ProductionPro

Production Pro Spotlight: Director Sam Hargrave

ProductionPro — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 21:17:19 +0000

The transition from actor to director is a well-worn path for many currently working in Hollywood. The journey from stuntman to director is less so. However that did not stop Sam Hargrave, stunt coordinator for films such as Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: End Game, and Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 and Part 2 from making the leap and fast-tracking his way to success.

The Early Days

Sam Hargrave’s boyhood was spent in North Carolina, where he grew up on a steady diet of Westerns. Watching reruns of Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers, he was mesmerized by the daring stunts and the heroic characters. Being homeschooled, he was able to indulge his passion for cinema a bit more than most.

But don’t assume his mom was laid back about it: she edited the VHS tapes to take out the violent scenes.

That didn’t stop a young Sam from being influenced by the movies and TV he was watching. Using scissors to carve out a Z like Zorro or smashing out a window to get a better shot with his toy gun like Lone Ranger, Hargrave was unstoppable in his imaginative play. Little did he know that someday the short films he was making with friends would pave the way to creating stunts and directing the action for some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

A Start in Film

Sam Hargrave’s start in film is as action-packed as the movies he now choreographs and directs. Although he initially had a passion for filmmaking, sport took him away from his early filmic pursuits. Specifically, the world of martial arts captured his heart at age 14 and quickly became an obsession. It was this passion that introduced him to the exciting world of Hong Kong cinema. Sam started to choreograph his own fight scenes with friend Thayr Harris, who he has since worked with for several years. But it wasn’t until Sam’s mom suggested he consider taking up film classes at UNC Chapel Hill that he realized he could combine his love of combat with his original passion for film. Sam scored an internship at Original Film and, with a little nudging from Thayr Harris, hit the road and drove cross-country to LA to pursue a career as a stunt person.

All His Own Stunts

From pirate battles to superhero showdowns, when it comes to action sequences, Hargrave has seen it all. Gaining a foothold in the industry as Jensen Ackles stunt double on the pilot of Supernatural back in 2005, it wasn’t long before Sam was performing on some of the most iconic titles in Hollywood. He quickly became a much sought-after stunt performer, working on films such as Pirates of the Caribbean 2 then locking in the coveted role of Chris Evans’ stunt double in the star-studded Avengers film directed by Joss Whedon.

But he didn’t stop there.

Sam flipped, jumped, and flung his way up the stunt coordinator ladder, landing gigs on films like The Mechanic, The Host, and The Accountant. And in the end, he was rewarded for his hard work, becoming a 2nd unit director for later Marvel films.

But when the Russo Brothers asked him one day on set what his ultimate goal was, Sam had a definitive answer: directing his own films.

Making His Directorial Debut

It’s not every day that the Russo Brothers approach you and ask about your future aspirations, but for Sam, it was a dream come true.

Little did he know that just a short while later, they would offer him the chance to make his directorial debut. The script for Extraction was the perfect fit for Sam. A fast-paced story about a former black ops agent on a rescue mission, it harkened back to the classic Westerns of his childhood.

However, stepping into the role of director was not without its challenges.

Sam may have already proved his worth on the crew side of things, having worked as a grip and electrician on previous projects. And he might have been ready for the challenge of stunt coordination and directing actors. Yet, what he wasn’t prepared for was the sheer volume of questions that come with being a director.

Likening it to a surfer trying to get out behind a set of incoming waves, Sam felt overwhelmed at first. He quickly realized he needed to find a way that would allow him to dive in and create a streamlined system of communication that worked for everyone on the project.

After the stunning success of the first Extraction installment, Sam wanted to further optimize his film-making process and maximize efficiency for the sequel. He knew that effective communication was crucial for a smooth workflow, especially when dealing with a large-scale project like Extraction 2.

That’s where ProductionPro came in.

How ProductionPro Helped

“As a director, communication is the most important thing,” said Sam. “If you cannot communicate with your team, they cannot execute your creative vision.”

Realizing he needed to create a central hub that served to bridge the different departments and create a single source of truth, Sam found ProductionPro to be the ideal solution.

ProductionPro became Sam’s go-to guide, helping him focus on the bigger picture of directing. “If you set up your team where communication is seamless and you can field questions more easily, then you’re setting yourself up for success,” said Sam.

The ability to keep all of his departments up-to-date with any changes and notes quickly and easily became crucial, especially with a script that was constantly changing. “The challenge became updating all other forms of communication,” said Sam.

With the help of ProductionPro’s intuitive Media Collections feature, Sam was able to eliminate confusion, facilitate greater collaboration, and ensure that everyone involved had access to the right materials.

With just a few clicks, Media Collections lets film directors dive into a curated selection of media assets relevant to a specific element of their production. Whether it’s reviewing scenes, analyzing character development, or collaborating with different departments, Media Collections provides a streamlined approach to accessing crucial information.

This allowed the creative process to flow more smoothly, and ultimately allowed Sam to focus on his primary goal: directing the best movie he could.

The result was a giant success, with Extraction 2 now one of the most anticipated Netflix releases this summer.

Final Thoughts

The film industry is constantly evolving, with scripts often changing at the last minute. This poses a major challenge for film directors and their crew as they must be able to stay organized and up-to-date with any changes in order to keep their projects on track.

Sam Hargrave’s success story is a perfect example of how having the right tools can help make the production process seamless and give the director more time to focus on their craft.

In Sam’s case, ProductionPro was the answer, allowing him to keep all of his departments synchronized and make quick adjustments without wasting precious time.

It also enabled Sam to create a more collaborative environment, something he is truly passionate about. With a powerful script breakdown and media hub that connects film departments and crew members, ProductionPro provides directors like Sam the ability to allow the creative process to take center stage.

