And if you fall for all that, maybe you'd fall for some real estate in Arizona.
The real world of an advertising agency broadcast producer isn't quite like that. An advertising agency broadcast producer may put in longer hours and deal with more problems than anyone else in an agency. A producer has as many varied and different responsibilities as anyone anywhere. He is the one charged with turning ideas into selling tools that will cut through all of the boring advertisements with which you're bombarded every day on radio and television.
The producer works with the copywriter and art director to spot special production problems that might arise in a commercial. Sometimes the producer gets involved with a radio or television spot when it's still in the concept stage, so a producer should be an idea person, and not just a production idea person, either.
But a producer's main responsibilities lie in the actual production of those radio and television spots.
In the case of television, after a commercial has been accepted by an advertiser in idea form, the producer sits down with the creative team to determine which director or production company would be best suited for producing the commercial in question. It's the producer's responsibility to be familiar with the top directors and production companies, to know their strengths and weaknesses, to know which director or production company works especially well with comedy or cars or kids or animals or food.
When it's been decided which three or four firms would be best suited to shoot a particular spot, the producer contacts the people there and sends the commercial storyboard to them for a bid. The director or production company then studies the board. They look for all the things that could possibly go wrong with the commercial, and figure out how to keep them from happening. They figure out whether they'd shoot on location or on a set, how many lights they'd need, how big a crew they'd need, how much film they'd shoot, and how many special effects would be needed. They call the agency producer to discuss every aspect of the commercial with him. Then they prepare an estimate of how much they feel it would cost for them to shoot the spot and send this bid to the agency producer.
That producer can ask for that bid in any of a variety of ways. He could simply have asked for a price and list of specs. That was the usual way of doing business years ago, and bids are still submitted that way in some companies. Nowadays, though, in an effort by both agencies and advertisers to monitor costs more closely, other ways to prepare bids have been developed. One way is with the A.I.C.P. (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) Form. This method allows for a lot of specific costs to be spelled out so the producer can deal with each one separately.
What are those specific costs? Preproduction costs, shoot and crew labor, studio costs, building the set, shooting it and taking it down, travel to and expenses at a location, equipment costs, film stock (plus its developing and printing), props, wardrobe, animals, and, of course, payroll taxes.
Then there are director's and creative fees, insurance and markup, editing, video tape, and other post-production charges, and talent fees-including travel and per diem costs, if necessary.
And, oh yes, money to pay for extra days in case you're shooting outside and bad weather sets in.
Then there's the cost of a camera operator, the prop crew, electricians, grips (people who do anything and everything to help get things done), a recordist and a boom person (the people who record the sound), the makeup artist, hair stylist, wardrobe attendant, home economists, video engineer, nurse, generator person, stunt person, still photographer, location scout, and teamsters.
All in all, an A.I.C.P. form breaks down these areas even further over about five pages.
Another thing an agency producer must consider is the possibility of trouble showing up during the production. Trouble translates into money, and dealing with it can mean adding as much as $100,000 to the cost of a commercial.
Some large advertisers agree in advance to pay all of a production company's direct costs, giving that production company a percentage of that cost for their pocket. Then, in the spirit of "Trust everyone, then cut the cards," that advertiser has his own people monitoring every step of the production.
Other advertisers who can't afford production watchdogs sometimes opt instead for guaranteed bids. These are bids from a production company that say it will deliver the commercial in question for X number of dollars. If they can keep disaster from showing its ugly face, and thereby keep costs down, they get a bigger profit. If costs run up, they get a smaller profit.
When the producer has bids from everyone he contacted, he sits down once again with the creative team to decide just who they should recommend to shoot the job.
Cost is a consideration. Nowadays, most commercials cost between $20,000 and $45,000. But the minute you start getting carried away and using kids, animals, helicopters, special effects, and/or special camera rigs, you can expect to see prices of up to $100,000 or $150,000. You can even get as high as $250,000 if you use animation or rotoscope.
A producer must be able to look at a production company's or director's specification sheet and make sure that he's getting everything in the bid that he feels is necessary for the successful production of his commercial. If one company's price is a lot lower than another's, he's got to make sure it's not because they left out the cost for some vital piece of equipment or a crew person.
