Video producers are like the glitter glue you find in arts-and-crafts supply stores, appearing to radiate glitz and glamour. But glitter glue is still glue. And a producer’s high-pressure job can be utterly exhausting, with locations, equipment, and crew to lock down.
But holding a project together is one of the strengths of the best video producers. They have top-notch organizational skills to keep their staff on track and their budget under control, as well as a composed demeanor for lifting and maintaining their team’s collective morale.
It’s one thing to execute a vision all by yourself, successfully creating a powerful visual story. But the video producers we talked with say it’s more satisfying to be part of (and lead) a team with this same mission.
So, how do you break into video producing? Do you have to own your own equipment? Do you need to go to film school, or can you learn on the job?
“No job is too small, especially when you’re starting out,” says Jason Sanchez, executive producer of video for Maxim. “It’s important to remember that as you keep going. You’re not above any job, and you shouldn’t be. It seems like it’s stupid work or whatever, it’s menial labor, but it’s there for a reason. It’s a little piece, but it helps the bigger part of everything.”
Sanchez, who formerly worked for CNN, said some colleagues who were curious about video producing ended up in the business by making themselves available whenever they were needed.
“They’re called ‘swings’ on a production set,” he says. “They were basically just people who did anything. They started out doing whatever the director wanted.”
The work could be something as simple as locating odd items needed for a shoot, Sanchez explains. While they’re on the set, they start asking questions. Soon they’re familiar with the duties of everyone involved in a production.
“Eventually they stopped getting the hot sauce and started doing the lighting, or the sound, or operating the camera,” says Sanchez.
Sanchez stresses the importance of investing in, or even borrowing, a camera that shoots video so that you’re comfortable behind the lens. He also suggests buying Final Cut Pro X, an inexpensive editing software for putting together high-quality videos.
“Shoot anything,” Sanchez says. “Who cares what it is? Just practice, and then try to build up a reel.”
Video producer Eric Leven, working on an upcoming reality show for the National Geographic Channel, explains that the film school route isn’t an essential start to a career in the industry.
“Film school is only going to help you facilitate a passion, but it is not going to help you become the producer and director that you want to be,” says Leven, who has worked on popular shows like BBQ Pitmasters, My Super Sweet 16, and Mob Wives. “The only thing that’s going to help you get there is paying your dues and by shadowing other professionals.”
Leven says video producing isn’t a career where you can skip levels.
“You have to start at the bottom and learn from people who know what they’re doing,” he says. “Otherwise, you’ll never really know what it is to make a show or how to effectively direct.”
Leven’s favorite aspect of being a video producer is all of the people he gets to connect with along the way.
“It’s given me an opportunity to work and meet with people that I would have no other opportunity to do so in any other realm,” Leven says. “I’m an out of the closet, liberal, New York Jew, and now some of my best friends are Southern conservative barbecuers.”
Jason Baum, an award-winning producer known for his work on Arcade Fire’s unforgettable “We Exist” video, says he started out “working odd jobs as a production assistant.” He says his “organizational and planning-type personality” and “even-tempered mindset” led him to being a producer.
“I think why I enjoy [producing], and the reason why I’ve kept at it, is the satisfaction of seeing a good project come out,” says Baum. “There’s some duds along the way, but to know that you’re really excited about it because it’s creatively relevant, or different, or cool, trumps all of the stress involved in making something.”
Baum’s best advice for anyone who wants to be a video producer?
“Find a group of people you truly like and are also talented,” he says. “Do projects together and really build a strong team of people that you can rely on, because I think a lot of my best videos are successful because I was able to work with people that I have developed the strong, creative, working-friendship with. You really need to find a group of people to grow and learn with.”
Photo credit: Steven Seller/Flickr