elwin goh photography

Importance of a producer

I’m sure my producer (along with others) would appreciate the article on PDN titled “5 Things You Should Not Do Yourself” :) You are much appreciated

Production

    Liz Miller-Gershfeld, senior art producer at Energy BBDO in Chicago and the mother of two children, has said she has the same high regard for a good producer on the set of an ad shoot as for the doctor who administered her epidurals. “When a producer is talented at what they do, it just makes things go very well for me,” she says. “There is a level of facilitation that makes everyone work together more confidently.” Translation: Jobs go better when you hire a producer, so clients are more relaxed.  
    Miller-Gershfeld acknowledges that ad budgets don’t always allow photographers to hire a producer. But the more complex the job, in terms of locations scouting, talent, wardrobe, make-up and other “moving parts,” she says, the more essential it is for photographers to hire a producer rather than handle the production themselves. 
    ”A producer is a bit of a conductor, watching everything from a production perspective. They have a spreadsheet in mind. When a client say, ‘Can we do this extra shot?’ or ‘Can we get this propped?’ the producer can respond quantitatively,” Miller-Gershfeld explains. “A photographer shouldn’t have to think in those terms, because it interrupts the creative flow. If a photographer is filling both of those roles [production and shooting] neither role is being done as well. So you walk away from the job wondering: What could have been if I didn’t have to stop the photographer to talk about production questions they shouldn’t be thinking about?”
    Detroit photographer Joe Vaughn says his work and business suffered before he hired a full-time producer. “I was trying to be two people at once,” he explains. “There wasn’t enough time to think creatively.” Vaughn says photographers have to wear multiple hats—and handle their own production—when they’re first starting out. That’s what Vaughn did, but it wasn’t long before he realized it was costing him. “I would be so immersed in a job that I wasn’t returning calls for the next job. I was losing work and relationships because I wasn’t paying attention.” Now, Vaughn says, he’s able to focus on the conceptualizing the job at hand, while his producer, Matt Prested, takes handles all the estimates, budgeting, scheduling, crew, logistics, talent and client hand-holding for upcoming jobs, “so I don’t have to do all that,” Vaughn says. Prested adds, “I’m working on the future, while Joe is working on the present.”