Too Many Cooks?

Avoiding the pitfalls of too many "creatives" in the In House Production Process.

Sorry for the parenthesis around "Creatives", but I find it so hard to use that a personal adjective without it. And let's get one thing straight, I'm not saying to cut down on the amount of creative folks you need to execute some kick ass work. I'm just suggesting that you need to be careful, and not just give cart blanche creative input or authority to every step of the process to an entire army of folks just because they feel entitled to it. This is one of the most dangerous cultures you can build within your in house production teams.

Now, I know that most in house teams will be compiled of the "jack/jane/joes of all trades" who can write, storyboard, produce, direct, edit, motion animation, maybe even color... and that more than likely their business cards and email signatures contain a job title that doesn't truly reflect each discipline they may be called on within the production process. But this is where a lot of the problems can begin. See, in the vast collaborative medium that is a video/film production job, titles are coveted badges and stripes that, with instant auditory reception, you know exactly where a person falls on the chain of command, information and level of input. (Keep in mind, that certain roles can vary from Film to TV to Commercial set, but there is a standard in each.) So, what inevitably happens in these departments can be a mix of hurt feelings, employees feeling like they have no creative input, or that their roles are just seen by the rest of the agency as "button pushers". All legitimate concerns as it can devastate morale and begin to seed descent within the ranks.

Ranks... thats a great way to look at it. Years ago one my favorite people to share a set with, Hektor Stockton, once said, "a film production is one half special forces unit, and one half circus." No truer words have ever been spoken on the rear lift gate of a grip truck at a 3am wrap over a few cold beers.

Back to Ranks... Let's look at ranks and chain of command. In an effective unit, roles can be interchangeable based on the mission, but Rank will always have its place. This is how your department should run.

You have a VERY talented team of very capable "creatives". You hired them for a reason. You respect their opinions, and respect their impact on the final work. BUT, this work isn't theirs. Hell, chances are, it's not even yours! It's already gone through the mess of testing, approvals, concepting, collaboration, legal, and so on and so on. Your team needs to know this, by knowing what their ROLE is in THAT specific project. This needs to be part of your kick off. This identification of ROLES needs to be STEP ONE in building out your execution plan. And within those ROLES, there needs to be a clearly defined level of access and input that is expected. And these ROLES can change from one project to another... today's editor can be tomorrow's director... thats up to how you have built your team. And not every in house model needs the same team make up. There are business development and client solution factors that should dictate that plan... more on that in another rant at another time.

Put it in writing in your project management software.?Document the levels. Use expanded ROLES as a means of rewarding those who give a little extra, put in that extra work, or seem to always just help. Tighten the ROLES on those who don't.

A year later, you can look back on those Roles and see who your real leaders are.

What are these ROLES??And how should they be defined? Ah... and that is what is inside this very round chubby cheeked head of mine.

Let's chat.?