The Science of being a successful Production Manager

By Hamdi Jama

Have you ever wanted to master the art of producing your very own television programme? By not of all means, becoming a production manager is nor easy or straight-forward. This demanding, yet a very professional job, will involve you developing schedules of a breakdown to how the production will run through a period of time. There are several jobs that you have to ensure before going forward with the production; from monitoring budget available and checking to see whether you have the appropriate equipment and resources. However, why do many people struggle to overcome the responsibilities and hurdles they face in management jobs? In order for you to be successful, you will need to be self-motivated and have the willingness not to surrender during different times, but having calming influences will help overcome intense pressure.

Sequentially, there is a long route for you, especially, to become production manager in the future. It won’t be one of those jobs that you can easily get; you will be expected to have been distinguished within different fields, from assistant floor manager to floor manager and an accomplished location manager. The importance of being versatile in different fields will not only help you improve your skills and knowledge, but helping out other people who are struggling to meet the demands of the job. Obtaining a degree in something media related is not essential, but most people are at an advantage with all of the skills and knowledge gained during their time at university. The experience you have gained over the years and a good record of managing a variety of production companies puts you in a good position to get the job. Ultimately, it is about you following your aspirations and everyone has an equal chance of acquiring this job role.

As other production managers around the world would regard this job as ‘demanding’, and this job does not require you to work on a full-time basis. That’s right; you will be working on a freelance basis. A freelancer or (freelance work) is a self-employed person who works in an organisation in which the employers work full-time. Working as a freelancer, particularly as a television production manager it will be just as important as other jobs. The hours you work are normally irregular, as there are times you have to work long hours and times were you don’t. The following daily routines of this job may sound straightforward, but it will be a whole new story once you’re an established television production manager. First of all, you will be meeting the producers and other senior production members to observe the programme ideas, and summarising up the schedule and budget analysis on the estimated costs. Therefore, having a very good comprehension of managing finances and accountancy is very useful for this job role. You are required to recruit and select a range of employees you feel will bring something to the production. Significantly, you are responsible to maintain a secure working environment for your employees.

All management posts require you to work with employers from other fields of the company, in this case the production. It is important to visit other fields of the production, like the script writing and creative section, as it is your job to see how things are developing will help the employees to get feedback on the ways to make your ideas a reality.

All production managers have to take a long journey to become established within this position. You may get some production managers working in both television and film industries; two different industries in terms of what they offer to people. There are many production managers who have worked their way up to get that position, and here are three people who can give you inspiration and the motivation.

Nicole Collins

Adam Premkanth

http://www. linkedin .com/pub/dir/ Nicole / Collins

http://my.linkedin.com/pub/adam-edwin-premkanth/b/999/383

One of the most versatile production managers around, who is experienced in the television industry is the American Nicole Collins. She is best known for her work at MTV News, which is a very popular channel amongst many people, and she has created numerous documentaries for varies television channels. Nicole Collins started off as a Segment Producer for UCSD TV, and her main priorities was to co-ordinate and administrate for several of 5-minute news for a student run television magazine. After 2 successful years, she then decided to leave her position. Like all production managers, gaining experience in different position counts. Miss Collins was given the opportunity to work with the American cable television Viacom Media Networks (VH1). During her 2 years at the company, she encountered two job roles; Series & Development and Music Series & Development. While working in the Music Series & Development field of the company, she was given a fantastic opportunity to become a production manager for MTV News. Throughout her time at MTV News, she endured a successful 4 years at the company in guiding the company in the right direction.

Adam Premkanth, from a Sri Lankan decent, first started off with no media background whatsoever. Initially, he came from an accounting background by working with McClainne & Associates. However, Adam then went on to pursue a career in the advertising industry. His ever-increasing desire to set up his very own production business grew, as he was location manager of the International Project Space Company. Soon after, he established one of his challenges were to become production manager. The Stone Advertising Agency had given him the role to be the company’s Senior Marketing Executive. While Adam started from the bottom, he had gained valuable knowledge in which is needed to become a production manager. After couple years into his time at the advertising company, he was given the chance to become the company’s production manager.