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04 06

12 14

What is Production Management?Introduction

Scheduling H e a l t h & S a f e t y

08

16

10Personal Qualities Budgeting

Career Paths

18H e a l t h & S a f e t y

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The aim of this booklet is to shed light on the role of the Production Manager. What personalit y traits would be advantageous to have for this role and what you would be responsible for in a production. There will be more detail in the area’s of Budgeting, Scheduling and Health and Safet y as these are such impor tant requirements of the job. The booklet will discuss what qualifications are beneficial and also give examples of how other working Production Managers who are in the industr y today got to their position. Fur ther to this there will be shor t state-ments/quotes from people in the industr y sharing their thoughts on the role of the Production Man-ager.

Even though within film and television the Produc-tion Manager is vital and has involvement in all aspects of production, it would appear that this is not as coveted a role as that of the Director or Camera Operator for example. The impor tant work of a Production Manager can be forgotten as it is not “seen” on camera. This could actually not be fur ther from the truth. This booklet has been cre-ated to illustrate to the reader that in fact ever y-thing that is seen on camera has been meticulously organised by the Production Manager. They have made what is seen on screen possible. The Produc-tion Manager has prearranged ever y thing from the crew, props, cameras and location, to the deliver y of the picture on your screen. This is an impor tant job that should cer tainly not be overlooked!

I n t r o d u c t i o n . . .

b y H o l l y W o o d sQ u o t e s f r o m :R o g e r G r a e fP h i l J o w e t tL e s l i e M i t c h e l l

OVERSIGHT

WHAT IS PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT?PROCESSES

HEALTH & SAFETY

DILIGENCE PROCEDURES

LEGAL

ON TIME

WH AT I S P RODUCTION MAN

AG

E MEN

T?

The Production Manager has a unique overview of the production or series of productions. Their job is to take care of all the planning and organisation to allow for creativity to thrive. This includes budgeting, scheduling and health and safety among other important but unseen aspects of a production. The work requires great attention to detail as any errors in these vital areas could be detriment to the production. Whilst it is not compulsory to have any media related qualifica-tions to be a production manager it does help to have some understanding of industry processes so that you can be sym-pathetic to the needs of the crew and appreciate what they are trying to achieve creatively. During a production there are many forms and reports that must be filled in and sent to the correct body. It is up to the Production Manager to ensure the correct person completes these and they are delivered to the right people on time. Personal safety is extremely impor-

tant on a production, crew may have to be given appropriate training in certain areas and health and safety needs to be continually monitored, this again falls under

the responsibility of the Production Manager. In addition to this, whilst the Production Manager does not need to have any

legal training it is important for them to try and spot potential problems. Arguably the most impor-

tant aspect of the Production Manager’s role is time management, at the end

of the day Time is Money! Whilst in all likelihood the Producer

negotiated the budget, it is the job of the Pro-

duction Manager to maintain it and

to remain in b u d g e t !

WHA

T IS PRODUCTION MANAGEMNT?

£BUDGETS

THERE’S NO NORMAL DAY. THERE’S A LOT OF IGNORANCE WHEN THEY’RE LOOKING FOR WORK EXPERIENCE,FOLK ALWAYS LOOK TO PRODUCING OR DIREC-ING, NEVER TO PRODUC-TION M A N A G E M E N T.

- LESLIE MITCHELL

APPROACHABLE

PATIENT

LEVEL-HEADED

ASSERTIVE

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YOU WILL BE THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR MANY OF THE PRODUCTION CREW. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE GOING TO YOU WITH ANY PROBLEMS THAT THEY MAY HAVE. IF YOU ARE NOT APPROACHABLE THESE PROBLEMS MAY NOT GET ADDRESSED AND THE PRODUCTION WILL BE IM-PACTED BECAUSE OF IT.

YOU WILL BE FACED WITH A GREAT DEAL OF PAPER WORK. THIS WILL BE AN ON-GOING CRUCIAL PART OF YOUR ROLE AS PRODUCTION MANAGER. THIS CAN BE-COME VERY TEDIOUS BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU MANAGE IT AND COMPLETE IT ALL THOROUGHLY AND ON TIME THROUGHOUT. YOU WILL ALSO HAVE TO HAVE PATIENCE WHEN YOU ARE DEALING WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCTION. YOU WILL BE THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE AND WILL HAVE TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH A GREAT LEVEL OF RESPECT.

YOU NEED TO BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR CAPABILITY TO DO YOUR JOB. YOU AND THE PRODUCER WILL HAVE THE MOST KNOWLEDGE OF THE OVERALL PRODUCTION. THEREFORE YOU WILL BE IN THE BEST POSITION TO MAKE THE DECISIONS THAT YOU MAKE. YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY AND TO HAVE GOT THIS JOB THAT REQUIRES YOU TO HAVE HAD THE SKILL IN THE FIRST PLACE. THEREFORE YOU SHOULD BE ASSERTIVE IN ALL YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES.

