The Nightmare of Post Production

Part of the Post-Mortem series
By Sean Chercover

It’s a common fantasy among editors, sound designers and other unfortunates toiling in the trenches of post. For me, it involves a roomful of producers, various medieval torture tools and a vat of boiling oil. Perhaps my fantasy goes a little too far. But we have all probably dreamed of standing before a captive audience of producers and listing the things they do, and fail to do, which make post production a nightmare.

As I kick the snow off my boots and onto the lobby floor of Deluxe Laboratories, it occurs to me that this fantasy is about to come true, at least vicariously. More than 200 producers had actually paid to attend “The Nightmare of Post Production,” a breakfast seminar co-hosted by Deluxe and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. The panelists included sound editors and designers, music supervisors, composers, visual effects supervisors, post supervisors, deliveries managers and even a director of mixing services. Sixteen frustrated post professionals in all.

Sixteen guns aimed at 200 willing targets who filled a large screening theater. It promised to be a bloodbath. Oh, yeah, and it also promised to be an excellent primer on what makes post a nightmare and how to avoid post hell in the first place.

Doomed from the beginning

The toughest of the panelists is Jill Franklin, vice president of Post Production for The Motion Picture Bond Company. The Motion Picture Bond Company provides completion insurance for feature films, MOWs and television series, and Franklin has assessed and monitored the risk of more than 400 budgets, schedules and distribution contracts. If Franklin is working on your project in a hands-on capacity, then you have screwed up royally — or as she puts it, “the production has gone astray.”

Many productions that “go astray” are doomed from the beginning. The reason, according to Franklin, is bad budgeting. “For starters, we ask that producers maintain a contingency of 40 percent of their post budget,” says Franklin, causing the producers in the theater to gasp in unison.

“I know, I know, it’s a struggle to get through production without spending that money,” she continues. “We understand that producers look at that money and want to ‘put it on the screen’... but they end up eating their post budget before post begins.”

Franklin has had countless directors come to her, pleading their case for raiding what they see as a slush fund, but she guards that money like a dog guards his bone. “I appreciate their artistic vision, and I suggest that if it is so important to have this new thing that wasn’t originally budgeted for, they can spend their own money,” she adds with a smile, “and sometimes they do.”

The second deadly sin of budgeting is what Franklin calls, Lump Summing. “We get that all the time — lump sums in editing, lump sums in sound, lump sums in graphics,” she says with a sincere and weary sigh. “One film budget will have ‘Sound -- $25,000’ while another will have ‘Sound -- $250,000’. We know that you can’t do it for $25,000; it’s impossible. But without specifics, there’s no way to know where the problems will come from... bottom line, don’t lump sum your budget.”

Deborah Osborne agrees that Lump Summing your post budget is a recipe for disaster and, as one of Toronto’s top post supervisors, she sees it all too often.

“By being very specific in your post budget, you also reduce the temptation to ‘borrow’ from the post budget for additional production costs that arise,” she says. “Use Movie Magic Budgeting and Scheduling software, even for a small project,” she adds. A producer sitting next to me actually scribbles, “Movie Magic budgeting/scheduling software??” on his notepad.

I am stunned — stunned that there is a working producer in the western world who hasn’t heard of Movie Magic. I continue to be stunned throughout the seminar, as the panelists dole out nuggets of wisdom such as, “If there are picture changes after the sound mix, you will need more time,” and, “You really should talk to your sound designer before you roll camera.” And producers in the audience scribble furiously.

I shouldn’t be stunned, having been driven to distraction by such producers for more than 15 years. I should just be grateful that more than 200 producers have chosen to learn these things... better late than never. But I can’t help myself, and images of boiling oil reappear.

Osborne recognizes that budgeting software won’t solve the ignorance problem all by itself. “For too many of you, post production equals fear plus money,” she says. “It is time to stop the denial... to become aware of what you don’t know. What you don’t know will end up costing you money.”

Most producers, for example, pay scant attention to deliverables, simply because they don’t understand the spec list supplied by the broadcasters and distributors, says Osborne. “Most producers give it a quick look, then put it aside and don’t read it. But be warned,” she says. “Money and time will be spent adhering to those specs, and the later you turn your attention to it, the more money and time it will cost.”

Osborne suggests taking a post supervisor to lunch, and becoming educated. Good idea. She also suggests working with a post supervisor in the budgeting phase of early pre-production.

“A post supervisor can teach you the workflow of post production,” says Osborne. “You must know that post has a path, like dominos. You have to know exactly what things have to happen and in what order... if there are too many diversions from the path, you lose the flow and you will end up having to throw money at the problem.”

For those new to the flow of post, or more specifically, for those who’ve never thought about it, Osborne suggests making a visual flowchart and keeping it nearby. “Trust me, a flowchart is an excellent reference tool,” she insists. “You will refer to it often.”

