Grooming New Talent: Finding and Creating Opportunities
Amber Wimmer, director of interactive production at KBS, was among the professionals offering career advice to aspiring directors and producers.
Producers on agency, production co. sides of the biz offer advice to aspiring directors, producers

“Break a leg” is theatrical slang for good luck. But there’s more than luck involved in breaking successfully into the industry and evolving into a working producer and/or director.

Each step along the way is a challenge—one we hope to make a little easier through career advice offered by a cross-section of producers from the ad agency and production house sectors.

To help foster opportunities for those seeking a meaningful foothold in the business—and in the spirit of SHOOT’s 16th New Directors Showcase event set for Thursday evening, May 24, at the DGA Theatre in NYC—we invited agency and production house pros to offer career counsel to aspiring directors and producers.

To gain prudent career-building advice, SHOOT posed the following four questions to established producers:

1) What advice do you have for new directors? 
2) What advice can you offer to up-and-coming producers? 
3) Learning is an ongoing process even for the most seasoned producer. Would you share a recent lesson learned on the job, perhaps related to a project involving new technology (i.e., VR, AR, AI, etc.) or another experience? 
4) What recent project are you particularly proud of—and why? You can include a direct link to it. 

Here are portions of some of the feedback and informed counsel we received.

CLICK HERE to page through the survey responses, or click on the NAME or HEADSHOT below.

Name Title Company
Paul Albanese Managing Director, Broadcast Production David&Goliath
Brett Alexander SVP, Executive Producer The Martin Agency
Nathy Aviram Chief Production Officer McCann NY
Justin Barnes Partner & Creative Director Versus
Kira Carstensen Global Managing Partner Merman
Melissa Ciampa Founder/Executive Producer Spittn Image
Sophie Gold Executive Producer Wondros
Chris Grey Director of Production Legwork Studio
Joe Grundhoefer Head of Integrated Production, Sr Partner Carmichael Lynch
Diane Jackson Chief Production Officer DDB Chicago
Loretta Jeneski Executive Producer Nonfiction Unlimited
Mike Lobikis Executive Producer Mass Appeal
Lola Lott CEO/Principal charlieuniformtango
Ted Markovic Managing Director Steelhead
Stacy McCann Sr Director of Integrated Production WONGDOODY
James McPherson EVP Head Of Integrated Production GREY/TOWNHOUSE
Allen Perez VP Creative Director of Production Orcí
Luke Ricci President & Executive Producer Bullitt
Josh Shadid Executive Producer Lord Danger
Christine Sigety SVP, Director of Integrated Production Fitzco
Matt Silliman SVP, Executive Producer 22squared
Amber Wimmer Director of Interactive Production KBS

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