As Sam tells his crew, “You’re never going to get into trouble for trying to make this a better film.” And with the help of ProductionPro, he was able to do just that.

The team at ProductionPro would like to congratulate Sam Hargrave and the entire Extraction 2 crew for their remarkable achievement. Their dedication and commitment to their craft are an inspiration to filmmakers everywhere.

The post Production Pro Spotlight: Director Sam Hargrave appeared first on ProductionPro.

Production Pro Spotlight: Producer Ralph Winter

ProductionPro — Wed, 17 May 2023 20:54:34 +0000

Producing a film from concept to the big screen is no small feat. A film producer is faced with the challenges of ensuring a film project reaches completion, both in terms of the creative vision and financial goals. Tasked with leading the production team, seeking out resources, ensuring everything stays within budget, managing the creative process, and acting as a liaison between the film team and the studio, as well as other stakeholders – no one ever said film production was easy!

We recently had the honor of interviewing renowned film producer Ralph Winter about his experiences in the industry and his unique approach to film production.

Ralph’s journey to Hollywood is a testament to the limitless possibilities that life can offer us. A history major turned Hollywood producer, Ralph’s background is a unique one. Yet, it is precisely this background that sets him apart. With a deep understanding of the drama and intrigue of history, Ralph is able to bring a unique perspective when it comes to producing films. And his first job creating training videos for a department store would prove to be a stepping stone toward his Hollywood dreams. Not only adept at getting a film across the line in terms of budget and resources, Ralph’s ability to also nurture a creative vision is something that signifies him as belonging to an elite group of film professionals. He understands the importance of collaboration, drawing on the strengths of his team members to make sure that every project he works on has a high potential for success.

The Importance of Preparedness

“Day 1 of shooting on a project, I try to work myself out of a job,” Ralph Winter explains. “Everything is in place ahead of time.”

As a film producer whose credits include such blockbusters as X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Winter’s approach to shepherding a film from the development process through to completion is worth examining. Winter places a great emphasis on the importance of being organized and knowing how to manage people.

“What matters is allowing creative freedom for crew to work with the director; are you on budget?; and are you on schedule?” Winter says. “Don’t go over budget. Don’t be late. But have fun! And make it great for the director.”

He also recommends that film producers make sure they don’t fall into the trap of overriding others’ decisions. “I think if you set those guardrails up you can have an enjoyable time making a movie.” Winter says. “Set people free to do what they do best.”

Creating an Environment for Creative Collaboration

From his early days working in post-production on such TV cult classics as Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, and Happy Days to his work as a line producer and executive producer on Hollywood blockbusters like Hocus Pocus 2, Winter’s skills as a master storyteller, his artistic sensitivity, as well as his respect for the business side of filmmaking have all been essential to the success he’s achieved in the industry.

“I don’t like the arbitrary demarcation between creative and production,” he explains. “A production manager can be very creative about how they approach solving a problem.”

Seeing himself inhabiting a hybrid role between the creative and the operational, Winter emphasizes the importance of understanding how each and every team member can contribute to the success of a movie. And when it comes to how different film departments can contribute to the overall creative process, he’s emphatic in his point of view.

“Be a storyteller with the director in the way that you know best,” Winter says. “Whether it’s the prop master, or the set design or the special effects people, everyone has a special role in telling the story.”

Find the Right People

When it comes to finding and managing the right people for a project, Winter sees marshalling talent to achieve a shared goal as his primary role. He understands the importance of keeping the right team in place. So, when it comes to hiring, Winter looks for people who have the necessary skills but also the ability to lead.

“I try to read between the lines of a resume for leadership – can they guide a team to make it effective?” He also puts an emphasis on maintaining a collaborative environment, where people feel comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions. “Movies are pretty much organized in a hierarchical, almost military fashion… and there is always a better way to figure it out. There are lots of new tools to help,” he says.

Communication is Key

A successful film requires a lot of creative collaboration between producers, directors, and the entire production team. To ensure everyone is working together towards the shared goal of making a great movie, Winter believes that a great film producer should first and foremost establish clear, concise communication with all parties involved.

“Sharing notes, keeping people up-to-date with script revisions and schedule revisions – all of that becomes critical when you’re moving fast. You’ve got a lot of people and communication becomes vital,” he says.

How ProductionPro Helps

Having recently used ProductionPro in his executive producer role on Hocus Pocus 2, Winter knows the potential of the platform. And he understands the importance of “buy-in” when it comes to keeping everyone in the loop. Versus the traditional method of marking up scripts by hand and sharing troves of emails between different film departments, ProductionPro brings a new level of organization and clarity to the filmmaking process.

“You need everyone to buyin [to using ProductionPro] at the start of a production,” says Winter. That’s because ProductionPro can help streamline the pre-production process and maintain collaboration during the production.

With ProductionPro, each team member has quick and easy access to everything they need, from scripts to breakdowns and media, all securely stored in one central hub. And the best part? Annotation Transfer allows creative notes to seamlessly transfer from one script version to the next, making collaboration smoother than ever before.

Final Thoughts

Winter’s career has consistently been distinguished by a combination of creativity, determination and problem-solving skills that have seen him become one of the most successful producers in Hollywood. His advice to aspiring producers? To stay creative and think outside the box.

“The journey of how we get a film to the finish line matters”, says Winter. For him, the key focus needs to be on developing a story that an audience will enjoy, and that has lasting value. “What matters is: is the film any good? Does it move me? Is it emotional?” he says.

At the end of the day, Winter believes that finding a way to tell an engaging story is what it takes to make a great film. It’s this that has driven his success as a producer and what continues to drive him on each project he takes on. With the right creative team and the right tools to keep everyone in sync, Winter and his team can focus on what matters most: creating an engaging story for audiences around the world.

