Author Update
If you are reading this, thanks for sticking around.
I accepted a job offer and then went to OFFF, which accidentally became an extended [creative] leave of absence.
More on the new job coming soon, and for those interested to know, Art of Production will absolutely continue to provide training and coaching to producers via events, online courses and live training, albeit in a limited capacity moving forward β though now on two continents! π¬π§ π¨π¦
Back to the blogβ¦
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Every Friday, we have an informal chat with a bunch of producers on our βProducer Coffeeβ.
This week somebody asked the group what we all do to improve on the job besides simply doing the job or taking courses on project management/agile.
So Iβm going to share with you some of what I shared with them.
The Producerβs Capabilities
Strategist: plans how to get from idea to implementation.
Project Manager: anticipates and handles unexpected events.
Entrepreneur: balances profit and performance, opportunity and cost.
Iβve long believed that great producers possess these three core capabilities β so much so that these are the areas I invest all my free time exploring, and advise others to do the same.
Iβve read, watched and listened to a lot of media related to each. Below are my recent faves in each category.
1. Strategy (People & Culture)
Book: Difficult Conversations
If you think about it, most of our work can be reduced to a single activity: conversation. The humble chat is everything; itβs how we build consensus to move a project forward β share work, secure client feedback, develop work and coach the team.
Often, that involves difficult conversations. Conversations we are expected to gracefully navigate, despite never having any training or coaching to do so π€£
Because we donβt know how to have them, we frequently avoid them, which manifests in lots of negative ways, like:
We struggle to push back on unreasonable or out-of-scope requests
We struggle to give necessary and candid feedback on creative
We struggle to help less capable colleagues improve their performance
We struggle to create boundaries to protect our well-being and the happiness of the team
This book helps by deconstructing what is actually happening when you are having a difficult conversation.
Spoiler alert: youβre not having one conversation, youβre having 3.
The words you are saying
The words you are thinking
The words you are feeling influencing the above
Then, it teaches you how to have a conversation in a way that addresses all three, instead of just the first one which is what we always do, and what leads to conflict because it is loaded with all the unresolved tension of 2nd and 3rd conversations youβre not having.
Itβs the single most helpful thing I have read in the last year and, having used the methods at work and home many times, I can vouch for their effectiveness!
2. Entrepreneur (Leadership)
Podcast: Whatβs Next?
Substack: The Future Does Not Fit In The Containers Of The Past
Rishadβs content is a goldmine of insights about the types of external and internal influences shaping the business community at large but with a preference for observations on marketing and advertising.
If youβre a leader, this content will validate the observations you are discussing and taking away from conversations with peers about the state of the industry, what talent expects, and how effective leaders are conducting themselves in progressive companies.
If youβre not a leader, this content will help you understand what pressures are shaping the decisions of the people heading up the companies you work in, giving context to those decisions and providing interesting discussion points for ambitious folks wanting to climb the ladder.
I would recommend these eps:
Kim Scott, author of Radical Candour (essential reading), schooling folks on the right way to give and receive feedback, handle bias, prejudice and bullying.
Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% movement [dedicated to increasing the percentage of female creative directors in advertising] discusses her belief that the employee of the future is the βCreative Entrepreneur in Residenceβ, which is basically how I would describe a producer! (Katβs Substack is also pretty great!).
And article wise, start with a series about The Four Shifts already underway that will revolutionize every aspect of society and business.
1.Β Β Β Β Technology Shifts.
2.Β Β Β Β Power Shifts.
3.Β Β Β Β Boundary Shifts.
4.Β Β Β Β Mind Shifts.
3. Project Manager
eBook: The Creative Brief, Complete Owners Manual
What you put in = what you get out.
A shit brief spells a disastrous result, but so many places either donβt create them, or do them half-assed.
This is a legit step by step breakdown of what a creative brief is, how to do it right, and why it matters so much.
Itβs practical, easy to use, comprehensive.
You canβt go wrong.
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I was asked to, and have started to compile a list of resources here!
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Reflections on the Unconference
Last week we held our first event! The Producer Unconference π₯°
For those of you who donβt know what an unconference is (I didnβt), itβs a conference without predefined content. Instead of a bunch of pre-written one-to-many talks, the attendees decide what they want to discuss on the day and then all get together to discuss them.
It all just... happens, which is a weird thing to host as a producer, let me tell you. For weeks me and Owen were bricking it but not actually able to do anything, LOL.
Anyway, I have to say, I am made up at how well it went.
These are the sessions we decided on:
And by far the most popular and lively discussions were on The Producer Role and AI.
Starting with AI, we covered:
The death of hourly billing (and timesheets?! π€π»). Whatβs going to happen to industryβs business model when we can do things 5 times faster?
Pricing skills. Will there be a massive shift towards value pricing? Producers know loads about how to cost, but very little about the skill of pricing. What will this mean!?
Workflow. This AI animates, lights and composes CG characters into live action scenes. This AI creates images, vectors, videos, and 3D from text. Just two examples of completely mind-blowing capabilities that would previously have taken teams of highly skilled, highly paid people to achieve over much longer periods. Given how tight margins are on most jobs anyway, will producers be the people pushing to introduce these tools, and how will teams feel about it?
Business affairs. This is an entirely AI generated podcast using voice synthesis and chatGPT. David Guetta deep faked Eminem into a set. Integrating the outputs of AI like this into creative and experiences generates jaw-dropping results. It also raises all kinds of legal questions. As the article states, βAI and deep fake progress are outpacing the law.β How will our agencies keep up when clients start asking us how and when we can use this tech? How much will producers need to know?
We swung around to a discussion about defining the producerβs role at the end of the day, and half an hour on this topic was not enough.
What sparked controversy was whether to think about it through the lens of responsibilities like βmanages a budgetβ, skills like βcoachβ or through the lens of purpose, like βbalances cost and qualityβ.
For me, thinking about the producers role through the lenses of skills and responsibilities is often why we are conflated with project managers. Because producers do project management, and we have a lot of the same skills, too.
But when you adopt the perspective of purpose, the whole thing becomes MUCH clearer.
The PMs purpose is to execute a project.
The Producers purpose is to realise the visionary ideas of artists.
Itβs why the role only exists in the creative industries. Why you donβt have producers in construction, or physics, or law, but you do find PMs in those industries.
Using the lens of purpose as a jumping off point creates a clear and obvious differentiation between to two roles, which I feelβs the better place to start.
What do you think?
To be continued!