Producer - DIrector Relationship

For my last blog i thought i would make a personal reflection on the nature of the relationship between producer and director during the children's show Mish Mash. As series producer I have had the opportunity to see the different relationships between the different producers and directors. Through this experience I have come to the conclusion that every one of these relationships were different. I am not sure whether this is the case in professional industry situations but I expect that it would be but to a much lesser extent.

I thought that the first show showed that a there needs to be a great amount of communication during the whole preproduction process. It became evident that there was more communication needed when both the director and producer had their own script revisions. It is clear that the script is an area for the producer but due to a lack of communication this was not made clear and there was much confusion because of this.

I thought the second episode showed that communication was vital. Throughout the preproduction phase there was much communication between the producer and director. This meant the director was very aware of he shows requirements and was on the same page as the producer. During the show the producer was able to communicate with the director to make changes to the show.

The third show showed much the same as show two. It however was an interesting situation as there was much confusion during the first run through. This was able to be resolved mainly through the director being more in tune to what the show required but the producer also helped to fix the problems from the floor.

The last show was very interesting for me as I had to act both as a director and series producer. I made the decision to ask James to take on the roles I had in the studio so i would be free to stay in the control room. It was also difficult because of the conflict that may have arisen with my producer. Only once I had to override the producer and it was received well. I found that the most helpful thing as a director was being able to understand the where the producer is coming from. Meeting and discussing the show with my producer made it possible to just concentrate on directing the show rather than worrying about where the show was going.

In the end each relationship had both advantages and disadvantages. Clearer definitions of roles would have been very helpful as this was this was the first time our class had been placed in a position. That said if given the chance to repeat the whole exercise there would be many things that would be done differently and the end product would have been proportionally better.