Don Mischer's Top Ten Rules to Successful Producing

Keynote Speaker at the Live TV Conference Producer/Director of the Academy Awards and the Olympics opening ceremony, Emmy Award winner Don Mischer listed his Top Ten Rules to Successful Producing:

#1.  Hire the best team possible - people with great attitudes are everything.

#2.  Build a contributory environment - get early buy in and general consensus with your team.

#3. Communicate with your talent, staff and crew - be open and precise with the way you talk to your team.

#4. Leadership - make swift and certain decisions -  have a vision for the show's look, opening, time management and have a strong close.

#5. Be Prepared - be prepared for anything before, during and after the show's production.

#6. Anticipate what can go wrong - go over all the "what ifs" and have a contingency plan for each scenario.

#7. Build "Surprises" into the show - always have a suprise guest or great reveal during your show.

#8. Use Creativity as a problem solver -  sometimes the best parts of a show come from creative problem solving.

#9. Don't make assumptions about anything! Check and verify everything!

#10. Enjoy yourself in the heat of the battle - keep your cool, remember nobody at home knows what's going wrong and treat people fairly even in the middle of crisis.