We would like to thank Ralph for sharing his legacy with us and look forward to seeing the incredible stories he will tell next!

Click here to learn more about how ProductionPro is supporting filmmakers like Ralph.

The post Production Pro Spotlight: Producer Ralph Winter appeared first on ProductionPro.

Say Goodbye to Script Revision Suffering: An Easy Solution for Transferring Notes

ProductionPro — Wed, 10 May 2023 21:05:50 +0000

Copying lines by hand was a form of punishment for misbehaving students in middle school. Similarly, for many film production professionals, manually copying notes from one script revision to the next can seem like a punishment. As script revisions fly into inboxes faster and faster, many crew members have no choice but to stop marking up their script, despite it being an essential part of their production process. To put an end to this collective suffering, we are delighted to release one of our most-requested features: script note transfer. Now, when a script revision comes in, users can simply and quickly open the new script and import their previous notes.

Effortlessly Import Annotations into the Latest Script Version

Just like all other features in ProductionPro, importing annotations is incredibly simple. There’s no need for users to manually download the latest script version from an email and re-upload it into the app. Instead, the new script version is securely uploaded by the Production Office for all and clearly marked as the “Current Script” in ProductionPro’s neatly organized binder. In just a few clicks, users can select the old script and the desired note categories to import, and voila! Within seconds, the user’s notes are imported into the latest script version.

Making digital scripts powerful at last

Users love accessing, reading, and annotating their script in ProductionPro, and the ability to share notes with others has introduced a new way to collaborate efficiently. We know all too well how the transition from paper scripts to digital scripts has been a frustrating dance: one step forward and two steps back. The promise of speed and ease of using digital scripts hasn’t quite lived up to the crew’s expectations. In fact, for the many who prefer scribbling notes on their paper script, it has been a curse. First, they had to find a new way to annotate their script; then, the inability to insert and replace pages into a collated script meant that users either had to painstakingly re-annotate the new revision or give up their previous notes. With note transfer, that’s no longer the case! It adds to the list of reasons why users already love accessing, reading, and annotating their script in ProductionPro:

The combination of an iPad app and a web app makes scripts accessible from anywhere, on any device (not just Apple devices).
Text search makes it easy to find a character or prop in a script, even on a watermarked script (watermarks in ProductionPro leave the text searchable and highlightable).
Note layers allow script notes to be neatly organized and to be hidden or shown with the switch of a button.
Sharing notes with collaborators is incredibly easy and secure.

The ProductionPro difference

Transferring annotations between script revisions has been a common request for script-reader tools, but it hasn’t always been easy to achieve. Many solutions come with caveats or limitations. With ProductionPro, there’s no fine print:

ProductionPro is approved by Studio Content Security – you can trust that your access to the script is secure, and you never have to use the app in secret.
With ProductionPro, you never have to work with flattened PDFs again. Watermarked scripts in ProductionPro are not flattened PDFs, thanks to the on-the-fly watermarking feature.
ProductionPro’s cloud allows access to the most recent script in real time, from any device – not just Apple devices.
The inclusion of colored pages makes it easy to track and navigate revisions.
Script pages are connected to an always accurate script breakdown, together with the corresponding media references from multiple departments.
With ProductionPro, crew members no longer have to manually download and upload script revisions, eliminating concerns around studio content security.
Scripts are securely stored in a cloud that’s been vetted and approved by the Studio, not on users’ personal cloud or online storage.
There’s no additional cost for the users, it’s included in the production’s plan for everyone.

The proof is in the pudding

Collaboration has never been more streamlined than with the ability to easily share notes with other crew members. And now our new script note transfer feature empowers users to annotate their script even more, while saving time and reducing headaches at each revision. But don’t just take our word for it – give it a try and let us know what you think. Your feedback guides our product roadmap as we continue to enhance the script experience over the coming months. From small changes to big features, we’re only getting started!

The post Say Goodbye to Script Revision Suffering: An Easy Solution for Transferring Notes appeared first on ProductionPro.

Production Pro Spotlight: Costume Designer Salvador Pérez

ProductionPro — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:50:00 +0000

How does a boy from a small farm town in Fresno make it all the way to working on some of the biggest film and television shows ever made? For Salvador Pérez, the answer was hard work, passion and dedication.

After graduating from high school, Salvador was sure of one thing: he was going to become the next Calvin Klein. So, with his sights set firmly on becoming a fashion designer, Salvador enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. However, one day while working at a vintage clothing shop in LA, fate walked in.

One of the many costume designers who frequented Salvador’s store happened to have a professional crisis on her hands: the costumes that had been designed for an upcoming film weren’t going to be stitched and ready in time for the shoot.

Salvador spotted an opportunity, offered to step in, and soon enough found himself working in the world of film costume design. “I fell into film because I could sew,” he says. “I thought this was just until I had my fashion line.” But as he worked on more films, his love for costume design grew.

Breakthrough Moments

Salvador’s career began to take him places. From working in London on the hit TV series Four Weddings and a Funeral to creating his own jewelry line for The Mindy Project, to running the costume workroom in Mexico City for one of the biggest movies in the world, Titanic.

Yet it was from this project, which most film crew would gladly have given everything to be involved with, that Salvador made the difficult decision to leave. Taking a leap of faith, Salvador risked leaving a more high-profile job for a project that could make him a designer. And it worked!

Taking up the opportunity to head up the costume design department on the much smaller budget film Soul Food, Salvador was able to have creative control over the project and make the transition to becoming a fully-fledged costume designer.

Creativity, Communication and Technology

The work of a costume designer is by no means an easy job and it takes time and dedication to become successful in the profession. For Salvador, it is his expert talent for breaking down each character, breathing new life and vision into each look, tracking everything and then acquiring what is needed, that have seen him thrive.

An ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines is becoming increasingly important, as film productions often require quicker and quicker turnarounds on costumes. In the cut and thrust of the film industry, a costume designer needs to harness the power of technology to not only design but also keep track of budgets and production schedules, as well as stay in touch with the rest of the production team.

Salvador found that referencing ProductionPro on films such as Hocus Pocus 2 allowed him to see progress from other departments and keep his team aware of any changes throughout pre-production and filming in real time.

“In a perfect world, we would all use ProductionPro and put [our updates] in there and let different departments like hair and makeup know what’s going on. That would make life so much easier.” And it’s this kind of forward-thinking that keeps Salvador on the cutting edge of his craft and at the forefront of leading industry change.

Helping the Industry Grow

Salvador regularly talks to students about what costume design work really entails, helping them understand that a costume designer’s job involves more than just fashion and making costumes look aesthetically pleasing.

“You need to know not only how to make a beautiful dress,” he says. “[But] you need to know how to deal with an actor when they are feeling bloated that day.” Alongside his people skills, Salvador’s costume designing usually goes far beyond the aesthetic, as he is tasked with helping to create a believable world through clothing.

Salvador starts by breaking down the script into what actors will need to wear throughout the story, then goes on to research period costumes and fabrics to be used in the film. He is constantly creating designs from scratch or making prototypes, liaising with other costume illustrators, and deciding on materials, accessories, and other pieces for each costume. Outside of his own department, he also needs to be in constant communication with set designers, production managers, art directors, show runners, and directors to ensure the costumes fit into the overall vision of the film.

When asked what a great costume designer needs in their toolkit Salvador quickly points to two skills: creativity and the ability to collaborate. “It’s amazing how much of our job is making a visual representation that needs to be passed on to multiple people,” he says.

And this process can become quite complex when you consider how many departments are working together in order to create a product. So, when you need to update a design or inform about a fabric change, multiple emails and reminders have to be sent out. Using ProductionPro, lets users like Salvador break down the script to their needs and form a common language that allows information from multiple departments to be distributed across the production in manageable pieces.

Salvador's Legacy

Despite having accomplished so much in the industry already, including being the three-term president of the Costume Designers Guild, Salvador is determined to never stop learning and growing. And it is his vision and passion for world-building through costume design that still drives Salvador today.

“I want to create a movie where I create the entire world,” he says of his wanting to work on a Sci-Fi odyssey of Barbarella proportions. At the core of Salvador’s work is storytelling. Every detail, every fabric, every piece that Salvador creates tells a story. His passion for design has inspired many and his creative vision is what he enjoys sharing with aspiring designers and the world.

We’d like to thank Salvador for sharing his story with us and look forward to seeing his future world building adventures!

Click here to learn more about how ProductionPro is supporting filmmakers like Salvador.

The post Production Pro Spotlight: Costume Designer Salvador Pérez appeared first on ProductionPro.

Production Pro Spotlight: Art Director Iain White

ProductionPro — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 14:27:52 +0000

The Journey from First Gig to Art Director

Iain White’s journey from art department assistant to established art director for both television and film projects almost seems like it was his destiny, although it didn’t always appear that way. No matter how anyone finds their start in the film industry, talent always seems to find a way. Iain always had an inclination for the arts and began his path toward art direction by building and painting sets for theatrical productions.

“Largely an accident” is how Iain likes to summarize his start in the industry. “I trained in theater, that was my background. I did lots of low-budget theater work…I was a scenic painter.”, he reminisces.

The film industry is one where creatives of all types can contribute their talents and collaborate in the shared vision of cinematic storytelling. As an astute set designer, Iain was able to translate his skillset in stage productions to the medium of film. “I kind of fell into the art department. It was the 90s, and it made more sense to do a film. And [my first film] was in Italy, so it was nice to go away…It wasn’t planned or anything.”, he shares.

The project Iain’s describing is Othello (1995), his first as an art department assistant. Starring Lawrence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh, Othello was shot on location in Italy. “We shot in Venice, up and down the grand canal.” he described. As a first-time crew member the experience sounds like it was right out of the movies. Establishing his foothold in the film industry, Iain quickly followed up that project by working on the critically acclaimed Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Hamlet (1996).

The rest is history: Iain climbed the ranks and established himself as a well-regarded art department professional working on projects such as Game of Thrones and Call the Midwife.

The Process and Challenges: Daily Life in the Art Department

Iain has a vast amount of experience under his belt after working within the art department for decades. When asked to reflect on his process, Iain shared that it has remained relatively consistent:

“You usually come in, you break down the scripts, you look at the schedule, and you look where the locations are, and what the budget is. You do that on all [projects] to an extent…it usually starts with the script.”

However, sometimes even a script has been too much to ask for on productions. This is where many of the most challenging aspects of Iain’s work originated. “I’ve been on a few things where the first day of shooting, we don’t have a script…it makes it incredibly difficult.”

In Iain’s experience, the difficulty or ease of a project really comes down to the communication between different departments on the project. “A big portion of my job is planning and implementing…you need to have all of the information you can. If you’ve got all of the information, then it’s easy to plan.”

This sounds like this could be ProductionPro’s motto. With the many moving pieces involved in a production, keeping a clear and simple-to-use channel of communication between departments can be the difference between a successful project, and one laden with headaches.

Iain agreed, and pointed towards a recent experience in production that brought him to this conclusion. “I was on a road movie a year ago…we were traveling up England. It would have been great if we had a central resource…a digital version that could tell us…where everyone was, [and] where all of the documents were. All of that would [have been] really helpful.”

Used by Hollywood’s biggest studios, ProductionPro offers a variety of different services designed to make communication on a film production more synchronized. The platform allows all creative departments and studio executives to have the latest version of scripts, schedules, breakdowns and released designs in one secure location.

