Production paperwork

"Being a Producer is easy, it's like riding a bike, except the bike is on fire, you are on fire, and everything is on fire."- I feel this statement really reflects the experience of being a Producer on this unit and managing the paperwork, however I loved the chaos of it, and feel that I learnt a lot about my own strengths and abilities; organisation definitely being one of them, as well as the importance of it. 

As Producer, one of the most important aspects of my role was planning and development. It was key for me to be as organised as possible in order for the production to run smoothly, and to avoid it becoming chaotic (Kellison, 2008:13). As the Producer I have to "propel the project from an unformed idea to a final broadcast" (Kellison, 2008:2) and this does require lots of paperwork. A decision that we made early on was that we wanted to be as environmentally friendly as we can be by having all documents uploaded and created online as we were inspired by the video below, and this also works well with the lockdown situation that we were in during pre production as all paperwork could be shared virtually between the crew. Furthermore, having all the paperwork uploaded onto Google Drive allowed there to be “good communication and collaboration during the production process" (Kellison, 2008:128) and this was vital when working as a team virtually for most of the planning process.

Conversely, an issue that we faced with all production paperwork being online was that there was the risk of anyone that has access to any of the documents accidentally deleting them, or even corruption of files; and this was something that worried me. To prevent this to start with we did back all files up, nonetheless towards the end of production there were so many different documents added that it became hard to keep a track of what had been backed up and what had not. In future, it may be worth having a spreadsheet noting down locations of the backups of documents and whether they have been made. Hence again trying to reduce the any added chaos during the preproduction phase, and therefore I would be furthering my skill development as a Producer. 

One of the biggest lessons that I learnt when completing the production paperwork was that you have to have "patience, humour, and a clear vision of the project." (Kellison, 2008:15) Consequently having the Google Drive allowed us to create multiple folders for each stage of production which was a great help with making our aims as Producers as clear as they could have been. Additionally there are "different ways that people learn and absorb information" (Kellison, 2008:14) so to aid this we created individual folders for each member of the production crew where they could place any paperwork that they wanted to and this way it allowed them to upload work in their own style and at their own time, and as Producer it allowed me to have access to it and offer feedback where needed. Hence I will definitely use Google Drive to help to organise the paper work again on future projects, especially when working as part of a team.

Fig. 1 Google Drive

Fig. 2 Uploads to Google Drive

When it came to production week it did become a little challenging to keep track of all paperwork. This was due to some members of the production crew needing scripts and other documents on the set, furthermore after the first day in the studio there were lots of pieces of paper around the cameras and this was exactly what we had aimed to avoid by having all documents online. To solve this issue, we purchased 11 small folders and a plastic crate for them to go in. This was always kept on set and all members of production crew could keep any vital paperwork that had to be printed, neatly stored in there. As well as this, we also decided to use the Ipads and this meant that we could access the paperwork online in the studio which therefore fulfilled our aim of trying to reduce our printing and keep most things digital. I do feel that this was a large problem that we managed to overcome, as although we originally had printed documents and had them placed around in the studio, we then realised our mistake and were able to overcome the hurdle and know for next time on future projects to use ipads and keep physical paperwork to a minimum. 

As Producer, it was so important to have a clear vision (Kellison, 2008:15) of the production laid out for all of the Production Crew, and to aid us with this one of the first pieces of paperwork that we created was a Trending bible. This contained all information relating to Trending and fully outlines the structure of the show as well as the style, set, covid plans and research that we had undertook to create Trending. That being so, it was really helpful to have the bible from the very start of production so that everyone was able to familiarise themselves with the idea. As we made changes and tweaks to the show, we made updates of the bible so that the information on it was always accurate to reduce anyone from getting confused. A slight issue that we had was that as the production process moved forwards, more and more tweaks were being made to the structure of the show and we were unable to keep the bible updated with them. This did worry me slightly as I felt concerned that the production crew may look at an outdated version of the bible. To overcome this in future I would perhaps schedule to make a new bible every couple of weeks, or just when there is a large change to the structure. Nevertheless luckily we did have a very good communication system in place so in this instance my worries were irrational. 

