Overview of the role
A shooting series producer is a newer role in factual TV that combines editorial leadership with hands-on camera operating. It is a senior position, not only responsible for delivering a series full of compelling stories as ordered by the commissioning broadcaster, but also for contributing some shooting.
The job can take many forms based on the genre, scale and schedule of the production - ranging from an influential US-style showrunner to stewarding an existing brand through its 10th series. You are likely a freelancer, and likely the first to arrive on the production and the last to leave. You’ll already have a wealth of experience either in similar TV productions or have skills that can transfer. But something for certain is that you will be central to the creative decision-making process using your storytelling competence and thorough managerial skill.
Due to their wide-ranging workload, a series producer’s shooting is likely to be supplementary or complementary to that of their colleagues; for example a shooting producer director or director of photography. However, in very small teams that require less oversight, they may be expected to act as the main camera operator.
Core responsibilities
These core responsibilities are provided as a guide and are not exhaustive. The exact responsibilities in a particular job will vary depending on the scale / budget band / genre of the production.
- Assess what editorial personnel will be required. Write job descriptions and advertise positions, for example shooting producer directors, assistant producers, researchers and runners. Conduct interviews for those positions, liaising with other senior team members.
- Work with the production manager or production executive to ensure that new hires fit the budget of the production.
- Draw from an excellent base of contacts, with a clear sense of what experience matches the editorial.
- Cultivate a dynamic through the team of openness, creativity, and diligence.
- Instill clear reporting hierarchies and opportunities to develop or train the team members.
- React to changing circumstances while the shoot unfolds, hiring additional people for intensive periods or set pieces, e.g. master interviews, presenter days or stunts.
- Managing the team members’ strengths and weaknesses, helping them develop skills to aid their career progression
- Continue to care for the team through production, with consideration of colleagues’ home circumstances, travel considerations and rest.
- Later in a production, editors and edit assistants may be hired.
- Develop a clear understanding of the brief, its genre, and how it fits within the commissioning climate.
- Complete editorial development by conducting additional research following commission, stress-testing the concept, and making necessary adaptations. Then communicate the new approach to executives at the earliest opportunity.
- Offer creative ways to tell the story, with consideration of location, wardrobe, continuity, contributors, time of day, props, etc. And then communicate this through the team.
- Coordinate research with junior members of the team, implementing an organised system for briefing documents and contributor profiles.
- Set up shoots with other editorial team members, advising on editorial and ensuring each shoot is well chosen and logistically feasible.
- Encourage a consistent approach to the content across the series, by discussing shoots with shooting colleagues.
- Track what editorial has been shot using logging documents, this will allow the team to see how a story progresses through the filming period.
- Pass editorial steers through the team, to ensure that all remain engaged in the storytelling and can make their decision accordingly.
- Take briefings from the team on location after each shoot, in order to make a decision on next steps together.
- Monitor whether shoots are completing successfully and agreed storytelling aims are being achieved
- Attend shoots to facilitate access and introduce team members to contributors and stakeholders.
- Report progress confidently and regularly with executives and commissioners.
- Delegate appropriate office tasks to junior staff, alongside relevant training.
- Work closely with directors, assistant producers, researchers, runners to guide their work.
- Liaise regularly with production management regarding budget, staffing and scheduling.
- Support the crew should a disagreement arise with contributors, then mediate or resolve the issue and move the production forward.
- Build resilient access agreements with the locations that require one for filming. These should be carefully negotiated to be achievable and mutually beneficent.
- Consider additional measures to safeguard any vulnerable contributors, e.g. bespoke consent protocols, viewings or extra aftercare.
- Implement reliable systems to track contributor relationships and their consent status, phone call logs, transcripts, contact details and release forms - this will preserve and nurture the access to tell the story.
- Liaise with production management to build detailed and effective risk assessments for the shoot and ensure the team have the necessary health and safety training and access to PPE. Health and safety of the shoots should be seen as a priority as the SP has ultimate legal responsibility here.
- Note when images, music or art with protected intellectual property rights have been captured on camera, and make decisions on whether to pursue clearance for them.
- Use knowledge of the OFCOM broadcasting code and steer creative decisions accordingly.
- Work with production management to create employment, access, legal, health and safety and insurance agreements for the team.
- Book frame by frame checks of each episode in the final stage of its edit, and follow up missing consents and permissions.
- Check all promised final deliverables have been completed, including promotional stills, transcripts and cutdowns.
- Protect access by liaising regularly with press officers to ensure that filming is agreed on an ongoing basis, securing a solid foundation for the shoot.
- Build tendering documents for creative partners, e.g. GFX studios for title sequences and animations.
- Cast a narrator if required, by working with agents and bookers.
- Hire high-value ad hoc production staff like directors of photography, drone pilots, grip, composers, art directors or wardrobe teams.
- Make sure that the edit is accommodated at an edit facility that is appropriate for the team, budget and schedule.
- Represent the production for any ad-funded production partners, and coordinate their notes and feedback throughout.
- Prepare documents for PR agencies to assist their promotional campaign for the production.
- Ensure there is reliable movement and safe storage of rushes, passing from camera to edit facility.
- Brief editors and edit producers on their episode story when they start
- Work with production management to book and coordinate commissioner viewings of episodes to keep the edit on schedule, liaising frequently with edit teams to make sure that the right person is seeing the right cut at the right time.
- Coordinate the filming of pickups to improve or complement scenes through the edit
- Supply required materials for ingest, eg UGC, GFX, music
- Manage expectations for the senior team before viewing cuts
- Assist on the interpretation of notes coming in from commissioners
- Check that notes arising from feedback on cuts have been completed by the edit teams.
- Make decisions on which shoots require the participation of the SP as a camera operator, and which do not, carefully assigning the right team member to each shoot.
- Prepare camera kit for shoots, making sure that all equipment has been carefully stored
- Operate camera, and often sound recording equipment on set or location.
- Log footage
- Reset equipment after use so it’s ready for the next member for the team to use.
Skills
Check out role specific skills, transferable skills and attributes for the role of shooting series producer.
- Diligence: keep an eye on details, hone the ability to spot legal/compliance issues, and start up pieces of work from scratch with your own energy.
- Delegating: smoothly and clearly delegate tasks. Decision making. prioritize and make quick effective decision
- Creativity: be full of ideas, and open to new ones with strong editorial judgement
- Networking: a large contact book to recruit the appropriate team members, along with excellent established relationships with presenters, agents, experts and TV commissioners
- Cinematography for factual TV: as a senior team member, the SP would be expected to shoot to a high standard. But camera operating comes with challenges to time management, balanced against the substantial remaining responsibilities of a series producer. So their shooting is likely to be complementary with other camera operators on the team.
- Communication: conveying a creative and editorial vision and what you expect teams to achieve
- Flexibility: always have a backup plan in mind, maybe taking a calculated risk.
- Elasticity: the workload might sometimes be gentle, followed by a period at maximum capacity, so try to roll with it.
- Problem-solving: the shooting SP is often called upon for support with editorial or production issues, and can solve problems quickly and diplomatically.
- Time management: the SP will have so many plates spinning at the same time that they must have effective time management skills and be able to prioritise the most immediate jobs first.
- Accountability: be comfortable with the responsibility for the production, many look to the series producer for guidance and information.
- Lateral thinking: sometimes a big problem can be solved with a different point of view
- Good listening: as a creative lead you have a team alongside you to help make decisions, be a team player.