A prospective broadcast producer needs a portfolio of produced ideas.
How are you supposed to put together a portfolio of produced ideas when you're just getting started? How can you show you can produce broadcast material if you've never had a job as a producer?
The answer to both questions is obvious. You can't.
So don't waste any of your time trying to fake a portfolio that you think will make you look like an expert producer, and don't try to convince anyone that you're really much more experienced than you look. You won't be able to pull it off. In fact, if you try this, about the only thing you'll accomplish will be to convince your interviewer that you're ashamed of who and what you are.
Would you hire someone like that?
So, let's come to terms with what you do have to offer an employer. Maybe in college or grad school you had a chance to produce a commercial or film of some sort. Maybe you even wrote, directed, produced, shot, edited, and mixed it. Now that doesn't automatically qualify you for a job as a broadcast producer; but it might convince an employer that you know what a film camera looks like, that you basically know what an editor and sound mixer does, and that you've followed at least one project through to completion. So no matter what you may have produced, no matter where you may have produced it, if you like what you did, put it in your portfolio.
But-no matter how much experience you've had, don't try to pass something off as great if you don't like it. Oh, you can include it in your portfolio, all right. Just position it by saying, "I admit I haven't done anything I'm flippy about. But I do have some experience. Here's what I've done." That way, you won't look like you're trying to snow anyone.
What do you do if you have no broadcast experience at all? Start by analyzing just what you can offer. If all you come up with is desire and a willingness to learn, then that's all you take on your interviews. That might not sound like much of a portfolio, but it's a place to start.
Another thing you might have to offer is knowledge or experience in still photography. It's not film or video tape experience, but it's the next best thing. Assemble a portfolio of your stills, color or black-and-white, preferably both. Just be sure that you like what you shot and aren't trying to pass off family snapshots for a photography portfolio.
The photos will show that you have at least a basic knowledge of film stocks, lenses, lighting, and of how a camera works. They'll show that you know how to design a given collection of elements within a film frame, and that you care enough about your own efforts to work at making clear negatives and chromes with good color saturations. In the case of black-and-white, your photographs should show that you are meticulous in your work habits. And you should have beautiful prints to prove it.
A lot of commercial production companies won't even consider a beginner production person if he doesn't have a portfolio of stills.
Another good thing to put into a broadcast producer's portfolio is storyboards for TV commercials in their idea stage. Storyboards will give you a chance to show your interviewer that, besides having a basic knowledge of the mechanics of film and video tape, you can think in those mediums as well.
Storyboards will show that you can conceptualize, and that is one ability that you must have whether you have any technical knowledge or not. So create your own commercials and pay special attention to production instructions. Write the copy as simply as you can.
Don't try to be cute. Just clear.
Go to considerable trouble to indicate just how you would produce your commercials, either through detailed sketches or written instructions. You can somehow indicate lighting, camera angles and lenses, whether you would use film or video tape, and anything else that you think would help show that you know something about producing a commercial.
Do a production board if you want. If you're doing a thirty-second spot, use thirty storyboard frames. Then, show exactly what would happen in each second of your commercial. You'll be surprised at how much you can learn from an exercise like that, because it'll force you to think your commercials through, from fade up to fade out. Even if you don't have any job experience, you'd be showing that at least you can think logically, that you have a feel for camera angles, and that you know a little about lighting.
Don't get carried away. Keep your commercials simple. Remember, you're not shooting Gone With The Wind.
If you're doing a commercial for hamburgers, don't say you'd shoot food with a fish-eye lens, in an effort to show an interviewer that you know such a thing exists. You'll end up looking worse than the hamburger would.
INDICATING WHO SAYS WHAT IN YOUR COMMERCIALS (I told you we'd get to this.)
No matter whether you're an art director, copywriter, or broadcast producer, you've got to be able to let your interviewers know which people say what words in your commercials.
It's easy to sit across the table from someone and say, "Then the barber says ..., and the Customer replies ...." But how does someone understand who says what when you're not there to explain things?
The answer is simpler than you might think.
Anyone who speaks while they're on camera has their lines indicated like so: (V.O.C.).
For example, take your commercial with the woman in the store. If she speaks on camera, her words should be indicated as follows:
WOMAN (V.O.C.): Blah, blah, blah, bl-blah.
If you want to indicate copy spoken by an announcer voice over, an announcer who is never seen in the commercial, it's just as easy:
ANNCR. (V.O.): Blah, blah, bl-blah, bl-blah.
Those two little pieces of information will let you indicate just who says what in any commercial you'll ever make.
