Ugh, I’d never thought I’d say this but I agree with Kevin Spacey. He was a good bricklayer
“There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain - the sort of pain that is only suffering. I have no patience for useless things”.
Recognise that quote?
Frank Underwood uttered those words in Netflix’s House of Cards. It’s an interesting sentiment especially when you relate it to commissioning editors.
So I’m working with a channel exec at the moment, I guess they would call themselves a commissioner, and I’m running into the same old thorny issue that every producer in the modern age seems to face whilst making content - excessive and sometimes ridiculous notes.
As President Underwood said it’s both painful and useless suffering that will only result in a messy show. Annoyingly, if I don’t win the metaphorical arm-wrestle the changes the commissioner is trying to will upon us, it will not only financially impact the company but it will also make for an unhappy production team. In my mind, an unhappy team only ends with one result - a below average production.
It’s curious as well, because the exec in question isn’t a whippersnapper, he’s actually quite an experienced show runner and exec. What he is NOT however, is an experienced channel exec and there is a difference.
And this where the problem lies. People don’t understand the differences - especially the people at the channels.
Do you remember the MacTaggart speech that Kevin Spacey gave a while back (before his compromising sex allegations came out) about the involvement of commissioners in the editorial process? He waxed lyrical about the editorial freedom and autonomy they had on House of Cards which had allowed them to create a better show for it. He said that had Netflix interfered the way other channel commissioners usually do they wouldn’t have been able to make the show they wanted and the resulting production wouldn’t have been worse off for it.
It was an interesting point, but at the afterparty I challenged him on it because I disagreed with him. My view was then, that if channel execs didn’t intervene, then the product they would receive from producers would be rubbish. He responded “So I guess that makes you the best exec producer in the world”.
Hmm, he had another point, I conceded, although he was right of course, I am the best exec in the world.
“The problem is,” he went on, “as a creator, if you let the channel tell you how to produce your content then you are not making your work, you are making someone else’s. Therefore, your work will never be as good as it could be because you are only painting by numbers. And the problem with that is, even though you’re painting by numbers will kinda look OK, it will never be truly original or brilliant - it might be good, but it won’t be artwork”.
Then he made a pass at me which I declined.
Anyway, despite this encounter, I have now completely come round to this point of view (on his editorial judgment, not the pass thing). Channel Execs and Production Execs are two very different jobs. Whilst they are both editorial ‘executive roles’ they require, in fact, vastly different skills. Channel execs, especially those who come from production backgrounds, unfortunately behave as if they are still programme execs, which only results in bad shows. The role of the channel exec is to act like a ‘viewer’, not a programme maker, and therefore his or her notes should be a ‘light hand on the tiller’ rather than trying to wrestle the steering wheel from the producer who’s driving the show.
The role of the production exec however, is to not only make the show that was promised to the channel, but also produce a brilliant piece of editorial ‘artwork’ that can make your production company owner proud. Presumably you wouldn’t be producing the show in the first place if the channel didn’t want you to, so you must good at your job right?
The problem is channels view production companies as factories that make commodities rather than pieces of bespoke artwork. As such they are distrustful of them and think that these factories are always trying to over-charge and under deliver. If you approach making television in this way, you will end up with not very good TV - just flick through many of the linear channels now and you’ll see what I mean.
“But the TV companies never give us what they promise!” the channel execs lament. That’s because you interfere too much dimwits - you’re actually stopping them giving you what you want if you did but know it. It also means that you won’t find the breakout shows - only the commissioners who give the production execs free-rein get those. Why do you think it’s always the same people who produce the same brilliant content?
Because they insist on being left alone.
If, as the channel exec, you have to intervene on a production by grabbing the steering wheel it’s because you have committed one of two possible crimes. One, you haven’t worked hard enough at the beginning of the process setting out exactly what your expectations are. Two, you haven’t chosen the producers wisely enough. These are the ONLY two reasons that can cause you to start wrestling control from the production’s exec. Otherwise your job is to support, encourage and guide - not dictate and ask for endless updates because you haven’t got a handle on what’s going on. In fact, you shouldn’t have a handle on the day to day running of the show because presumably you should be developing other ideas and managing at least 10 productions all at various stages - if thats not a description of your working life then you are not doing your channel job properly.
So to any commissioners reading this please do the following;
1. Put the effort in at the beginning before a camera is switched on. Make sure you are on top of what has been asked for in preproduction - if you slack off this bit then the production will come back different from how you envisaged it in your one-tracked head.
2. Once you have started the ball rolling be a support not a hinderance. Stop asking endless questions because you feel ‘out of control’ and insecure - it’s not your job anymore - get over it. Let creatives do their job and let them get on with making the show. Remember the production company needs to love the process - you will get a much better show for it. DON’T continually ask for updates on every part of every decision ever made otherwise you might as well run the show yourself.
3. If you ignore this advice you will find that the production company execs won’t actually be doing their jobs anymore because you can’t expect them to second-guess what you’re thinking. End result they will stop thinking and running the production incase anything you say will over turn what they say to their teams and this wastes time and money. We’ll just do what you say boss, it’s easier that way. This will then result in you moaning that you’re doing ‘all the heavy lifting’ because you have neutered the production. Result - shit show.
One final analogy.
I used to be a bricklayer but I employed a bricklayer who I was told was brilliant, better than me in fact, to build a wall for me. I told him what I wanted and left him to it. When it came back the wall was better than I expected. He was better than me but I was happy because everyone remarked on how good my wall was. The end.
What I didn’t do, was every day ask to see his cement mix, trowel size, show me examples of some bricks he was laying, take some pictures of other peoples bricks so I could mull it over, ask him for written reports on the bricks he had laid at the end of an exhausting shift whilst also demanding another report on EXACTLY the number of bricks he said he was going to lay the next day, as well as wanting to see his cement and brick order form and have some oversight on the cv of his apprentice and anyone else he might meet. I also didn’t, once he had laid all the bricks to the agreed plan, show it to my boss who hated it and then made me change the whole thing to the design the bricklayer suggested we did in the first instance.
Does this description chime with any commissioners you know? If not I’ll send Spacey round and he can explain it, I hear he’s out of work at the moment.
