What You Wish For
Posted on December 23, 2008
Several years ago, I was working as a technician in a local studio when a new group of producers was hired to replace others that had “moved on” (Some of them had been “promoted to customer” as we liked to say. It was a good house cleaning.) Another technician expressed dismay at being passed over for promotion (he was even brought to tears!) He told me that all he wanted to be was a producer there. I wasn’t Santa, and he wasn’t a cute intern on my lap, so I couldn’t give a chit about his opinion otherwise, except for one thing. I refrained from bringing up the facts that he was younger than me, had less education, less experience and less seniority than me (and, therefore, wasn’t entitled to a promotion before I was.) What I did wonder is, why? Why would you want to be a producer here? Here of all places. All we did was cheap industrials, shooting meetings and speeches, VHS training videos, and duplication. Occasionally there was a cool project, a documentary, commercial, out of town seminar in an exotic city. But, all those projects were cock-blocked by the senior producer. Nothing cool was ever left for the groundlings (They didn’t do that much business.) So, why? Of course that was a rhetorical question. He had no real answer. He hemmed and hawed. I didn’t press him. But, we all knew the answer: he only wanted the big chair. Since he had no tangible skills, knowledge, or talent, it didn’t matter where he sat. It didn’t matter what kind of crap he put his name on. As long as he was schmoozing and telling jokes and charming clients and flirting with actresses, he didn’t care. As long as he didn’t have to climb a ladder to hang a light, monitor an audio meter (much less be required to know the difference between VU and PPM), or coil a cable, he was in charge. What he wanted was the fantasy: PA’s and interns bringing him coffee, meetings with clients, crew following his orders, an office with his name on the door. He didn’t see that this business plan, his preferred career path, would lead him straight into being another of the exact same useless, clueless, talentless producers we had just fired.
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