A Producer at Risk: Siberian Budget-buster! The Takeaways (Case Study 2/2)
We continue our Siberian Case Study: How to manage productions in dangerous and remote locations (2/2)
This week: Takeaways from the Russian permafrost.
Last week:
- Producers, talent and network programmers push the limits
- That can mean business risk, personal danger and even death
- A budget blowout looms, hands won’t be greased, a disappearing nuclear icebreaker, a potentially ruined relationship with the commissioning network, and more
- The Hail Mary decision
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PERMAFROST
by Vinnie Kraylevich (KPI, New York)
1. The budgeting process for remote productions needs a trained back office
- Cultural and business differences can’t be accounted for in budgets
- I encourage the KPI back office team to go on a shoot and see how our business runs in other countries
- Even if it costs us in the short term, the staff becomes more flexible and knowledgeable when they deal with producers in the future
- In the long run that saves money
2. Network legal departments and your accountants will get angry
- You won’t get receipts or documentation for a lot of what happens
- Most networks reserve the right to audit your bookkeeping
- So keep excellent internal records, even if it is just email correspondence
- And forget about releases – try getting a Russian to sign anything
3. Don’t let problems snowball
- The networks review your results and not your decisions
- Don’t whine or complain to them
- But know when to come to them with a situation that is threatening to get out of control
- The Russian helicopter decision was an easy one
- It added drama to the program
- The downside was a calculated and finite risk
- Had it not worked out, we would have figured something out: there was no way I’d come back without the story I was paid to do
4. Take out death and dismemberment insurance
- On the Russian promo, you will notice exterior shots of the ship taken from the ice at 3:00 am
- Polar bears were following the ship, looking for food scraps thrown by the cooks
- We were on the ice about 3 football fields away from the ship
- If a polar bear had spotted us, we’d have been dinner
- Our crews are working on the World Trade Center site today, 50 stories in the air
- The training and insurance needed for this shoot have been extensive
5. You can’t scout remote locations
- Consider the logistics before pitching a show
- Look for great characters in a contained environment rather than in situations that you cannot scout in advance because they are too far away
- If these situations involve physical and financial risk because of intangibles — then be very careful!
6. Female producers get no respect
- In many countries from Italy to Turkey, Tunisia and more, I’ve observed that female producers get no respect
- However, we shot in Lithuania where the woman who was in charge of our project was totally on top of her game, and everyone respected her
7. English helps
- No one spoke English on the icebreaker project
- We thought we could work around it
- And still get a pilot that would earn us a green light for a series
- If the Tamyr crew spoke English, we would have had more success
- But English-speakers don’t crew on Russian icebreakers!
- Instead the show had a lot of VO
- It was the kiss of death
- Getting There Alive was aired in a lousy time slot
- And it was decided not to put promotion behind a one off. Even though KPI, hence History, had arranged the first American production to ever board a Russian nuclear icebreaker
8. Watch yourself at airports!
- You must have a carnet: a list of all your equipment that establishes that you are not illegally importing or exporting products
- And don’t assume baggage handling operates like in the West
- I got into a standoff with porters at the Moscow airport who helped us unload our gear
- I went to tip them $20 each, and they demanded $400
- My crew began to take our gear off their carts
- They called a Russian cop, and he took my passport
- To get it back, I had to pay out the $400
9. Budget for gifts and greased palms
- We were told to buy a watch for the captain that should cost no less than $500
- And 75 Dallas Cowboy hoodies for the crew of Tamyr
- Hoodies from NY teams such as the Yankees were too expensive.
- We picked up the Dallas ones cheap at Walmart
- Cognac was big, too
- I was told to buy a half dozen bottles each of Cognac and Scotch to have ready for the inevitable obstacles
- Each country and region has its own favorites. But cash is king. And people prefer it in their own currency (rubbles not dollars)
- But don’t expect receipts or reimbursements
10. American Express – leave home without it!
- In many places the American Express card is about as useful as your Blockbuster card
- No one takes Amex
- Bring Visa and MasterCard
- Visa, MasterCard and ATMs also track exchange rates on the day of use
- So there is no haggling over fluctuation rates
11. There are upsides to shooting in ‘exotic’ locations
- For a huge gladiator special for Animal Planet, we shot the animal scenes in Canada and the gladiators in a Roman coliseum in North Africa
- There was a lot of fancy technical footwork to create fight scenes that involved lions, bears, jaguars, wolves and tigers.
- The trainers were dressed like gladiators – and it was all shot against a blue screen
- It had the potential to go wrong at every second of every day
- We could never shoot that sort of project in the U.S.
- The cost would have been prohibitive
- And the hurdles are very high when large animals are involved
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Dont miss our earlier producer profiles:
- Hoff Productions: Between Basement and Buyout
- Leftfield Pictures: Pawn Stars Revealed. The Lessons
- Why Marry Up with Super-producer Pilgrim Entertainment?
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SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS: Toronto, Chicago, La Rochelle
TORONTO
Hot Docs
Broadcasters Revisited
Check in with key broadcasters and hear exactly what is new, what is not,
and what you need to do to work with them
Anna Miralis, Channel 4 UK
Craig Colby, High Fidelity HDTV Canada
Ed Hersh, Discovery Emerging Networks U.S.
Simon Kilmurry, POV U.S.
Tuesday, May 3, 11:00A
Hot Docs Rogers Industry Centre
Email to arrange a meeting with Peter Hamilton in the Big TO
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CHICAGO / MID-WEST PRODUCER WORKSHOP
Thursday, May 19
Don’t miss our Chicago workshop!
What are the key trends in the Unscripted industry?
Where are the opportunities?
What are the networks looking for?
Pitching secrets! And much, much more!
Presentation by Peter Hamilton
Guests speakers: Jonathan Towers & Mike Schmiedeler, Towers Productions
Mix and mingle with other television professionals from Chicago and the Midwest
Hosted by Michelle De Long and Tim Horstman
Thursday, May 19
Location: Fletcher Chicago
1000 N. Northbranch St
Chicago, IL 60642
5:00PM-6:45PM Mix, mingle, eat and drink
6:45PM-8:45PM Educational Session and Guest Speakers
8:45PM- 10:00PM Mix and Mingle
NATAS and WIFC members receive a special discount.
Click here for more information!
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LA ROCHELLE
Sunnyside of the Doc
La Rochelle, France
June 21-24
Watch for details!