When discussing the benefits of some of the features that ProductionPro can provide, Iain had this to say: “You need something like that…Those of us who work ahead need to know what’s happening.”

What's Next for Iain White?

Iain’s extensive career and journey has allowed him to leave his mark in the industry already. Yet his career is far from over. When asked about what he predicts his next projects to be, Iain had a very candid response: “I haven’t made any plans, professionally…if the project is interesting, I’d do it.” He also remarked on the unpredictable nature of the industry. “Some of the stuff you put loads and loads of work into disappears. Other stuff is successful and you go ‘really? Ok.’…I don’t think you can guess it.”

Iain is the Art Director of the popular television series Ted Lasso which just finished filming its third season. It features Jason Sudeikis as an American college gridiron football coach who is suddenly relocated to England to coach a failing English Premier League team. The series has received critical acclaim and has won four Primetime Emmy Awards ahead of its third season.

White described the process of signing on with Ted Lasso in his typically candid style: “When I met [Paul Cripps, the Production Designer] I thought it would be fun to do a football thing with him. That’s been successful, but there was no expectation it would be particularly successful.”

All in all, we’re in awe at the success of Iain’s career. The film industry presents a world of opportunities for rising talents, and Iain’s skill set allowed him to seize them to develop his career and prosper.

We’re excited to see where Iain goes next and happy that ProductionPro can support him and other creatives throughout the production process. We’d like to thank Iain for taking the time to share the story of his career (so far!) with us.

Ready to sync your production team?

The post Production Pro Spotlight: Art Director Iain White appeared first on ProductionPro.

Do you have the keys to the production office?

ProductionPro — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 20:56:00 +0000

Guest Blog by Jennifer A. Haire & Gilana M. Lobel

Creating entertaining content is a never-ending search for the next good idea. From scripted dialogue to costumes, and set designs to exotic locations, production elements are always changing. There is an exhausting number of documents a production creates to keep the team informed and up-to-date. Helping to ensure you have access to the most current “good idea” is the job of the Production Office. Whether it’s a stack of papers collecting on our desks or the continuous stream of incoming emails, finding new ways to make information easily available, keeping our productions organized and forging ahead, is a constant challenge. A new film & television production handbook, Keys to the Production Office, includes a comprehensive guide on how to properly set up, label, organize and distribute every kind of production document, whether it’s with the old-fashioned paper workflow or electronically.

The good old days

Electronic communication and information-sharing platforms have exploded over the past two and a half decades. There was a time when the Production Office would receive the original paper hard copy screenplay, (approved for cast and crew distribution) and be responsible for distributing printed copies to everyone from the EP to the 3rd grip – by hand. The original script would then be filed, in a manila file folder, with a printed label, alphabetically and by date in hanging files, organized in a giant, heavy four-drawer lateral cabinet. This process would apply to the mass of documents generated for and by the production – everything from storyboards to schedules, element breakdowns and look books, call sheets and production reports. Of course, there may always be a need for some printed hard copies of files – contracts with original signatures need a home, and for some people being able to access a physical document is simply a preferred method of working. But in general, those days are mostly gone.

Keys to the Production Office

Unlocking Success as an Office Production Assistant in Film & Television by Jennifer A. Haire & Gilana M. Lobel

Save 20% with code ESA22 through Dec 31, 2022

Welcome to the era of digital file distribution and organization

Sure, most of us have already been organizing files digitally for a decade, but we’ve also been printing, scanning, and holding onto originals in some paper file systems too, sometimes even when we no longer need to (old production habits die hard!). Since almost all production documentation is digitally generated and signed, we can now focus on saving the trees and finding better ways for productions to work more efficiently.

Accessibility to the most current material is key. A well-oiled Production Office keeps information at its fingertips in the event any crew member, cast member, or studio executive needs it for reference. Proper asset and document organization requires a meticulous process. The challenge in going fully digital is creating systems that allow everyone to find files quickly and intuitively. When digitally and correctly filed, that information can be accessed remotely with the click of a button from anywhere, rather than having to slog through hundreds of folders. Time spent searching for documents ultimately amounts to valuable time wasted. For a fun reference, check out ProductionPro’s Search Calculator and see how much time can potentially be lost looking for production information.

Organizing within the Production Office

Artwork by G.W. Haire

For those working in the Production Office, if files are organized with a traditional hierarchy (Folder, subfolder, document) and properly labeled (Cast, Cast Contracts, Contracts A-Z) it allows for any (approved) member of the office to have access to what they need, when they need it. Keys to the Production Office includes examples of how to design your digital file landscape so your team can easily access the information they need over the course of pre-production, principal photography and wrap.

Keys to the Production Office suggests these time-tested ways to organize documents:

General Production Organization

Documents that apply to the entire production such as Scripts, Legal documents, and Look books.

Alphabetically (Cast, Casting, Clearances, Crew List, etc..)
By Category & Subcategory (Schedules: Prep Schedules, One Line, Day Out of Days, etc…)

Organization by Principal Photography Day

Documents that apply to an episode or specific day of filming.

By Filming Day and Date (Day 3 – May 4th 20XX: Call Sheet, Production Report, Camera Reports, Sound Reports, etc… Day 4 – May 5th 20XX: Repeat)
By Episode (Episode 101: Day SubFiles (as above), Cast, Locations, One Line Schedule, etc. Episode 102: Day SubFiles (as above), Cast, Locations, One Line Schedule, etc., Episode 203, etc…)

ProductionPro follows this suggested organization for the production’s digital Binder – the space meant for production-wide documents that need to be accessed by people outside of the Production Office. It is organized in sections that are tailored to each production and make it possible to recreate the recommended folder structure from above. The cherry on top is the archive toggle that makes it possible to separate current and archived documents within that organization. ProductionPro takes digital organization a step further with features like shared script notes, and real-time document updates, so everyone is literally on the same (digital) page.