Fig. 3 The Bible

One of the first documents that we had created was a 'to- do' list. This was spit into columns of who is doing the task and when it needs to be done by. This was such a great help during the whole production process as we were able to keep track of whether or not tasks had been done and what we still had left to organise. We were able to colour code the list to help everyone visually see what stage each task was at. Using colours to organise it was extremely useful, and additionally when making to do lists I learnt a lot about how I work and this allowed me develop my own working skills and methodologies. I realised that breaking tasks down into smaller sub categories allows me to tackle it more efficiently, rather than being faced with a larger task and finding it somewhat overwhelming. By using this method and breaking jobs down into smaller processes and putting them into to do lists, I was able to achieve more work at once. 

 Fig. 4 To do list

During this unit I realised how vital it is to work as a team, and as Producer I wanted to be as helpful with the rest of the team as possible. A decision that myself and George made at the start of the lectures on the unit, is that we would take notes on all online lectures. Being in a national lockdown while planning the show did create challenges, yet we did our best to tackle them all, and in this instance a hurdle that we had to face was members of the class having any internet or connection issues when joining online lectures. Thus a solution to this was for myself and George to type up notes from all online lectures and then share them straight to the Google Drive. Hence we were able to log all relevant information online and therefore if anybody had connection issues, this would not have a consequence. 

Fig. 5 Lecture document

Once everyone had been informed of their job roles in the production crew, we created a document which listed everyones names along with their job title and responsibility. We then could share this out and it was really useful to keep track and to familiarise ourselves with what each role entails. Additionally, the list was very helpful with knowing who would be working with who, for example we were able to see who was working on the VT's and then from this create messaging chats for VT team to communicate on. I feel that having this document enabled me to enhance my managerial skills as I could see each class members responsibilities and check that they knew who to go for in they needed something, but as well as this it allowed me to offer support if anyone was confused on their role. 

Fig. 6 Job roles

Another document that we created early on was a meeting schedule, where we posted the dates of all meetings and who needs to attend them. This was beneficial with allowing me to develop my organisational skills as well as making everything a clear as possible for the rest of the production crew as we would inform them to check it every time there was a scheduled meeting to see whether or not they were needed.  A drawback of using this method to schedule meetings was that to start with not everybody checked it which meant that we would have meetings but not everyone that we needed to would attend. This then caused further problems due to class members missing some meetings, thus we made the decision to send a message a few days prior to each meeting to let classmates know that they needed to attend the meeting and then another message the day before with the details of how to join it virtually. This did work, and it stopped the issue of some class members not turning up, however it did feel a little unprofessional having to message and if we had a larger class it would make it a lot more challenging to message everyone. When reflecting on this, in future I would email everyone needed a couple of days before with the meeting details as this would be a lot more time efficient. 

Fig. 7 Meeting schedule

Throughout every meeting that took place we did take notes that would be uploaded directly to the Google Drive so that any of the class can easily access it. This did help slightly with the problem of some members of the class missing meetings as they were able to read up on it afterwards, hence I would definitely do this again in future when working in a team as it reduces any confusion. When reflecting on others missing lectures, I feel that I may have worried unnecessarily about it and the detriments that it may cause to the final product, however looking back there was no need to as come production week the whole team were clear on the idea. When reflecting, in future I will work to focus more on making sure that others are clear on what they have missed by contacting them directly with the meeting notes and asking if they have any questions, rather than feeling concerned about problems occurring that are very unlikely. 

Fig. 8 Meeting notes

Once we had the production date finalised, we made the production schedule, and the call sheet; which "act as the glue that holds the production together" (Brown et al, 2016:66) and are therefore some of the most important documents. We decided to use a gantt chart for the master schedule as we felt that they are the clearest to visually read, but it also allowed us to breakdown tasks into smaller ones. when creating a basis for the production schedule we thought to "use dates as building blocks" (Brown et al, 2016:66) as we could then match them to task and add milestones once a task was due to be finished. When looking back,  using this method really helped with allowing us to see the production broken up into smaller parts and it made the whole process seem less overwhelming to me. Thus once we had the building blocks, we were able to "work backwards for the production run length" (Brown et al, 2016:66)  and double check that we had enough time for all that needed to be done. In reflection working backwards with dates was useful in knowing that we had scheduled accurately, and in future I will follow the same process. Creating the production schedule aided me with developing my organisational skills as in the past I have never put this much methodology into creating  a master schedule, hence now I know how to structure one at an industry standard. 

