For this blog entry I'll quote from successful producers such as Jane Scott and Aaron Spelling, using their opinions of the role to discuss my experience of producing the first episode of Mish Mash.
"We should be seen as manufacturers," says Jane Scott, one of Australia's most successful producers for the screen with credits including Barry McKenzie, Storm Boy, Crocodile Dundee, Strictly Ballroom and Shine. (Quoted in Enter the producer, Penny Hackforth Jones, Australian Financial Review 17-18 Sept. 2005.)
I was interested Scott attributed her impressive array of credits to inspiration more than avoiding typecasting:
"Each project needs to be very different from anything you've done before. You want to find something fresh and new and interesting."
The most prolific producer on television would seem to agree. Aaron Spelling, like Scott, looks for new subjects to develop for inspiration. In his 50 year career he appears to have tapped into the zeitgeist and made television shows people want to watch. His credits include Dynasty, Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210, Fantasy Island, Starsky and Hutch, The Mod Squad, Seventh Heaven, Melrose Place and Charmed. In total 4220 hours of television, some 176 days of viewing. Apparently Spelling has an entry in the Guinness Book.
E. Duke Vincent, Spelling's business partner for 18 years, believes Spelling's talent has been knowing who audiences want to watch:
"Any television show starts with a concept, and if you don't have a story you don't have anything, but probably the most important thing in television is casting, and that's where he's king."
In an interview with Michael Idato in The Sydney Morning Herald of 19 Sept. 2005, Spelling characterises the production process as collaborative, where ideas are distilled by conflict. A kind of cerebral Darwinism where the strongest concepts survive.
Jane Scott and Aaron Spelling each reflect something of my own experience as a producer on Mish Mash, where I took my own interests as inspiration and fed them into the content. The production meetings were a process of proposing ideas and watching them be battered or praised. I'd have liked to have contributed to casting but for most of the process my focus was on developing content. Occasionally this meant arguing with people but I took the view I should be flexible and tried to find merit in their proposals. Stephen made a couple of decisions where I wanted more consideration but otherwise I find myself agreeing with his vision for the show and admiring its extent.
What I like about producing is the creative process and its realisation. On the day I really appreciated seeing the script being enacted. I'm not sure where I got the idea I should let the director run the control room unhindered as I gave directions to sound, actors and the floor. By the time I got to the control room I found I'd never established that part of a working relationship with Aaron where I'd tell him how it looked to me and he'd appear to care. So when I suggested we skip the performance from Sheldon in the last rehearsal as it was obviously draining him and one of the hosts needed a break, it was ignored. Then again, he had a heap to worry about so maybe it would've been better if we'd compared notes earlier in the day. Anyway, this is nothing.
Mish Mash was a great experience and lots of fun (like most of the assignments this year). I'm told that people start developing a keen sense of their studio roles in second year, so it'll be interesting to see what experiences my classmates take from Mish Mash.
One thing is sure - Dave can really drive the Yamaha desk
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