Organization of creative assets outside of the Production Office

When it comes to keeping creative data organized (storyboards, set renderings, pre-viz), it can be quite challenging to settle on a one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, the chosen organization system that works well for the Production Office might not work as well for everyone in all departments – people from the Art Department tend to think in terms of sets; people from Costume, in terms of characters; and people from VFX, in terms of scene sequences, for example. That’s where ProductionPro truly shines and takes your organization system to the next level: it uses the structure of the story to organize production information by scenes, characters, departments and shoot days. That way, everyone, even the most techno-phobic people on your crew, can find what they need intuitively.

Digital file distribution and organization is “instant information gratification” for productions, it allows for the whole movie to fit in your pocket – whether it’s legal documents, or storyboards for the day’s scene, you can easily check a deal point in a cast contract or reference location and set photos. Keys to the Production Office can guide you through organizing, labeling and distributing the files and assets; ProductionPro can help you keep it all in one place and take it to the next level. Both will keep your production efficiently moving forward and onto the next great idea.

Follow Keys to the Production Office on Instagram and Facebook @keystotheproductionoffice www.keystotheproductionoffice.com

Follow the authors of this blog @thejenhaire & @awesomegilana

The post Do you have the keys to the production office? appeared first on ProductionPro.

Marie Kondo your production documents for good.

ProductionPro — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 20:39:47 +0000

Almost without doubt, the number one issue plaguing workflows on film productions is people incessantly looking for things and then wondering if it’s “the latest version”. Maybe what they’re looking for is buried in their inbox as an attachment to a never-ending email chain. Maybe it was in that Dropbox link the Art Department coordinator nicely texted them last week. Maybe there’s a more final version of the V4-final-final-for-real.pdf file they saved to their desktop.

Crazy as it sounds, as a courtesy, we should just tell the truth to students in film school: that they’ll spend a sizable chunk of their career just “looking for stuff” in a meander of dropbox links, asset managers, email chains and production reports. What’s crazier is that almost everyone is searching for the same thing around the same time. To put things in perspective, on an hypothetical 6-month-long 50-crew production, if everyone is wasting 10 minutes per day looking for things (we’re being generous here), that’s a combined total of 1,000 wasted hours, or close to 42 days! You could shoot another feature film with that time!

Thankfully, at ProductionPro we believe there has to be a better way and we make it our mission to let people quickly find what they need when they need it. It starts with the script. When users open the production binder in ProductionPro, they are sure to find the latest script, front and center. The space has been recently redesigned and is now beautifully organized in sections that are tailored to each production: feature films like to have sections for scripts, schedules or various production office documents; episodic productions like to have one section per episode. Finally, an archive toggle makes it easier to access and reference an earlier version. There’s no need to partake in yet another round of is-this-the-latest guessing game: it is the latest, and it’s here with you, just a tap away. Just pull up your script for a quick search, share a note with your department and put it back in your pocket!

When it comes to media, there are even more powerful horses under the hood. In just a few words, ProductionPro has a signature way to connect information that makes finding anything intuitive: we use the structure of the story to organize information in a visual way that everyone understands. Scenes, characters, departments, schedule – all can be used to drill down into a production’s materials and the cherry on top is that it’s all connected to the script.

If you’re ready to reclaim your time, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’ll happily show you how we can save your team hours and streamline communication on your next production.

The post Marie Kondo your production documents for good. appeared first on ProductionPro.

The top three challenges our art departments face today.

ProductionPro — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 21:39:16 +0000

Our art departments produce miracles everyday… but should they have to?

Feature Illustration by Jeff Hinchee

With urgency in every step, Production Designer, Tom Conroy, sprints to the taxi and hops in. He’s en route to Hatton Gardens, London’s jewelry quarter, in desperate search of a ring needed for the afternoon’s shoot. Along the way, he drains his bank account and continues the journey with wads of cash weighing down his pockets – whatever it takes to ensure production isn’t halted. So, how did Tom end up in this predicament? Let’s rewind.

It’s a classic example of something film professionals know all too well – miscommunications around a script or schedule change that further complicate getting it implemented. Weeks prior, a rewrite to the script introduced a ring to the scene (we know what you’re thinking… wait, wouldn’t that be a costume piece #grayarea). Unfortunately, the change was not made explicit to the Art Department during distribution. The call sheet didn’t make any reference to it and all was going to plan until the producer asked Tom that morning, “Can I have a look at the ring?” [dramatic pause]. “What ring?” Tom responded, and a frantic search ensued. It’s no mystery the Art Department faces many impossible tasks throughout a production; the miscommunication of a script change being just one. With the help of numerous production designers and art directors, we set out to uncover the top three challenges they overcome every day.

Since when did getting approvals become “design by committee”?

It’s safe to say that nobody enjoys waiting in anticipation for information, especially when it stops progress in its tracks, but people cope because there’s usually no other option. Art Department professionals repeatedly experience this grueling albeit mandatory wait for creative approval of their designs. However, it wasn’t always this way. Supervising Art Director, Robert W. Joseph, describes a time when the process was pretty straightforward before it morphed into “design by committee” – many layers of management including the director, showrunners, writers, and more, often have to sign off on every detail. On a recent production, Robert had 25+ people needing to give their ‘ok,’ stifling any forward momentum. Adding to the complexity is the industry’s very specific approval hierarchy.

