caffera says that the new program has struck a chord with agency producers and creatives. Early on, he received "favorable feedback from the creatives, accounts service people, and of course, the production people, who had been in attendance. We found that we were filling a need," he explains. "This is something that needs to be done, especially in view of how fast the evolving technologies and techniques and personnel are changing out there."
"I think the sense we were getting from producers and creatives is that before we would have months to create a project, nowadays we have weeks, sometimes, days, to complete a project," says Goldfarb. "The life of creatives and producers has become much more fast-paced. They simply cannot keep abreast of the pool of talent that is available to them and the technological changes, so there became more of a need to [educate] in an orderly manner."
Caffera, who has been in the ad business for more than 20 years, has an obvious passion for education. He served as an instructor at the City University of New York’s Queens College and has worked for the New York State Education Department. "On a totally personal note, I have always had this interest for all of us to stay on the cutting edge of whatever our profession happened to be," he says.
Presentations at Bates have included director Steve Beck of Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Production (ILMCP), San Rafael, Calif., and Los Angeles, discussing special effects. There was also a high definition seminar hosted by Rhinoceros Editorial & Post, New York, which included speaker Laurence J. Thorpe, VP for the acquisitions systems for broadcast and professional companies at Sony Electronics, Park Ridge, N.J. Director Steve "Spaz" Williams of Pandemonium, San Francisco, talked about special effects and commercials. And award-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Sherman, screened Alexander Calder, an eponymous documentary about the sculptor who invented the mobile. One of the most recent speakers was Nicholas Brooks, a visual effects supervisor on What Dreams May Come, who received an Oscar for his work on that film. (Brooks is half of the directing duo Honey, which is repped by Squeak Pictures, Los Angeles.) Each presentation is videotaped and sent to various worldwide offices of Bates.
Caffera feels it’s important for producers and creatives to think outside of the box, which is one reason he invites people from fields outside of advertising to make presentations. "We can see not only what the creative artists in the commercial production business are doing, but what’s happening in related areas, which is why we’ve also had feature guys," he says. "We give everyone a comprehensive view of what’s happening and see how we can apply it to TV production.
"Part of the objective of the seminars is not only to inform and educate, but also to inspire and to entertain," he continues. "We’ve always found that we’ve had very good question and answer periods after we’ve had these folks come in and give us their presentations."