Fig. 9 Master schedule

Fig. 10 Call sheet

After creating the master production schedule, we shard it with the rest of the class. A concern of mine was that because there are quite a lot of tasks and milestones on it, it may be slightly overwhelming for the production crew as not every task is relevant to them. Furthermore we thought it may be a good idea if we made individual schedules for all of the production crew that follow the same format as the master schedule, but that only include tasks relevant to that particular class member. In retrospection, creating individual schedules was not needed and used up a lot of time that could have been spent on something else, although I am glad that we did it as it taught me that as a Producer it is important to be clear to to prevent any obstacles (Brown et al, 2016:13), you do not need to be over accommodating and use time ineffectively. 

Fig. 11 Individual schedules

Fig. 12 Production day schedule

As Producer of the show, one of my roles was to brief members of the class on their tasks throughout the production. These briefs were for a multitude of jobs ranging from creating the logo and set, to social specific social media posts, as well as researching questions for the game segment. Prior to this unit, I had had very little experience of briefing people therefore we spoke to Jonathan about it and he described that each brief should follow a similar format, and should be a simple document outlining the task along with information about the production. Hence when creating briefs we did this and sent them to the relevant class members, nevertheless there was sometimes still some confusion with a few class members. When looking back, in retrospect I feel fortunate that this happened, as it taught me that "everybody absorbs information in a different way" (Kellison, 2008:14) further to this it allowed me to discuss how we can add elements to briefs to make them more visual, or a little clearer. 

By doing so we ended up with a mixture of briefs that all worked best for each class member, for example a VT brief was more of a descriptive list, which juxtaposed a graphics list which was a list of images, and a research brief which contained multiple examples. This again reflects that during the paperwork process I did not just complete some admin and planning, instead I was able to really grasp onto how others work and learn a lot about myself and how I approach tasks, and when completing briefs in the future I know how to format one, along with how to make alterations if production crew members need me to do so. Learning these lessons now are the building blocks that will aid me for when working in the television industry. 

Fig. 13 Graphics brief

Fig. 14 Set design brief

Fig. 15 Music brief

After establishing what elements we wanted in the show we were able to create a running order. As a Producer it is my job to "create an idea that translates well to the screen" (Brown et al, 2016:15) and making the running order made our idea seem very viable. Myself and George had never created running orders before so to help we asked Jonathan if we could see some examples, we then merged these together to make our own. In reflection,  the running order turned out to be one of the most crucial documents in the whole production process; it allowed us to time our programme accurately to the second, as well as see a broken down structure of every building block in the whole show (Brown et al, 2016:66). 

I used excel formatting to systemically work out if we were going to be under or over time during rehearsals and this was a huge help. A misconception that I had was that timings needed to be to the nearest 5 seconds, however I soon learnt that this was not the case and how vital it is for them to be correct and to the nearest second, otherwise the whole show wold be under or over time and that needs to be avoided at all costs. We used colour coding so that visually certain segments were linked, as well as it helping with being able to spot graphics or VT's easily. Colour coding is such a useful tool and I will always use it on future productions. 

Fig. 16 Running order

When recruiting hosts the research team were very much involved with the early auditions, nonetheless myself and George wanted to be as helpful as possible, but also as Producers we are the "coalface of any decision making" (Brown et al, 2016:46) hence we wanted to be involved. Following this we created an 'audition checklist' which allowed those hosting the auditions to go through and score the auditionees based on qualities that we wanted them to have, along with this we also made a schedule for them to help with organising audition timings. For example we wanted the hosts to be fun and enthusiastic with lots of knowledge on trends, so we broke these down into smaller parts which then aided the research team to write questions. In recollection I feel really happy that we made this as even though myself and George did not attend the early auditions, it gave us a good idea on how they went. Additionally I feel that it is these small supportive tasks to help the rest of the class that help make a good Producer, not just planning but creating documents that aid others and allow us to offer as much support as we can; therefore I will always do my best in future projects to create something similar. 

