A Great Support Team

I'm realizing more and more how much having a great support team is on a shoot. Having a producer that is on top of things, taking care of your client's needs and yours on a shoot is a wonderful thing. Having great a first assistant who knows lighting very well (sometimes better than you) and can manage the other assistants  with a great attitude is a valuable asset. The rest of your crew is just as important, but I want to focus on the part that keeps your ship running tight.

We just wrapped a campaign for a Proctor & Gamble product last week in Miami. My producer Roger Richter was amazing, and on top of everything from the beginnings of prepro, to the wrap of the job. Clients want to know that you have a great producer who can be great problem solvers with budget and can take care of everything to make the job seamless from beginning to end. Smoothing hiccups that arise(they always do) with ease and no drama is a valuable quality of a great producer. This job is all about problem solving to create the desired outcome. Having someone who is detail oriented and buttoned up is extremely important so you can focus on creative. They think ahead of you and make sure your client is well taken care of. A great producer also has relationships in place to be able to negotiate vendors and get your creative needs met under an original budget.

Producers can be a resource to pitching for jobs as they can recommend great locations and approaches from their knowledge base to make the job even better. This is an asset when the potential client may be looking to you for production ideas. They can turn a creative idea into a numbered reality.

In the end, a producer can make or break your job.

On to assistants: Having a tight assistant crew on bigger jobs is definitely important. A knowledgeable first assistant is a must when your lighting begins to become a bit complex. They must be able to make your lighting vision happen, take care of you when your mind is processing creative/managing your client, and be able to manage their crew efficiently(the 2nd and 3rd assistants) BTW, getting on a bigger set as a 2nd or 3rd is a great way to get on a big set without having all the lighting knowledge of a first assistant.

I was lucky to have one of the best lighting techs/first assistants in Miami. Roger hooked us up with Craig Miller, who was awesome. He works a lot for Patrick Demarchlier when he shoots in Miami. The lighting we set up for this campaign was one of the most complex setups that I've ever created. (and has to remain undisclosed at this point) Since most of my lighting is natural, if I get a job that is more complex with artificial lighting, I like to hire assistants that know more than I do.

That said, and the moral of this post is: YOU are as good as the synergy of your team.

Comments

[craig]

Great piece. And kudos to you for living this great dream. I did a catalog shoot this summer as a 2nd assistant. The shoot had a great producer and really was the paste to something that could have been so chaotic.
Cant wait to see the images someday Nick-congrats again to you for landing such big jobs.
Stik

[Chad Jarae]

Great post Nick.

[Carson]

So true! While Im not at the stage yet in my carrer that I am in need of a mulit-person crew, I am a firm believer that any smart leader will never hesitate to hire a person that is smarter that he/she is.