Because of the nature of the sensitivity of the process, you don’t always have a direct route to the people who make the decisions […] typically we’re not allowed to jump the chain of command. – Andrew Li, Art Director

When answers are required to meet impending deadlines, a seemingly infinite list of approvers and no means to engage them can be frustrating at minimum. Then you add continued reliance on remote work to the mix – most of this process now takes place over Zoom – and it’s downright exhausting. It’s hard enough keeping people’s attention and demonstrating the intricacies of a design when they’re physically present, try doing it in 2D – you can’t point things out or draw on things in the same seamless way as you can in person. There’s got to be a better way!

Build us the Taj Mahal …by next week!

Well, can you just get it done? Can’t you find more people out of thin air and magically make 32 hours in a day? Although the sarcasm is flowing, this is not something Art Director, Cassidy Shipley, would be totally surprised to hear in today’s production environment. Expectations are higher than ever: the scale and the scope, notably for TV, have grown exponentially while schedules, prep and build time continue to get shorter.

Normally, it’s taken us 12 weeks to build a very elaborate set. Now, we’re expected to be able to do it in 8 weeks and still produce exactly the same level of high production value as we did before. – Andrew Li, Art Director

One explanation for this change is the continued advancement of technology. When Production Designer & Art Director, Alex Hajdu, began his career, the pace of collaboration was limited. It could only move as fast as catching someone on set or in the next production meeting. After email and text increased the speed of communication, expectations abruptly shifted and everything was perceived to be “too slow.” Art Director, Andrew Li, provided another explanation: the miracle workers of the Art Department produced one too many miracles. Studios and execs gradually concluded that it’s possible to reduce a timeline and deliver the same quality product, but underestimate the human toll this takes along the way. Longer hours and 6th, or even 7th, work days have become more normalized, posing heightened safety concerns as crews push through mental and physical exhaustion. It begs the question, how long until the love of the craft isn’t enough for people to keep going?

To survive, it’s every department for themselves – or is it?

Illustration by Alberto Buscicchio & Charis Fauzi

As expectations rise and schedules feel the squeeze, ALL departments face the same dilemma: how should they allocate their limited time to guarantee their own success, as well as that of the entire production? It becomes a puzzle that’s not easily managed. With hyperfocus on their own distinct priorities and deadlines, it’s all too easy to fall into isolation and overlook how changes in one department might affect another.

When […] we’re all in our own, different silos, people are a bit detached from the overall workings of things. Everyone’s just dealing with their own shit because people are so busy. – Andrew Li, Art Director

Often, the onus to fuel collaborative conversation resides with the Art Department, typically considered the “Hub” of any production. Art Director, Cassidy Shipley, estimates that 75% of the time, he’s initiating the inter-department discussions required to keep all parties moving forward. His dream is to see this relationship grow to be more mutual – department heads consistently checking in with each other, sharing the latest versions of their designs and finding ways to work more proactively. It certainly sounds ideal. Departments usually have a myriad of reasons why a new piece of information can’t be made available production-wide: maybe they’re waiting for creative approval or the producer hasn’t green-lit the extra spend on the requested change. As Art Director, Andrew Li, pointed out, maybe the most critical piece to the puzzle is a universal understanding and appreciation of the complexities each department faces. Without empathy for every department’s plight, how can the production truly work from a united front?

What’s most clear after speaking with so many Production Pros is that there’s no silver bullet to easily resolve the top three challenges haunting Art Departments. Even so, a good first step toward improvement might be a concerted effort to talk openly about these issues at the start of prep, before available time becomes almost nonexistent. Afterall, time is a scarce commodity on every production and is directly impacted by the extent of these challenges. Or, do we concede that wasted time is the collateral of a process that can’t be improved and continue to rely on the magical powers of the Art Department to make miracles?

Thankfully, we believe it’s not all doom and gloom here at ProductionPro. Our company is on a mission to reduce miscommunications and the resulting amount of time wasted. In fact, ProductionPro has already saved film crews over 9 million minutes (about 15,000 workdays) of searching for information from other departments.

So, what ever happened with Tom Conroy’s mad dash to buy a ring he never knew existed? He darted between multiple jewelry stores, found a ring that sufficed, and of course, got it to set in time for the shot. That’s what superheroes do.

Have you ever wondered how much of your time gets wasted every day searching for current information from other departments? ProductionPro recently created a Film Crew Time Calculator to help you determine how much time you could be saving during prep and production.

Estimate the time you could save

The post The top three challenges our art departments face today. appeared first on ProductionPro.

Connecting the dots between film departments

ProductionPro — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 15:39:47 +0000

“All roads lead to Rome” goes the saying… Well, at ProductionPro, we are fully aware that there are many ways to think about and access film department information. People from the Art Department tend to think in terms of sets; people from Costume, in terms of characters; and people from VFX, in terms of scene sequences, for example. As a result, people often struggle to find the materials they need: where’s the folder with that storyboard? Or was it a link? Who should I ask for it? Wait… is this the latest? Let’s be honest though, with production schedules more frantic than ever, nobody’s got time for this!

To solve this challenge, we’re excited to bring you Media Collections – a new feature that makes it a snap to find what you need. Media Collections are curated subsets from your Media Library, focused on a specific breakdown element such as a scene, a character, or a department. Media Collections are auto-generated: if there’s a tag for it, there’s a Media Collection for it!

We built Media Collections to let you quickly navigate using the context of your materials and the very personal way you think about them: it connects the dots, if you will. No two people think alike, but in ProductionPro, everyone can find what they need, when they need it. Let’s say for example that you are viewing Art Department materials and open a set rendering for Scene 2: you can now click on Scene 2 to see any other materials associated with that scene – pre-vis, storyboards, props… you name it. What’s more, when you’re looking at the Collection for a scene, we now also list the scene breakdown information and characters underneath and, you guessed it, they’re clickable too! You can then keep drilling down by clicking on one of the characters and so on.