AS YOU WILL BE MANAGING AN ENTIRE PRODUCTION IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE THAT YOU MUST HAVE A LEVEL OF COMMON SENSE TO ENSURE THAT YOU MAKE SENSIBLE DECISIONS. ONCE YOU ARE GIVEN YOUR BUDGET IT IS IM-PERATIVE THAT YOU USE SOUND JUDGMENT TO PUT YOUR BUDGET TOGETHER WISELY. YOU WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR UNNECESSARY OVER SPENDS THAT PUT THE PRODUCTION IN JEOPARDY.

T H E M I N D O F A P R O D U C T I O N M A N A G E R

T H E M I N D O F A P R O D U C T I O N M A N A G E RINVENTIVE

WE LOOK AT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A PRODUCTION MANAGER...

PROBLEM-SOLVING

PEOPLE SKILLS

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ORGANISED

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WITHIN A PRODUCTION YOU WILL FACE MANY DIFFERENT PROB-LEMS THAT WILL ARISE. SUCH AS A DIRECTOR REQUESTING AN-OTHER DAYS SHOOT, A CONTRIBUTOR MISSING THEIR TRAIN. IT WILL BE UP TO YOU TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS AND TO DO THEM QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY TO ENSURE THERE IS MINIMUM IMPACT ON THE CREATIVE VISION OF THE DIRECTOR AND ALSO THE BUDGET.

AS A PRODUCTION MANAGER YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPEN. YOU WILL BE WHO IS RUNNING THE SHOW BE-HIND THE SCENES. WITH THAT IN MIND BEING INVENTIVE IS AN EX-CELLENT SKILL TO HAVE TO ENABLE YOU TO CREATE WAYS TO MAKE THE DIFFICULT REQUESTS YOU RECEIVE ACHIEVABLE. IT WILL HELP TO ASSIST YOU IN ENSURING YOU ARE USING ALL YOUR RESOURCES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

WHILST YOU WILL ALWAYS TRY TO AVOID CONFRONTATION IT IS INEVITABLE THAT YOU WILL BE FACED WITH IT FROM TIME TO TIME. IF IT IS A REQUEST THAT YOU ARE UNABLE TO FULFILL YOU WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO STAND YOUR GROUND ONCE YOUR DECISION HAS BEEN MADE. YOU MAY HAVE AN UNHAPPY CREW MEM-BER BUT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO LOOK AT THE OVERALL PRODUCTION NEEDS AND COSTS AND MAKE YOUR DECISION BASED ON THAT. YOU WILL NEED PEOPLE SKILLS TO DEAL WITH THESE CONFRONTATIONS.

YOU WILL BE IN CHARGE OF ESSENTIAL PAPERWORK AND REPORTS THAT WILL NEED TO BE MANAGED AND UPDATED CONSTANTLY. YOU WILL ALSO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT EVERYONE IN THE CREW HAS HAD THE CORRECT TRAINING TO DO THEIR JOB SAFELY. YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD LEVEL OF ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS TO KEEP ON TOP OF ALL THIS AND THEN TO ENSURE THAT IT IS ALL FILED AWAY CORRECTLY AT THE END OF PRO-DUCTION. WHEN THE PRODUCTION WORK IS OVER YOUR JOB DOES NOT END AS YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE ALL THE PAPERWORK ACCESSIBLE SHOULD ANY QUESTIONS ARISE LATER ON REGARDING COPYRIGHT , LEGALITIES. AND SAFETY ETC.

Everyone interviewed for the research of this booklet said that budgets are sim-ply not as daunting as you may think! Two Production Managers said that they can whip together an initial budget in twenty minutes stating that you get used to the formula and cost of for example equipment hire so it becomes second nature.

A Production Manager has many secrets to make their jobs easier! Over time they create templates using programs such as excel. They will use these over and over again and only have to make minor adjust-ments to make them suit-able for a new production.

If you have a good template most of the work is done for you. The template will have a formula embedded in it so will do all the math! It is certainly advisable to treble check everything though!

When making your budget it is common knowledge that you will set aside contin-gency money. This will act as an emergency fund should any unexpected costs arise during production. The Pro-duction Manager will try to avoid using this money at all costs. It can be up to 10% of the overall budget.

The budget can also be used as a Production Managers checklist! For example, it will remind you to organise the props and crew etc.

