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AWG VICTORIA WRITER-PRODUCER FORUM
The evening began with an update on recent AWG events, as Tim Pye is the incoming President of the Guild. It was an exciting time to become President, he said, as the industry is facing such major changes through the producer rebate that will soon be written into the statute books.
Tim began by outlining his experience as a producer – sometimes as a script producer, other times as an executive producer, and over the past six months as a ‘real’ producer, making nuts and bolts decisions about a show.
Tim commented that the role of the producer in television is an amorphous concept. It tends to be different in Australia to other countries. In the US, for example, the role of the producer is fundamentally different to that in Australia, as here the producer has to raise the finance for the film. A network here might tell you that you’ve got a terrific project, then give you a small amount of the budget and you have to go off and raise the rest. In the US, if the network likes the idea, they have enough money to fund it 100%. That means the producer’s role in the US is to make the program, not find ways of funding it.
As well, the Australian Writers’ Guild has pushed for recognition of the work that Australian story editors were doing, by creating a role called a script producer. This is because the story editor, who marshals all the scripts for a television show, does a lot of work that was in fact producing.
Tim mentioned that one aspect of becoming a producer is that you don’t have anyone to blame for the final result other than yourself – you can’t say they cast it wrongly or hired the wrong directors, because you did that yourself.
Judi, Tim and Kelly all have extensive experience as writers although Judi pointed out early on that as far as she’s concerned she doesn’t have a huge amount of writing or producing experience as yet – but that isn’t a barrier to becoming a producer.
All three of the speakers pointed out that producing is a matter of working out what you know and what you don’t, and coming up with strategies for filling in the gaps in your knowledge or expertise.
One way is to align yourself with an experienced producer, and this is the path that Judi and Kelly have taken. Judi aligned herself on the mini-series The Surgeon with veteran John Edwards from Southern Star. “John is fantastic because he’s had so much experience that whatever problem you strike, he has always seen that problem before,” said Judi. Like, if the network suggests an actor for a role and you don’t want to go that way, John had a solution – you find a program where that actor didn’t come across that well and show it to the network.
Kelly Lefever worked with WA producer Ross Hutchens who actually hasn’t done heaps of drama, but he has produced heaps of documentary.
One of the things the speakers said was that if you want to become a producer, you have to offer something. Don’t just say I want to become a producer because I want control, but instead say that if I become a producer I’ll work my butt off and do the hard yards that you don’t have time for, for example.
The speakers talked about attachments and how the golden rule is if you’re an attachment, shut the f**k up. They had horror stories of attachees who commented on the cut to network executives and offered opinions in story meetings. “Don’t do it, as you’re demonstrating that you don’t know what you don’t know,” said Judi.
Kelly talked about her experience traveling to the UK to work as an attachee on a Mike Bullen TV program. When she first arrived she realised that at that particular time they were dealing with other crises, and the last thing they needed was an attachee. Kelly explained to them that she had other work to be going on with and would come back later when things had settled down. Her producer immediately realised that she was dealing with a sensible person who knew when to keep a low profile, and that set Kelly on a strong footing for the rest of the attachment.
The message from Tim, Judi and Kelly was reinforced throughout the night – be clear about your goals, and then find a path to getting there. And the buzz in the bar afterwards was that all three had been inspirational.
Mark Poole
This article appears courtesy of Screenhub www.screenhub.com.au
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