One of the most satisfying aspects of the business, according to many heads of production at major ad agencies, is finding talented young people and developing them into full-fledged producers. "I happen to love doing that," says Mark Sitley, who recently joined Euro RSCG MVBMS, New York, as partner/executive creative director of production. "I’d much rather not hire on a senior or executive level, and spend that money to hire a lot of people I could mentor or grow instead."
"You can’t help but want to bring people along," says Brian DiLorenzo, director of broadcast North America, for Fallon, Minneapolis and New York. "You get a chance to see them grow. There’s nothing more rewarding."
"It’s the best," concurs Peter Friedman, executive VP/director of broadcast production at McCann-Erickson, New York. "I’m close to a lot of the heads of production in New York. I know for a fact that what makes them good heads of production is that they really enjoy and get great pleasure—as I do—in hiring a young kid and bringing him or her along. It’s beautiful to watch, and you’re really proud of it."
The economics of the advertising business today have all but eliminated formal training programs, but most agencies that do a lot of television work have fairly structured on-the-job training regimens that let new talent contribute to the production process, while at the same time preparing them for bigger responsibilities. Agency to agency, there are lots of similarities in how they make coordinators and assistants into producers who handle jobs on their own, but there are many subtle variations as well.
Deutsch LA
At Deutsch LA, rookie producers start by spending a year as an assistant to Randy Morton, senior VP/director of broadcast production. "It’s literally about learning the basics of advertising and the inner functioning of an ad agency—how the production department functions and interfaces with other groups," explains Morton. "I give them specific responsibilities that help lay the foundation for their future as a producer, such as attending weekly job status meetings, updating production job charts, research, coordinating meetings—things that directly support the production department. And they directly assist me as well."
The next stage is associate producer. "At this level, I put them through training in postproduction," Morton says. "I’m heavy on postproduction for the first two to three years. … They learn about radio and all aspects of production finishing: voice casting, vendor and talent contracts, organization skills, follow-up and communication skills. The faint of heart wouldn’t want to work for me at this level because I really apply the heat. It allows me to see who really has the character, maturity, confidence and creativity to take on the unforgiving responsibilities of a producer.
"If an associate producer starts to shine and demonstrates to me that they have what it takes to go to the producer level, I’ll start attaching them to producers so they can go out on productions," Morton continues. "At this stage, I increase my discussions with them about story, story structure, film language, photography, line production, board breakdown, creative spec development, production bidding, interpreting creative treatments and so on. When they get into the later stage of being an associate producer and my intentions are to promote them, I’ll assign them as the lead producer on a smaller production with myself, my executive producer or a senior producer shadowing them. They have to demonstrate professional client skills, creative depth and production leadership. I have to feel comfortable that they can guide a production on their own. By the time I do promote an associate producer to producer, they’ve truly earned it. The title has weight."
The Martin Agency
There isn’t a lot of film production in The Martin Agency’s hometown of Richmond, Va., so there are fewer opportunities for Steve Humble, senior VP/director of broadcast production, to bring junior level producers to shoots, edits and finishing sessions. "We try to take advantage of being fairly close to New York, so our assistants do go there to do post work and help out the producers," he shares. "We’ve had some effects companies come in, and it’s helpful for younger people to see effects jobs—how they’re layered, how you shoot different pieces and how they go together."
On a recent shoot of five UPS spots with a NASCAR racing theme that David Shane of bicoastal/international Hungry Man directed in Charlotte, N.C., Humble brought two assistant producers along. "They were there for some of the pre-production and the shoot," Humble says. "They helped me out, but they weren’t [really] there to work. I wanted them there to watch. The best way to learn is to be there while it’s happening."
Assistant producers also sit in on pre-production meetings and conference calls with directors. "They’re there to listen and learn how the art director talks, and listen to the directors’ feedback," Humble notes. "When we come down to a decision, they understand why we decided on the director. A lot of times they’ll sit in while we’re looking at casting."
Associate producers are doing smaller productions and lots of radio, Humble says, along with some more intensive post work. The next promotion is to producer, with the learning process taking from two to four years. "It’s important for all our producers on staff to be mentors," he notes. "Each producer has a different style. I’ve told assistants and associates, ‘You should watch all the producers on staff because every one does it a little differently and we’re all successful at it.’ "
Fallon
Fallon has the same two levels below the actual producer stage, but those roles are a bit more loosely defined. "We start with an assistant producer who is very much involved in helping out all the producers in general," says DiLorenzo. "They learn by osmosis. The simple rule is: speak when spoken to. They work on research projects, stock footage searches, schedule internal meetings, call in reels, do availability checks, assist in the creation of rips and ‘select’ reels, and cover shipping duties. They also get assigned small internal projects to manage, such as client presentation videos."