FACTS ABOUT PRODUCTION MANAGEMENTPre-Production Production

STORY/SCRIPT FEE

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

RESEARCHER

THE THREE LITTLE PIGGIES OF PRODUCTION

TR

AV E L /T RANSPORTPRE

SEN T E R S / ACT ORS/TALENT FEE’SLO

C AT I O N S/STUDIOS

MANAGING THE BUDGETOnce you have your budget and the project hopefully goes in to production. It is now time to manage the budget!To manage the budget it is important that you are up to date with it at all times. If you have any requests that may have an influence on the budget you want to be able to give an answer to these as quickly as possible. This is where being inventive comes in! You may be able to move things round, perhaps you over estimated the cost of a certain cost centre and you are in a position to make the request you have received happen or at least have a compromise! This is a skill learnt over time. You may also find that you have worked with some crew members numerous times before. From this you can pick up tendencies such as whether that crew member usually asks for an extra days shoot. Has it been beneficial in the past? In this case it might be possible to make more of an informed decision.Managing budgets goes alongside Budget Reports. You will have to do these regularly to present to your producer so they are continually updated on the status of the budget. This will include what you have spent and how much is left to spend in each cost centre.

“THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT THAT MANAGING BUDGETS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT”

Production Post Production

BUDGETS

- LESLIE MITCHELL

THE THREE LITTLE PIGGIES OF PRODUCTIONTR

AV E L /T RANSPORTPRE

SEN T E R S / ACT ORS/TALENT FEE’SLO

C AT I O N S/STUDIOS

HO T E L S

/LIVINGPR

O D U C TION CREWPRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

CO

PYRIGHT/CLEARANCES

POST PRODUCTION FACILITIES

GRAPHICS/SPECIALEFFECTS

Scheduling will vary from production to production. For example scheduling for a Drama will be very different then for a Documen-tary. If you are scheduling for a Drama it will in actual fact be called a script break down and you will be using software called Movie Magic to help you with this. If you are scheduling for a documentary you will base your schedule possibly around the event you are documenting or when the contributors are free etc.

The budget will again help to act as a reminder of all the components that you will need. The schedule will act as a timetable, it is a list containing times and locations for the shoots. Availability of actors, contributors and locations among other things, will be taken into account when putting it together. Along with this you will need to create a call sheet giving the times of when each crew member is due on set and also a contact sheet which will have contact details for the entire crew.

SCHEDULING

I CANNOT REMEMBER A SIN-GLE INSTANCE WHERE I HAVE SUGGESTED TO A STUDENT OR RECENT GRADUATE THAT THEY MIGHT DO WELL TO CONSIDER A CAREER AS A PRODUCTION MANAGER

“”Leslie Mitchell

Roger Graef“The person who really runs the show is the Production Manager”

I D E N T I F Y T H E H A Z A R D S DECIDE WHO MIGHT BE HARMED AND HOW EVALUATE THE RISKS AND DECIDE ON PRECAUTIONS RECORD YOUR FINDINGS AND IMPLEMENT THEM REVIEW YOUR ASSESSMENT AND UPDATE IF NECESSARY

&H E A LT HSAFET Y

Another responsibility of the production manager is to eliminate or re-duce the risk of injury to crew members whilst in their place of work. In order to do this you will need to ensure that everyone in the crew is aware of where their responsibilities lie, have a Health and Safety system in place, do a risk assessment and keep reassessing it. At the end of the production it is good practice to take notes on what worked and what didn’t so that you can learn from each experience.A valuable asset when looking for potential hazards is to have a good imagination!

Though you may not need media related qualifications, if you intend to pursue a career in Production Management you will need to be trained in Health and Safety and First Aid. Depending on your employer they may pay for this training.

These five basic steps help to assess a risk in the work place;

5 STEPS TO SAFETY

Health & Safety

I D E N T I F Y T H E H A Z A R D S DECIDE WHO MIGHT BE HARMED AND HOW EVALUATE THE RISKS AND DECIDE ON PRECAUTIONS RECORD YOUR FINDINGS AND IMPLEMENT THEM REVIEW YOUR ASSESSMENT AND UPDATE IF NECESSARY

ANDY KELK (Freelancer)ALISON CASTLE (BBC)

Alison started as a Duplication Coordinator and was

thrown in without any prior media knowledge.

She said you just need organisation and business

management. Work experience is also very important

to have. Though she had not previously worked in the

media industry this is what she says employers will be

looking for. She gradually made her way up the ladder

to Production Management level.

When Alison went for her current role with ‘Newsround’

she said that she had never done any studio work but

she convinced them that she could.