“If I look at Scene 34, I can see everything that is related to Scene 34. When on a production that is not using ProductionPro, I’m having to go to three or four different locations to find that information.” – Drew Petrotta, Props Master

Media Collections make it easier for you to discover the latest references from other departments. Learn more about the other ways ProductionPro is helping film professionals save time.

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5-star hotel concierge for film productions – what’s that?

ProductionPro — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 14:00:00 +0000

There are three levels of customer service: first, there’s customer support; then, customer success; and finally, concierge services. For Film and TV productions, ProductionPro includes a concierge service that was modeled after that of a luxury hotel, with a dedicated Concierge assigned to each show. Now, concierges have long been a mainstay of the hotel experience. Their typical duties include helping guests with restaurant reservations, recommending activities or arranging transportation. Concierges at 5-star hotels will go above and beyond to make almost anything happen. So how exactly has ProductionPro translated this experience for film productions? Read on to learn why studios like Netflix, Apple+, Disney and Amazon are taking advantage of this unique service.

What true luxury concierges give their guests is time, so guests are freed up to do something more productive with that saved time. At its core, that is also what ProductionPro concierges do. During prep and production, the pace is usually frantic and the atmosphere one of controlled chaos – any time and brainspace the Concierge saves the crew is pure gold. Crew members can use the time saved to work more efficiently and roll out solutions to their creative challenges.

The main duties of a ProductionPro Concierge can be summed up as follows:

Onboard crew members individually to bring them up to speed in a matter of minutes;
Tailor the product to the production’s specificities;
Ensure the accuracy of the character-scene breakdown in ProductionPro with each script revision;
Send out daily emails with direct links to references and sides for each shoot day;
Gather user feedback to help prioritize feature development.

One-to-one on-boarding

When crew members start working on a production, the clock’s already ticking and they usually don’t have the bandwidth to learn a new system on their own, no matter how it might help them down the line. The Concierge on-boards each crew member (or a small group of them from the same department) on a one-to-one video call: they walk the user through the interface and main functionality, highlight use cases tailored to the user’s role and department, and answer all questions. Moments later, the user is up and running, armed with a simple but powerful tool. “The training process was great. It took 30 minutes at most.” observed Kyle Lafleur, Executive Producer’s Assistant, adding: “The first time you see the scroll, your eyes get bigger, there’s so much to look at and then you realize how user friendly it is.” And for the busy bees that prefer to learn on their own, there are also custom on-boarding videos available for them. Throughout the life of the production, the Concierge stays in direct contact with crew members, obsessing over how best to help them – Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

A service tailored to the production

Hotel guests are unique, with unique needs and each requires a custom experience – productions are just the same! A direct result of the user onboarding process is that the Concierge gets to learn how the product could be most helpful to them. In return, they can customize the product for the production and even suggest ways to optimize inter-department collaboration. For example, the Concierge can set up a set list for use by the Art Department, and create custom tags for sequences or approval status. They can even help customize the way scripts are displayed so users can do a quick search through multiple episodes at once. In general, the ProductionPro concierge service is the reason for the wide and sustained adoption of ProductionPro across departments.

An accurate breakdown for all

ProductionPro’s character-scene breakdown is essential to users and crucial to the organization of production information on the platform. Even though the process of generating the breakdown is partly automated, there are often small details that need to be changed, and there’s nothing like a human eye to catch them. The ProductionPro Concierge, who is NDA-ed on the production, makes sure that the breakdown is perfect at each script revision. As a result, users don’t have to break down the basic elements of the script on their own anymore since they can trust that the information in ProductionPro is accurate and ready for use.

Schedule sync and daily prep notifications

The best hotel concierges are able to prepare their guests a custom itinerary for the day, and ProductionPro replicated that as well. In ProductionPro, users can view information in the way that’s most useful to them: they can look up media by scene, character or department, but most users’ favorite is by shoot day. The ProductionPro Concierge performs what’s called a Schedule Sync: shoot days are matched to their respective scenes so that users can use those shoot days to filter and group media. The sync is updated with every one-liner or call sheet. This also allows the Concierge to send daily notifications with direct links to the references and script pages needed in advance of each shoot day. For Ralph Winter, Executive Producer, those notifications helped with getting things done: “The emails are a constant check. It’s a good reminder of ‘Oh yeah I got to do this. Oh yeah let’s take a look at that.’” For crew members in general, this also means less wasted time sifting through emails and links to piece together what they need for their day.

Feedback loop for feature development

5-star hotels’ concierges are listeners and seers, anticipating the needs of their guests and seeking to improve and deliver the best experience possible. Every interaction is itself a piece of feedback. At ProductionPro, the mantra is to only build features that crew members want and ask for. The ProductionPro Concierge is deep in the trenches with users and has a front row seat to the problems they are experiencing. The candid conversations the Concierge has and the feedback they gather is mined by ProductionPro’s product team to find the next gold nugget of a feature. On their next production, users are sure to find a product that has evolved and improved thanks to their feedback.

The ProductionPro concierge service is the first of its kind in the industry, and has become a beloved part of the ProductionPro experience – providing a human touch that’s often missing with other production software. However, if productions want the full ProductionPro concierge experience, they’ll need to sign up early: the offering is reserved to a select number of productions at a time to ensure the highest level of service.

While a ProductionPro Concierge can’t get a last-minute reservation at some fancy-shmancy restaurant like a 5-star hotel concierge probably could, they can absolutely help smooth out some of the creative collaboration challenges often encountered on a production. After all, that’s what ProductionPro is all about: boosting collaboration along with freeing time and brainspace to empower crew members to produce their best work.

Request a ProductionPro Concierge for your upcoming production!

The post 5-star hotel concierge for film productions – what’s that? appeared first on ProductionPro.