Television production is like baking a pie

• Posted: Saturday, March 11, 2006
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• Author: pradhana

Harry Cocciolo is a director with Imported Artists and Tool of North America.

When I went to work at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, my first assignment was a television spot for a video game. My partner and I wrote an entertaining, albeit silly little idea. We sold it to our creative director and the client and we were off into production. Simple.

What seemed like a moment later, I was standing on a soundstage on the Universal Studios back lot, a director was screaming at an army of production people, film was rolling at thirty frames per second, and a budget twenty times my salary was disappearing before my eyes, all in an effort to bring our silly little idea to life. Not so simple after all.

Print production is like wrestling a steer. You can pin it down, literally, with real pins. Television production is like herding cattle. If you work hard, you might be able to steer it a little this way or that way, but it has a life and a mind of its own. The camera is rolling, time is ticking away, and the shoot day is almost always too short. Sometimes it moves along effortlessly and everything works. On occasion it turns suddenly, surprising everyone, and runs itself off a cliff.

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