Starting a dialogue

I thought I would start a conversation about a commercial production issue that has been bothering me for years. To get straight to it, the subject is cost consultants. As an agency producer and a one time head of production, I have always had my doubts as to whether cost consultants contribute anything positive to the production process.

To be clear; agencies and production companies' behavior and practices a long time ago, in what some might have called the "good olds" made the concept of cost consultants a reality. Production companies were flying high and making money hand over fist but that was a long time ago in a distant galaxy.

At the same time, agencies were not doing themselves any favors. Creative was king and whatever it took to make the spot the best it could be was the general rule. Why let budgets get in the way of that? At the same time, there were voices of reason and budgetary responsibilities  handled by agency producers and agency business managers. I was lucky enough to come up working with one of the best business managers in the history of advertising Florence Reef. She was a tough as nails negotiator and made sure she trained us young producers in this art as well.

I always felt one big mistake agencies made was not promoting the business managers as the assets they are to the clients budget. When cost consultants started to really become a thing agencies should have pushed the business managers into the clients view. Stated loud and clearly to their clients what do you need cost consultants for? What do you think our business managers do ?  They protect the clients budget.

Ok, I will admit that that is water way under the bridge so why write about this now? Cost consultants are not going anywhere and if anything they are playing a larger role in the process than ever before. They are getting involved in creative development and brand managers are handing the cost consultants more responsibility than ever. And may I be so bold as to ask what training they have had that would make one think they have something valuable to contribute to the process?

As the saying goes everyone has opinions but not everyone's opinion is equal. I don't want to delve into the politics of the country here but I am going to state firmly that I value education, training and experience. I believe in expertise and I make it a practice of trusting the experts I hire to do the job I hired them to do, knowing I cannot do the things that I have hired them to do. There is a reason cost consultants are cost consultants and not producers, executive producers, directors, editors, strategists or creatives. No matter what their resume says they have done in the past, they are not doing it any more. 

Finally, I just want to be able to ask clients a few things that just bug me. First I want to say to clients if you think cost consultants are saving you any money, they aren’t. I would go as far as to say not only are they not saving you money, in the long run they are increasing your costs.  More importantly many, not all, cost consultants have set up the concept that the client and agency are adversaries during the production. Rather than the client and the agency working hand in hand, the consultants have created an atmosphere of distrust.

During a production, rather than the agency producer, creatives and production company focusing on getting what everyone has agreed to, they spend a good portion of their energies defending what they are doing.

To get great work and best use of your production dollars, you need great collaboration and trust. The people and companies that agency producers recommend for a particular project are not based on friendships. These decisions are based on who they think are best for the project at hand. This is not a decision that is made lightly. There were times when the creatives and I would look at fifty or more directors' reels and participate in 3 or more intense phone calls with the directors chosen to bid on the project. No one on the agency's side takes this process lightly.

What are we looking for? Maybe most importantly, does the director understand what the agency and the client are trying to achieve? Does the director have ideas on how to plus the project? How was the chemistry?  Could we see spending ten or more days with this person?

The process doesn’t end there. There are bids generated based on meticulous specs written by the producer; there is the budget that is gone through with a fine tooth comb by the producer and their partner, the business manager. Then the cost consultants get involved. Don’t get me wrong they have already been part of multiple phone calls with the agency folks. Sometimes multiple representatives from the cost consultancy have been on these calls. How can having more people on a project save you money?  There is usually one agency producer and sometimes two or three cost consultants - something just does not add up here. These calls usually consist of things like the consultancy being caught up and complaining because they were not brought in sooner. Sorry folks, not the agencies responsibility. Then when they are reviewing the budgets making arbitrary decisions about what something should cost based on what? Maybe their vast collection of data which is how old?  Even if the data is up to date  they

often make apples to orange comparisons. 

What kills me more than anything else is that cost consultants could be contributing positively to the process. It would take a willingness to speak truth to their clients. To point out how their clients internal processes, their indecisions, changing of minds and missing deadlines that were clearly laid out in the production schedule negatively impact on the budget. More importantly, cost consultants should be coaching clients on how to be good partners during the production. I truly believe if that process took place, not only would clients save money they would end up getting more and better

content. If I were a cost consultant first I wouldn't call myself a cost consultant. I would like to be thought of as a production coach. I would audit my clients internal process, I would work on fostering better communication between the agency and my client and finally, I would work hard at keeping everyone focused on the job at hand. Which is getting the most and the best content possible, because it would be my clients money and I would want to insure that it is being used well.

Jonathan Shipman

Production Coach.