Fig. 17 Audition checklist

Fig. 18 Audition schedule

Once tasks had been completed by classmates, they directly uploaded them to the Google Drive where myself and George were then able to give them feedback. Part of my role is to "supervise every step of development" (Kellison, 2008:15) and this included giving feedback and support whenever needed. Whenever giving feedback I created a document that suggested some changes as well as having positive elements on it too; it also broke the task down into segments, hence giving blocks for them to then progress from. Giving feedback was an aspect of producing that I did find particularly challenging; I did not like the thought of hurting anyones feelings or wording it in the wrong way.  I learnt that it was best to "have patience and be clear" (Kellison, 2008:15), it is best to appreciate work or research that someone has done, along with suggesting further developments that could be made. An improvement that I would make in future, is that instead of worrying about wording, I will just focus on being as clear as possible, and will say feedback in a way that I would want it to be said to me. Overcoming this worry with giving feedback was a big step for me and it has allowed me to have a lot more confidence when producing, especially as being a producer is all about "overcoming obstacles" (Brown et al, 2016:13) which is exactly what I did here. 

Fig. 19 Feedback form

During the production process, at the start of every week myself or George would write up about all the changes and progress that we had all made with Trending and would email it to the whole class. As a producer you have to have "good communication during the process" (Kellison, 2008:128) and this is exactly what we tried to do with the amendments list. Not only did this allow us to keep organised with what tasks we could cross off of our to do list, it also allowed us to reflect on everyones achievements with Trending over the week. I feel so glad that we did this as it in turn kept everyone in check but we also received positive feedback from the class with them enjoying reading what all production crew members had been busy working on over the week. 

Fig. 20 Amendments list

In order to keep everything on track with the graphics and VT's, we made a graphics list which had all of them ordered so that they could be stacked. This list was quite simple to make, although it was very time consuming to type out. I feel that a mistake that we made was to type it out quite early on in the process as it meant that we had to keep making adjustments to it which took up a lot of time that could have been used somewhere else. A lesson that I learnt from this was that I should wait until certain elements of the production were further along in the process before I create any documents for them; this way I would be able to use my time more efficiently. 

Fig. 21 Vt List

Fig. 22 Graphics list

A document that we used a lot during the production process was the budget plan. Before this unit I had never created a budget before, and we were working with quite a large amount of money so it was extremely important to do create it accurately. Furthermore I completed some research and discovered that "all you need to create a budget is a spreadsheet" (Brown et al, 2016:67) and this is very true. We managed to create a budget plan as well as a spreadsheet to monitor our budget all via Google Sheets. Creating on the online version of Excel was really helpful as it also meant that everyone could view it so they too could learn about making a budget. 

The first step that we took when making the budget was to "work in broad figures" (Brown et al, 2016:67) as this allowed us to estimate how much each item would cost, so that we then had an idea for how much we needed to raise. Once we then had funds to work with, we were able to go back and revise the figures and make them more accurate by searching for the best deals.  (Brown et al, 2016:67) A mistake that we made when creating the budget was initially forgetting about delivery details, and when we then had to add them in we realised the "stress that budgeting can bring" (Brown et al, 2016:67) as it was really important to stay within the budget. In retrospect the biggest lesson I have learnt from making the budget is quite simple, it is to not be overwhelmed by the thought of it and the consequences if something goes a bit wrong as that is what planning is for. I do feel that I am quite good with numbers so by creating the budget it has taught me that it is something that will improve my skills for producing, rather than an aspect of production to be afraid of. 