Associate producers help producers on large jobs or [work on] their own smaller jobs. "They run larger internal projects, do radio production and TV revisions, and contribute to director searches," DiLorenzo relates. "When possible, they attend productions along with the primary producer. It’s on-the-job training, but it’s done more in a piecemeal fashion, and then we try to knit those experiences together and supervise that as they continue to gain experience."
There is no set timetable, DiLorenzo notes, adding, "The point is to allow people to get through as quickly as possible so they can become an effective department member as soon as possible."
Euro RSCG MVBMS
Sitley, who takes particular pride in having brought DiLorenzo up through the ranks at Fallon before moving over to Euro RSCG MVBMS a couple of months ago, wants beginners to be flies on the wall, taking in everything going on in the department. "Generally, they start out copying, faxing, getting the booklets together," Sitley says of his young producers at Euro RSCG MVBMS. "But they have the right to read everything. It’s incumbent on them to be familiar with everything that’s in the library. When you’re a young producer, you’ll be given a date [of] four or five months after you start to put on a show for the creative department of the twenty most interesting spots you’ve seen that didn’t win an award. That means they have to do their homework.
"I’ve never been let down by how absolutely fascinating to me—and to the most savvy creatives—these things can be," he continues. "That’s a small thing, but it’s empowering to the kid, as well as helpful to their growth and to the team."
In the next step, Sitley’s up-and-coming people get into doing revisions on jobs, including the multitude of MCI spots produced by the shop that have to be tailored for different parts of the country and world. "That’s how they get exposed to the process and into the editing rooms," Sitley explains. "Then they would be given small jobs, probably more local jobs, and later small full-up jobs, small one-day or two-day shoots. An executive producer would have talked with them at the end of every day about what they did and would probably attend the pre-production meeting to make sure everything was on course, but then leave them alone and come back when they’re at the rough-cut stage. You’re starting to let them go. When they’ve done a lot of those things, you give them bigger ones. In two or three years, I can put them on some international Intel or Volvo work. Three years is a reasonable time frame for that."
McCann-Erickson
McCann-Erickson starts rookies as coordinators. "They will learn who the suppliers are, understand about production, how to do things," Friedman says. "They’ll be doing a lot of paperwork, but they need to learn that. We send them on shoots [and let them] sit in on meetings. They’ll follow an assistant producer around on radio sessions, animatics, test commercials, things like that, for about a year."
Assistant producers start doing some small productions on their own and travel with producers on bigger shoots. "They’re thrown in head first," Friedman relates. "We have an executive producer or senior producer to work with every assistant and coordinator. They’ll be producing projects that they can’t get into trouble on for a good year."
Friedman stresses that his producers have all been taught that they can say no when they have to, and to never fear asking questions. "It’s very important that we don’t throw anybody in over their heads," he says. "We don’t want to set up a situation where anyone will fail. You can’t afford to have that. Our people are very knowledgeable, and if they don’t know something they’re not afraid to ask."
TBWA/Chiat/Day
Richard O’Neill, head of broadcast production at TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, starts new people as broadcast assistants who are trained in the basics by his broadcast coordinators, people who are only one step up the ladder from the assistants.
It’s at the coordinator level that the heavy lifting starts. "At that stage," O’Neill says, "assistant producers [will train broadcast assistants] to do the animatics, voiceover sessions, and take them in to do some little industrial films, or do research—calling in film pieces, materials or doing specific research for a producer. The assistants and coordinators also coordinate all the viewings or screenings here so they get to know who all the suppliers are. They’re not in a decision-making capacity, but they are doing work for the agency."
Coordinators also learn the computer programs used in doing estimates and preparing bids. "They get used to all the work the assistant producers do," O’Neill notes. "They are also asked to take outside courses—film appreciation, editing, photography—whatever they need to round themselves out."
In a matter of months, depending on agency needs and skill levels, coordinators move up to assistant producer. "I put them with a senior producer," O’Neill says. "I want them to learn aesthetics from the senior producers—how to judge directors’ reels, editorial reels, different types of music composition; how to conduct themselves in an editing suite, on a shoot; how to know the equipment. They have to be able to look at a storyboard and do their own estimates, be able to bid out a job."
O’Neill requires assistant producers to show up on the shoot before the equipment is unloaded. "They watch how long it takes," he says. "They check what was brought in against estimates, do a recap of estimate-to-actual and present it."
For most assistant producers, the last step before becoming a full producer is six months to a year of working with O’Neill. "They call that ‘the gauntlet’ or ‘the nightmare,’ " he jokes. "I’m quizzing them constantly and pushing them forward. I don’t want anybody coming out of here who does not know the business."
Evidence that his system works came not too long ago when one of the major cost control consulting companies hired a former O’Neill assistant producer as a controller. "It made me laugh that a cost control company—the bane of production companies—would hire somebody who was trained in the advertising field here," he recalls. "When she called to tell me, I said, ‘I guess we trained you a little too well.’ "
