Producing

More on Peak TV and how TV Production is Changing

So, one of the things I obsess about, when my synapses are not otherwise engaged is what the future of TV looks like and how TV programs are being made. So I was very interested in a pair of articles I read this past January about the idea of “Peak TV” as well as one earlier this month about the potential production pipeline problem HBO may have with new shows. And of course, I enjoyed…

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Producing Various and Sundry

As the Dust Settles on a TV Season

I tweeted out Vox’s rundown of shows that were renewed, canceled, or ended via the Team J twitter a couple weeks ago, though it’s since been updated further. Last Tuesday, they not only updated that list, but Todd VanDerWerff did a great rundown of the various reasons a show might get canceled. Within that explanation comes a great overview about how TV shows make money. For those of us looking to understand the economics of making…

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Producing

Eschewing “To-Do” and Using a Done List

I have been dealing with a number of deadlines for the past few weeks from Team J to my own writing… and of course, with my project management hat on, I’m always looking for ways to manage the lists and lists and lists of to-dos more effectively. I’m sure I’m not the only project manager who gets calm by organizing or revising a to-do list. For all there is to do, it does feel like…

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Producing

Recommended Reading: How American TV Gets Made (with a Case Study of The Americans)

I love to learn more about the nuts and bolts of how productions get made as it teaches me what I should do (and can conceivably do) for the indie productions I work on. So I found this feature article by Caroline Framke in Vox about how an episode of The Americans gets on the air quite absorbing. And I don’t even watch the series (yet).

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Producing

This Monday, an Un-Post

Mark Evanier has a time-honored inscrutable tradition of putting up an image of a can of mushroom soup when he’s too busy to blog — though lately even those have been full blog posts in and of themselves. I have yet to develop an inscrutable image or tradition in this regard, so I’ll simply point out that a lot of you know what I’m busy with today. Wish us luck even as we invite actors…

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Producing Various and Sundry

Recommended Reading: Hostage Negotiation and the Business World

Hostage negotiation has always seemed interesting to me, and not just when Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson are doing it. Bourree Lam’s interview with veteran hostage negotiator Chris Voss in the Atlantic is fascinating in its own right. But, of course, they’re looking at how his experience translates to the business world, specifically asking for a raise and how to deal with the concept of “fairness.” Bet you find some ways it can help you…

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Producing

The Differences between a Policy, Process, Procedure, and Work Instruction

After last month’s deep dive into the realm of writing, I suppose it’s only fair that I touch on the fine art of producing and project management. Simply put, just as a “risk” and an “issue” are different in the land of project management, so too are documents like a Policy, a Process, a Procedure, and a Work Instruction. On a very basic level, you could think of them as increasingly detailed versions of the…

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Producing

Why am I a producer?

I recall a pleasant chat with one of the founders of the 48 Hour Film Project about producing, how so much of producing means making lists, and how I often fell into that role. “Someone found out you were responsible, huh?” she said, knowingly. Upon consideration, ‘someone’ figured that out over 20 years ago, when I first started being a crew chief and then stage manager for theatrical productions. Being a stage manager led to…

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