Fig. 23 Budget list

Fig. 24 Budget plan

As Producer one of our jobs was to ensure that everyone is kept safe (Brown et al, 2016:62). Health and safety is so important and we needed to put in place as many precautions as we possibly could. Filming during a pandemic also flags up multiple issues and it was vital for us to make everyone on set feel as safe. Being a Producer comes with a "duty of care" (Brown et al, 2016:64) as we need to keep the team safe hence it was our job to complete the risk assessments as well as any covid safety documents. "Risk assessments are used to identify all risks" (Small, 2000:5) thus it was vital for us to complete. Filling in the risk assessment was very time consuming compared to when usually filling them in, however I feel that this was due to being responsible for a large amount of people, as well as there being more risks to consider when creating an As Live show with a crew. After completing it I felt very pleased as not only had we identified risks which enabled us to then put control measured into place (Small, 2000:5), but we also now have a completed risk assessment for an As Live show which will be great to have in the future. 

Fig. 25 Screenshot from a risk assessment

A huge safety implication that we had to consider was with covid. We needed to do everything in our power to consider covid-19 and how to keep the set risk free. To help with this, we created an online google health form that was emailed to everyone arriving on set during production day. As well as this we created a Covid-19 safety document which stated all of the rules that the production crew had to adhere to. Creating these documents was a great decision as it allowed us to lower the risk of spreading covid-19. Despite this, we did make one error that has been a big learning opportunity; on the google form we asked those filling it in about how they feel, and if they have been near anyone with coronavirus, yet we forgot to ask for their names, which therefore made the form partly ineffective as we could not work out who had not filled it in. Even though this was very frustrating, it was a simple mistake and in the future we know to always ask for the name or email of the people that need to fill it in. 

Fig. 26 Covid safety

Fig. 27 Google health form

List of Illustrations: 

Fig. 1 Emmerson, S. (2021) Google Drive

Fig. 2 Emmerson, S. (2021) Uploads to Google Drive

Fig. 3 Emmerson, S. (2021) The Bible

Fig. 4 Emmerson, S. (2021) To do list

Fig. 5 Emmerson, S. (2021) Lecture document

Fig. 6 Emmerson, S. (2021) Job roles

Fig. 7 Emmerson, S. (2021) Meeting schedule

Fig. 8 Emmerson, S. (2021) Meeting notes

Fig. 9 Emmerson, S. (2021) Master schedule

Fig. 10 Emmerson, S. (2021) Call sheet

Fig. 11 Emmerson, S. (2021) Individual schedules

Fig. 12 Emmerson, S. (2021) Production day schedule

Fig. 13 Emmerson, S. (2021) Graphics brief

Fig. 14 Emmerson, S. (2021) Set design brief

Fig. 15 Emmerson, S. (2021) Music brief

Fig. 16 Emmerson, S. (2021) Running order

Fig. 17 Emmerson, S. (2021) Audition checklist

Fig. 18 Emmerson, S. (2021) Audition schedule

Fig. 19 Emmerson, S. (2021) Feedback form

Fig. 20 Emmerson, S. (2021) Amendments list

Fig. 21 Emmerson, S. (2021) Vt List

Fig. 22 Emmerson, S. (2021) Graphics list

Fig. 23 Emmerson, S. (2021) Budget list

Fig. 24 Emmerson, S. (2021) Budget plan

Fig. 25 Emmerson, S. (2021) Screenshot from a risk assessment

Fig. 26 Emmerson, S. (2021) Covid safety

Fig. 27 Emmerson, S. (2021) Google health form

Bibliography:

Kellison, C. (2008) Producing for TV and a New Media: a Real World Approach Oxford: Focal. At: https://myuca.uca.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jsp?course_id=_70230_1&displayName=Reading%20List&href=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fblti%2FlaunchPlacement%3Fblti_placement_id%3D_300_1%26course_id%3D_70230_1%26mode%3Dview%26wrapped%3Dtrue (Accessed 15/04/2021)

Brown, L., Duthie, L. (2016) The TV Studio Production Handbook. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Small, R. (2000) Production Safety for Film, Television, and Video Oxford: Focal Press. At: https://myuca.uca.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jsp?course_id=_70230_1&displayName=Reading%20List&href=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fblti%2FlaunchPlacement%3Fblti_placement_id%3D_300_1%26course_id%3D_70230_1%26mode%3Dview%26wrapped%3Dtrue (Accessed 16/04/2021)