P.A. to Producer

This week has been a very busy week for me. I was lucky enough to get a call back to work on the filming for the 11th season of American Idol. It has been a great experience thus far. It also ties directly in to what we are covering in product management. Many of the producers on the show are not the main guys that you would think; there are tons of producers behind the scenes that are actually project managers. These people come from all walks of life and many started their careers in entertainment not as producers, or even being trained in the particular job that they have now. The one thing that they all have in common is a passion for what it is they are doing. This makes it a little easier to work insane amount of hours until the job is done right and to work with people such as myself who are trying to come into their own in the business hungry to know what they know and the path by which they ended up here doing what they love. The one thing that I can tell you just from my brief experience, as a production assistant is that attitude is by far one of the most important factors. With the right attitude you can work through any and all obstacles as part of the team. Without it, you will seem alone and question why is it that you have to label laundry or tape down wires. The fact of the matter is all of these things need to be done and as project managers it is often not their job to scrutinize every little detail, but just to make sure that the gears of the machine turn efficiently to keep all involved moving in the right direction.