Category Archives: Production

Television Production

Posted on by 
by Elice Miller

 

picture-for-post-23

Source: http://tvisnotdead.com/category/production/

Overview

In the television business, producing a successful show involves many factors. There are normally three stages to television production, Pre-Production, Principal Photography and Post Production. The main locations where shows are produced are either Los Angeles or New York, however some other U.S. metropolitan areas are also used to produce a show. Before a show can even reach the stage or pre-production programmers will require a package. This is a collection of key assets that differentiate one property from another. The main performers, the producers and the story line are also closely related to the concept and how it will be executed.

Pre-Production

Pre-Production is the stage of production which involves planning and development, financing and deal making as well as securing people to produce and appear in the television show. This is the period of time when a series is scripted, the actors are cast, sets are built and a production crew is hired. The producer or production company create a full-scale budget, schedule and production plan once a project is given a green light. The budget must be planned very carefully in order to assure that the project is delivered without exceeding the available funding and to make sure that the producer makes a profit. Pre-production on a show ends once the planning ends and content starts being produced. Most shows do not get a green light, because they cannot secure financing.

pilot

Source: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-thoughts-on-pilot-season-so-far-one.html

Once a network has given a script a green light, it will order a pilot of the television show. Television pilots are standalone episodes of a television series that are used to sell the television show to a network. These episodes are used as testing grounds to gauge if a series will be successful. Sometimes a network will pick up a show after watching a pilot but will not air the episode. Instead, it will be reshot and even recast after it is given the green light. Variety estimates that around 20 pilots are ordered by a network, which are typically made up of half comedy, half drama. About half a dozen of these are actually picked up to become the premier episodes for the show. The rest are passed by the network and generally never seen again.

The big five networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CW have ordered nearly 100 pilots for the fall 2013 season. The networks ordered a total of 87 pilots last year. The Hollywood Reporter offered a breakdown of the pilots ordered:

Grand total: 98 (vs. 87 in 2012)
Drama total: 50 (vs. 42 in 2012)
Comedy total: 48 (vs. 45 in 2012)
Single-camera total: 34 (vs. 30 in 2012)
Multicamera total: 14 (vs. 15 in 2012)

Just because a network has picked up a pilot does not mean that it will last throughout the season. If the television show receives low ratings within the first few weeks of airing, a network will normally cancel a show. This spring 2013 saw many new television shows get canceled. Zero Hour (ABC), Do No Harm (NBC), and The Job (CBS) are notable shows that were canceled after airing less than five episodes.

Principal Photography 

Source: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-thoughts-on-pilot-season-so-far-one.html

Source: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-thoughts-on-pilot-season-so-far-one.html

This is the phase of production when the actors are finalized for their roles and locations have been secured for filming. At this point the development team has created a plan for filming and financing the show. The term principal photography refers to the phase of production when the majority of footage and sound are recorded. This stage takes place either at a soundstage or filmed on location. Filming on location means securing permits to shoot in an actual real-life setting. Shooting a show normally means rigorous 12-hour workdays. Television episodes are filmed in groups called blocks, and rely on the availability of resources and the restrictions of the production schedule. Large sets can be altered to look like many different locations simply by changing set pieces or lighting. For example, a dark scary park can also be a beautiful garden by using contrasting lighting and changing a few set pieces. Techniques like this help to keep the cost of production down, since this is the most expensive phase of production. Most directors and producers will shoot the most expensive production elements first so that the budget can be allocated for the rest of the scenes.

Post Production

Once the first few episodes of a show have been filmed, the post-production phase begins. All of the footage that has been recorded is edited and sequenced and special effects are added. Sometimes additional dialogue needs to be recorded in the studio and it is layered into the recorded footage. During this last stage of production the production team will screen episodes to their target demographic. This can help gauge the public response to the show and if it is negatively received then it can be altered or reedited before releasing to the public.

Production Companies

Source: http://www.marycollins.com/production-companies-and-recording-studios

Source: http://www.marycollins.com/production-companies-and-recording-studios

Production companies provide the physical basis for filming. Television programs are produced in a variety of entities, from small companies to large multinational corporations. Many corporations employ in-house producers for internal communication reasons. Outside production companies will handle Television networks and local stations will employ producers, who’s main job are to control costs and manage brand identities. Producers are held responsible for a television show’s overall quality and survivability. There are a variety of producers that work on a television show.

Producers

Typically, the main producer and the writer are normally the same person; this ensures that a producer can make sure that a project stays true to its brand. There are many different types of producers; the executive producer or the “chief executive” is in charge or everything relating to the production of the show. Executive producers can be the head writers of a show, the CEO of a production company, or a producer on the writing team and may serve on the board of directors. The co-executive producer is second in charge behind the executive producer, and assists with the development and daily management of the show. The associate producer runs day-to-day operations for the show.

Many stations will have producers that work on multiple projects for the network. For example, Seth MacFarlane has three television shows in production on Fox network. Another notable producer is J.J. Abrams, who has produced shows on multiple networks throughout the years.