Andy went to Central School for Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage, London. It was here he studied for a Stage Manager qualification. After spending several years in theatre productions he got a job as a Floor Assistant with Thames Television. He then joined LWT as an Assistant Floor Manager, making his way up to Floor Manager and then finally Senior Floor Manager. He worked on many shows such as “The Audience with…” series and “The Royal Variety Performance” Andy then got invited to join LWT’s Factual Department where he became Assistant Director. With this new role he was able to be creative and put his organisational skills to good use. The move to Factual naturally lead him to another new role which was Production Manager. He felt that it was in this role he was able develop his commu-nication and negotiation skills further. Andy now works as a freelancer.

FREELANCE

If you are working as a freelance Production Manager

you will be hired per episode or possibly for a series.

Either way you will most likely be only working on

one project. You could be working on this project

over months. You may be involved in the development

process and you will see it right through to post pro-

duction however then your job will be finished. It is of

the upmost importance that you make good contacts,

as you will want them to remember you when you are

not working. You will need to be able to budget your

own finances, as there is the possibility that there

will not be continuous work as a freelancer.

PATHS TO PRODUCTOION MANAGEMENT

.

Paths to Production Management (Graphic)*

Andy went to Central School for Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage, London. It was here he studied for a Stage Manager qualification. After spending several years in theatre productions he got a job as a Floor Assistant with Thames Television. He then joined LWT as an Assistant Floor Manager, making his way up to Floor Manager and then finally Senior Floor Manager. He worked on many shows such as “The Audience with…” series and “The Royal Variety Performance” Andy then got invited to join LWT’s Factual Department where he became Assistant Director. With this new role he was able to be creative and put his organisational skills to good use. The move to Factual naturally lead him to another new role which was Production Manager. He felt that it was in this role he was able develop his commu-nication and negotiation skills further. Andy now works as a freelancer.

PATHS TO PRODUCTOION MANAGEMENT

.

Paths to Production Management (Graphic)*

“I started as a production Assistant and did corporate films for a year at a com-pany in London. I then went to work for the BBC as a temp and so I was doing kind of production assisting jobs and secretarial stuff for about three months. And then I got offered the role of a Production Assistant on Top of The Pops so I went to work on Top of The Pops for two and a half years as a Production As-sistant. Did some research work too. Then I moved in to factual TV as a junior Production Coordinator and then I progressed on as a Coordinator and then as a Production Manager after that.”

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COMPANY/BROADCASTERIf you are working for a production company or a broad-caster you will in all likelihood be working over many different productions perhaps 4 or 5. Your actual role can differ slightly depending on who you are working for. Some production companies will involve the production manager a lot more in development whereas in others you will not be involved at all. The same can be said for the commissioning process, this decision will lie with the Producer. If you are working for a company such as the BBC your job will require you to work mostly in an office and not on set. If you are working with a production company the programme you are working on and the company you are working for will affect whether you are ever required to work on set.

Key to ZonesProduction Manager

Assistant Pro. Manager

Production Coordinator

Runner

CLARE LUCAS (Films Of Record)

Bibliography

“Production Management for Television”, Author Leslie Mitchell, published by “Routledge Taylor and Francis Group” in 2009.

With Thanks to Clare Lucas,Alison Castle Phil JowettRoger Graef

Whilst as stated before there is no requirement for a Production Manager to have any media related qualifications, it can be beneficial to have knowledge of industry processes when actually carrying out your job. Constructing and managing the budget is the responsibility of the Production Manager. Therefore it will be down to you how much is spent on each element of production. It would certainly be advanta-geous for you to know how the camera works or what new technology there is out there and the process of editing etc. so you have better judgement in regards to how much you spend on each element.Whilst there are no set qualifications that you need to become a Production Manager there are courses that are available if you wish to do so..

The London Academy of Media Film & TV have a Diploma Course;

• Production Manager Workshop

The National Film and Television School have two Diploma courses;

• Production Management in Film• Production Management in Television

There are also many Universities that have a wide range of media related courses that would certainly be advantageous to some-one hoping for a career in Production Management.

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Qualifications

Useful Websites

The Production Managers Association http://www.pma.org.uk/

Production Guild http://www.productionguild.com/

Musicians’ Union http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/

BECTU, the trade union represents production personnel; http://www.bectu.org.uk/

Equity is the trade union representing artists across the whole spectrum of arts and entertainment; http://www.equity.org.uk/

Bibliography

“Production Management for Television”, Author Leslie Mitchell, published by “Routledge Taylor and Francis Group” in 2009.

With Thanks to Clare Lucas,Alison Castle Phil JowettRoger Graef

Useful Websites

The Production Managers Association http://www.pma.org.uk/

Production Guild http://www.productionguild.com/

Musicians’ Union http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/

BECTU, the trade union represents production personnel; http://www.bectu.org.uk/

Equity is the trade union representing artists across the whole spectrum of arts and entertainment; http://www.equity.org.uk/

If anyone can show me a better job in TV, I’ll take it!“ Phil Jowett

”

MEDIA