This is not a technical manual, so we’re not going to examine how to frame a shot, or edit a sequence, or count bars of music – anyway, these are skills you should be taught during your training. In this chapter, we’re going to look at the most important skill you’ll need to develop if you’re going to make it in television – the skill of getting along with producers and directors. In fact, this chapter could be called ‘What Producers and Directors Want’. Because here’s the thing: if producers and directors like you, they will ask for you on their productions. If you work for a big company this is a good thing because you will become a valuable asset; the last person to get fired when times are hard. If you work as a freelance, it’s an even better thing because producers and directors, and their production managers, will be queuing up to hire you, and you will always have work.

KNOWING WHAT PRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS WANT

To research this chapter, I interviewed producers and directors who, collectively, have worked on just about every type of television programme you can imagine. On your behalf, I asked them what they wanted from their crews, editors, unit managers and PAs, and they all said pretty much the same. Here’s a summary of their ruminations, condensed into six simple rules.

1. Take things seriously, but not too seriously

Making television is a serious business. Even making comedy programmes is a serious business. If things go wrong, there are jobs at stake, and reputations, and lots and lots of money. So producers and directors want people who are dedicated, hardworking and professional. It’s important that you’re never late, and that you give every production your undivided concentration. But it’s also important that you know how to have a laugh.

For the record, he has vowed never to work with her again. Other producers and directors had similar stories of when good healthy professionalism goes bad, and slides into unhealthy neurosis.

2. Think about other people on the team

The big thing that marks out good people is that they always think about the whole process of making a television programme. They’re aware of how their actions will affect other people’s jobs, and they expend a lot of energy trying to help everybody else on the team (toadying to the people above you doesn’t count, good people are nice to everyone – above, below and sideways!). A good camera operator goes to the edit when she gets a spare hour or two, because she understands that the more she knows about the editing process, the more she can do to help out her editor. A good editor will help a new researcher; show him the ropes and explain how editing works. Sometimes little gestures can make all the difference. All of the producers and directors I spoke to remembered small kindnesses, like the time when a PA brought out a giant bag of sweets on location and handed them round because there was no time for a coffee break. Being nice and kind and thoughtful will earn you a place in the affections of every producer and director you work with. Upsetting other people will do you no good at all, in fact in may do you a lot of harm – television is a democratic industry, and new recruits can rise quickly through the ranks. You never know who’s going to be a producer next year.

3. Be confident but never dominate

I was talking to two directors about the most important quality in a camera operator/sound recordist/assistant director/PA/editor. ‘Confidence,’ said one. ‘But not too much confidence,’ said the other. The first director nodded in agreement. ‘Please explain,’ I said. Here’s the gist of their explanation: you need to have an open, honest and frank exchange of views with your team, so your team should be made up of people who are confident in their own abilities. A chip on the shoulder is a very bad thing. A director should be able to say to his editor: ‘that cut doesn’t work’, without worrying that he might upset her. Equally, an editor has to be able to say to her director: ‘that shot has to go, even though you spent three hours setting it up ...’ A good camera operator has the confidence to interpret what the director wants, and the judgement to shoot it in the way that an editor can cut it. Sometimes there’s no time to ask: ‘is this what you want?’ Confidence is important in every television job. But over-confidence can cause problems. Some people get carried away, and forget that they’re not in charge of the shoot. This is bad.

These two terrible stories should never have happened. Good people understand that no matter how brilliant their individual skills are, there is only one director, and the director always has the final say.

4. Respect everyone else

You know that you are good at your job. Assume everyone else is too. You will work with different groups of people every time you start a new production. Don’t waste time sizing them up or being suspicious – things will run much more smoothly if you respect them all, no questions asked. And your director will love you for it. All directors complain about the ‘fencing’ that goes on when they first work with someone new – that first moment when a director meets his camera crew, and they parry and thrust to find out how much he knows, how much technical knowledge he has, and what sort of programmes he’s done before. Paul has been directing single-camera shoots for 20 years, and he still has to deal with the fencing, every time he works with a new crew. Here’s his idea of a dream crew:

‘We would meet, introduce each other, they would assume that I’m a competent guy, and everybody would get on with their work. Same goes for editors, unit managers, and PAs.’

It works both ways, though – directors have to learn to respect their teams too, no questions asked.

5. Be a ‘can do’, not a ‘can’t do’

Never go to a producer or director with problems, unless you have some solutions. Producers and directors don’t like working with people who say ‘I can’t do because ...’. They’re really not interested in the becauses – they expect you to sort out your own problems, and only come to them if there’s a really major hitch that would jeopardise the programme, and they really, absolutely need to know about it. And even then, they expect you to come to them with some ideas on how to solve the problem. Here’s Paul:

‘Sometimes people like to tell you their problems, and how hard they’ve had to work to overcome them, just so they can underline how difficult their job is and win your approval. I hate that. I know everyone has a difficult job, but I don’t want it dumped on me, especially when I’m under pressure. If you’re producing and directing a programme, sometimes you feel as though all you do is deal with other people’s problems – there’s a line of problem-people outside your door. You deal with one, and then shout: “Next!”. You don’t have time to do any real work. Most problems should never reach the producer or director. I like working with problem-solvers, not problem-givers.’

6. Expect to suffer for your art

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: a circus comes to town, and right at the end of the procession, there’s a chap whose job it is to shovel up the elephant muck, and put it in a bucket. A kindly old lady is watching him scooping up the dirt, and she says: ‘Young man, why don’t you get another job?’, and the man stands up, looks at her dumbfounded and says: ‘What, and give up show business!’ Sometimes television can get like that – not elephant dung, exactly, but I have friends who have worked a 12 hour day in sub-zero conditions. And then they’ve gone back the next day and done another 12 hours in sub-zero conditions. And the same the next day, and the next ... And then they’ve gone straight into a night shoot. You have to love your job, really love it, if you want to be happy in television.

Expect to work very long hours, in difficult working conditions. Expect to be sunburned, heat-fatigued, mosquito-bitten, frostbitten, and even moth-eaten, but don’t expect a nice cushy job. And expect to put your social life second to the production – schedules can change suddenly, and your weekend plans may have to be shelved at short notice. It’s become such a cliché to say: ‘Oh, my job seems glamorous, but it’s really very hard work ...’. Models say this in interviews, meaning that they had to walk up and down a few extra times, or change their clothes quite quickly, or maybe go to three parties in one night! But television really is hard work, sometimes grindingly hard work, and only the fittest, the most enthusiastic and the most focused people survive.

And that’s the secret of television. If you can do your job well, and you follow these six simple rules, you are guaranteed a good reputation and a glittering career. Promise.