Sources

1. The Business of Television, Bleumenthol & Goodenough

2. http://www.wisegeek.com/in-the-film-industry-what-is-pre-production.htm#did-you-know

3. http://tvisnotdead.com/category/production/

4. http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5137630_tv-production-process.html

5. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/ruby-slippers-delorean-marilyn-monroe-wedding-ring-auction-272009

6. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2192882/Artists-sketch-floorplan-Friends-apartments-famous-TV-shows.html

7. http://variety.com/static-pages/slanguage-dictionary/?layout=slanguage_result&slang=busted+pilot&x=0&y=0

8. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/faces-pilot-season-2013-416223

9. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/arts/television/fall-tv-pilot-season-is-in-full-swing.html?_r=0

10. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-pilot-season-2013-by-the-numbers-422351

11. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/unaired-tv-pilots_n_2998504.html

12. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/do-no-harm-canceled-nbc_n_2649224.html

13. http://videoproductiontips.com/equipment-needed-to-set-up-a-simple-video-studio/

14. http://youtu.be/MBZUkFpRW1I

Production

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6 

by William Sharp III

Television Production is a sector of the TV industry that seems to have undergone a vast amount of change in the past few years. Technologically, it appears different than it did just five years ago. The distribution is also dramatically changed, which prompts changes in the development and production planning sectors. However, with all this change, a lot in Television Production has stayed the same.

In this article, we’ re going to cover the steps to creating two television shows. Obviously, it’s impossible to go too in depth, considering the vast disparity between the different types of shows that are produced. There are unscripted reality shows, procedural dramas, sitcoms, daily news shows, news magazine shows, sports shows, and many, many more. I’m going to cover an unscripted reality show as well as a daily news show to demonstrate the disparity between producing an in-studio show as well as a field production.

In addition to that, we’re going to cover the changes in the Production industry, and highlight anything that’s characteristic of this year.

Workflow

The process of creating a show starts well before anyone even turns on a camera. Most shows start by getting pitched to a network by the show’s producers. The pitch generally includes a written plan as well as an oral presentation, as well as possibly video financed and created by the producer. If the network likes the show, they green light it, and order a certain number of episodes.

For a daily news show, production for each episode might start a few days in advance. Reporter features are assembled and special stories are planned. The main production for the show takes place on the day of the show. Producers come in to the station in the early morning, and begin writing the show. They pull together news from various national and international sources, as well as local sources. Reporters who are doing day-of stories start early in the morning, interviewing sources and shooting video to be incorporated into their packages. When they get closer to show time, the video is loaded into a server, which is hooked, along with a multitude of other video sources (including cameras, graphics generators, and satellite feeds), into a computer-controlled video switcher. The show is set up on a strict time limit, because mostly everything at many news stations is programmed in before the show even begins. This eliminates the need for operators on much of the equipment. Generally, a show can be run with just the director and producer in the control room, and just talent and camera operators on the floor. The show is distributed over the air live and later on the Internet, usually exclusively on the station’s website.

For an out of studio show, it’s totally different. First of all, episodes take far longer to produce. Even South Park, which has literally the tightest timeline in all of scripted television, takes six days to produce an episode. I’m going to be charting the production of one episode of a show on TLC International called “Mission Menu”. It is an unscripted reality show that covers a team of international chefs, who create new menus for failing restaurants. Each episode starts with research. Researchers working on the show search for interesting restaurants that may not be doing as well as they have the potential to do, call them, and gauge their level of interest. If the restaurants were interested, an assistant producer would go to the restaurant, and shoot an audition video. The videos are then cut down by an assistant editor until they include only the most relevant and emotional parts. These videos are then reviewed by a producer, and the producer chooses whether to feature a restaurant on the show. The whole process, from research to confirmation, takes about two weeks.

When it’s time to actually shoot the episode, they do a few days of shooting. Generally, they will shoot one day at the restaurant before the new menu is created, one day in the field with an expert on that type of cuisine, two days in the kitchen working out new recipes, another day at the restaurant teaching the new recipes to the owner and staff, and finally they will shoot the grand re-opening, where the new menu is put to the test of the public. All in all, that’s six days of shooting, and they’re never consecutive. Overall it takes about three weeks for principle photography.

Following principle photography, they move into post-production. Usually post begins as soon as the first day of shooting is wrapped, the video is ingested into the production company’s central server, and the editors start work on it immediately. An assistant editor organizes the shots, then the project is handed over to the principle editor, who assembles the show, polishes it, and finalizes it, it is finished, and then given to the network. Post-production takes generally a few weeks, however it’s important to note that it happens concurrently to production, so it doesn’t add too much time to the overall production.

 

Changes in the Industry

Production is one facet of the television industry that’s changed almost more than any other in recent years. The most dramatic change has been in video standards, and the equipment used to capture it. In 2005, according to This Business of Television, “the standard for many productions was either Sony’s DVCAM or Panasonic’s DVPro format.” Both of those are high quality standard definition formats. Another thing they both have in common is that neither of them are the standard anymore. The large majority of productions shoot in high definition, either Sony’s XDCAM format, Panasonic’s DVCPro format, or another format such as AVCHD.

The equipment used has continued to evolve, as it has in the past. It’s gotten smaller, cheaper, and higher quality.

Sources

  1. Shepherd, Chris. CNY Central. Personal Communication
  2. Fogarty, Kevin. Bray Entertainment. Personal Communication
  3. Balton, Ryan. ESPN. Personal Communication