A penny saved, and all that jazz

Jill Franklin declares that conferring with a post supervisor is not enough. “You have to have a post supervisor on board for the entire production, from budgeting through delivery,” she says. “Outside of bad budgeting, it’s the number one mistake that producers make... when a producer says he doesn’t have enough money for a post supervisor, I say, ‘you don’t have enough money not to.’ In fact, having a post supervisor saves a ton of money... a post supervisor will get a better deal on facilities than a producer can.” Producers throughout the theater scribble.

“This holds true for all areas of production,” explains Franklin, “so always use experts in their sub-field to make deals for you. A cameraman will get a better deal on a camera rental than you will.” More scribbling. I am amazed that there are producers who don’t already know this, and I am amazed that I am amazed.

“Once you’re in post, the supervisor will make sure that the editor and director are at your spotting sessions and will demand re-work, when necessary,” adds Franklin. “The facility is not responsible for spotting your sound sessions and, frankly, the producer isn’t qualified.”

The producers in the audience seem duly admonished. I steal a glance at the notepad of the brain surgeon sitting next to me. He has written, “Post supervisors get better deals.” Well, that’s progress, I suppose.

Fred Brennan, supervising sound editor at Tattersall Casablanca, has more ideas for saving money. He begins by saying, “Time is money,” and, I swear to God, the producer sitting next to me actually writes, “time is money” on his notepad.

Brennan comes armed with a 12-page handout entitled, “An Open Letter from your Sound Department.” The handout is a treasure trove of excellent advice, and I recommend that you go to Tattersall Casablanca’s Web site and request a copy. Then, photocopy it and give one to every producer you know. You will be making the world a better place.

Anyway... Brennan’s first money/time saving tip is bringing a sound editor/designer in during pre-production. “Have him analyze the script and list sound effects to be shot on location,” he says. “He’ll also identify scenes that require post sync, so you can plan for looping and budget appropriately... you can also save money sometimes by shooting Foley on location.”

Brennan says that you must get the sound recordist in on the act early and have a meeting with all sound people present, before rolling.

“Deborah talked about deliverables, and I should add that nowadays, especially with European distribution, there are a lot of sync issues,” adds Brennan. “Spend a few bucks to shoot a test and post it before production starts... remember the old adage, ‘out of sync, out of work.’”

I’ve never heard the old adage, but I’m not a sound guy. It certainly seems reasonable enough.

John Lang, sound editor at Urban Audio, does not handle the assembled producers with kid gloves. “A lot of this stuff should be obvious,” he begins, “but I still have producers ask me, ‘why do I have to have my editor at the mix?’ Stupid question.”

The producer next to me writes, “editor to mix,” and I suddenly have the desire to jab my pen in his eye.

Lang continues, “And always have your director present at the pre-mix. This will save a lot of time... but remember, directors are like children, so bring a video game or something. That way they won’t get bored and wander off.” Everybody laughs.

Lang says the biggest time-waster is the misuse of mix time. Producers and directors are constantly using mix time to make decisions that should be made in the cutting room, like choosing between ADR takes.

Steve Munro, sound designer at Trackworks, agrees. “Your time in the mixing theater is best spent being creative, not saying, ‘which of these five wind tracks do you like,’” he says. “You have to bring the creative decision makers into the cutting room for approvals before you get to the mix.”

While much of the seminar’s focus has been on budgeting, Munro suggests that budgeting your time is just as important. He reminds us that time is money. “The ratio of edit suite time to mixing theater time should be a minimum of three to one,” he insists. “And that should be easy to achieve... it’s just a matter of discipline.”

Julie Weinstein is the last to speak. As sales executive for Deluxe Laboratories, she has seen many projects turn into post nightmares. And like the other panelists, she sees “producer ignorance” as the problem — a problem she says is compounded by a reluctance to admit ignorance.

“The facility is a huge repository of information, but many producers won’t ask questions,” says Weinstein. “Ask, ask, ask... and like Jill said, hire a post supervisor.”

Weinstein has an equation of her own for the assembled producers. “Expanding needs equals expanding costs,” she says patiently, “and the inability to recognize this leads to a silly ongoing fight between producers and facilities... remember, facilities are not in the business of keeping your director in line. Which is another way that a post supervisor will save you money.”

Post production = pre-production

Of all the things that should be obvious but obviously are not, the one that was repeated by every member of the panel is this: post production must begin at pre-production. It is a sad refrain that all of us post people hear in our sleep, and that every producer should have tattooed on his forehead. When it is ignored, post production is, indeed, a nightmare.

And while it is depressing to realize how little producers know about post, Deborah Osborne is right — it is time to stop the denial. This seminar was a good first step.

Sean Chercover sean@chercover.comis a freelance writer and nonlinear editor. He is not any smarter than your average producer.

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