Ok, so here's the thing: I am living a double life. IT Marketing Manager by day, tv show supervising producer by night. Not to mention tv show host. Ahehe.
Yes I have been dabbling in the sordid task of mounting a show for a Fledgling Production Company for the past month. (One month! My, how time flies.) This company is composed of advertising people who transformed themselves into content providers for a tv channel owned by a religious leader.
Now don't get any ideas just yet. The channel's programs here are being geared towards the youth. So there are all kinds of shows: from job finder fillers to daily schedule checks, to a chopsuey of segments and mini-programs to counseling programs and shopping shows. The one I handle is a TV shopping program.
On this show we feature real products (and services) with real value. The approach is a tele-magazine type, where we let the product, and the product owners speak up. It's their airtime, and we give it to them. Shempre we have to research the products and test them before they go one air...we have to be a show that's credible and honest.
It feels good to be back in tv but it hasn't been easy. Essentially I have had to work 15-hour days crank up the production machinery, watch the show's quality and philosophy, attend to administrative matters, do technical work like check scripts and assemblies, and of course do the hosting thing. Imagine having to find some space for all this in the middle of taking my MA classes, regular work, and trying to cope with the growing pains of the Fledgling Production Company. There was no (and I think, there still isn't) over-all production manager or production designer to implement the production systems and procedures. There was no designer who would take care of the look and "voice" of the channel. There were no charts, no schedule boards, no clear path to get to where you had to go. Everything was being tossed together in a hurry.
At least that's how I felt. Which is why I decided that, if my main deliverable was 6 episodes of the show, the only way I was going to live up to the bargain was to institute my own system with a team that could work within it. So I handpicked 5 fabulous people with hardcore tv production experience and got to work.
Because of that we're not as tired or as wasted as the other producers and editors of the show, plus some of us get to keep our day jobs. We are however, considered the most "autistic" bunch. No one has really said it to our faces, but we know what people think: we're so yabang, we're such sticklers for skeds, we're makulit when it comes to our needs. I plead GUILTY on all counts. My main defense: we had to get things done. And if the only way to do it was to do it our OWN way, then that way be done!
There are still many nuances and intricacies of production that this FPC doesn't know about, but which impact greatly on the final output and effort. They need to be made aware of these. On the other hand, our team, coming from a purely production background needs to be instructed on the presentation aesthetic of the FPC. It is at this juncture that both of us can meet halfway, share knowledge and help one another.
There's still so much to tell, but we'll leave it at that for now. Because the channel's only just starting there will be a lot more stories to tell and a lot more events to learn from. I'll be hanging around for a whole season, and boy it's going to be a long and interesting one.
