Executive Producer. Producer. Director. Who Does What?

Is there really a difference between these three roles? Yes, there is and it's quite easy and helpful to learn the simple distinctions between them.

When a video story project has several team members on it, it creates the opportunity for roles, expectations and lines of communication to get mixed up.

In the world of corporate videos, understanding these three key roles during a project is just as important as understanding the roles in your other business projects.

Let's take a look at three roles every video story project will start with:

1. Executive Producer
The executive producer enables a story by...

--Obtaining the money.

--Hiring the producer.

--Developing and maintaining various key relationships throughout the life of the project.








2. The Producer
A producer enables a story by...

--Hiring the right people.

--Managing the money.

--Managing the time.








3. The Director
A director enables a story by...

--Discovering the frame.

--Hiring the right crew.

--Capturing the narrative.






When producing a corporate video, the executive producer's role is often played by the client--the one one with the money and the vision. This person or team makes the video possible.

The producer and director roles are often rolled up into one person: the producer/director.

Think "right-brain" aspects for the director role: imagines, dreams and discovers many possibilities to capture the story and narrative.

Think "left-brain" aspects for the producer role: handles logistics, attends to the details, creates schedules and analyzes all possible outcomes.

In a producer/director, these two roles are always in motion like a ping-pong match.

Remember: if you are the executive producer, understanding the two hats a producer/director constantly wears during the life of a project will help create better lines of communication and ultimately, a better story.

---Tom

Who Does What on a Corporate Video

The Client's Survival Guide to Corporate Video Storytelling

"I've been charged to produce a video for my company and I just wish I had a guide to help me tell our corporate video story."

I've had many conversations, both on-line and off-line, about this problem.

Producing a video is not something many people do frequently or even on a regular basis. So they feel ill-prepared to take on a video project. Unfortunately, this creates a "gap" between "what I need to create" and "how do I start creating what I need?"

Bridging that gap can be frustrating and challenging without proper help.

The Corporate Video Manifesto for Clients

My 24 page "mini-survival guide" for clients is meant to change that. It's like your own "handbook" to help you think about telling your story through video. It is a call to action; a point of view. There are concepts to ponder; answers to commonly asked questions. It is NOT a "how-to" guide.

The manifesto, "Bring Your Brand to Life: Harnessing the Power of Remarkable Corporate Video Stories to Ignite Conversations and Spark Action," is published under the ChangeThis flagship as a free download.

Over the past year, so many readers and clients requested that I publish this short guide; perhaps a "best of" from this site. So here it is. A montage, so to speak, combining popular and relevant posts; edited, cleaned up and assembled into one handy place for easy reference.

Conversations about your video start as soon as it ends.

• What happens in those few seconds when your video fades to black?

• Is someone seeing the world differently because of your story?

• Does your video story make a difference?

Ultimately, corporate videos can:

• Provide a "voice for the voiceless."

• Enlighten people who are touched by an organization in some way.

• Peak into the soul of an organization through its own employees storytellers.

Here's a sampling of titles in the manifesto:

• 5 Myths of Corporate Videos

• 10 Reasons Why Corporate Videos Matter

• "Hey! How Much is a Pound of That Video?"

• 5 Laws of a Remarkable Video

• What is a Corporate Video Edit Session Like?

...and more.

If you love manifestos, you'll love ChangeThis.

Spreading Ideas with Manifestos

What's different about ChangeThis is they facilitate the spreading of important issues. The original ChangeThis manifesto and concept came from Seth Godin.

Each month, several manifestos from amazing authors are posted as free downloads.

I hope you will find the "Bring Your Brand to Life" manifesto helpful. ChangeThis is about spreading ideas. So if you know someone who could benefit from reading the manifesto...

Share it. Post it. Give it away.

I would love your feedback on this manifesto. Write me. Tell me your thoughts. What did you like? What didn't you like? What did I miss that you would you have liked to read about?

Thanks for the push. Now about that book --cough--I need to start writing...

---Tom

The Client Corporate Video Manifesto

Broken Corporate Videos: Bridging the Gap

How did the enormous potential of corporate videos get reduced to a commodity?

What happened to the magic of a corporate video strengthening a community and triggering conversations?

Unfortunately, far too many companies handle their video as a commodity. Just listen to the corporate language-it says it all:

• "Can you make a video?"

• "We need a DVD."

• "Our sales force needs a video."

It doesn't have to be that way.

I explain why in my two-part conversation with Conversation Agent, Valeria Maltoni.

You can download our conversation, "*Ask(?)Away: Take Your Brand from Commodity to Community*" in an elegantly designed PDF and have the conversation in one handy place.

Better yet, share and spread the PDF with those who could benefit from our exchange.

A purposefully designed corporate video can stimulate conversations and get people to act.

I hope the "Ask(?)Away: Take Your Brand from Commodity to Community" conversation is a step in the right direction towards filling the gap between broken corporate videos and creating opportunities for videos that are personal, meaningful, dynamic and soulful.

Thank you, Valeria, for acknowledging the critical role videos play in corporate communications and for pushing the conversation into new arenas.

The Ask(?)Away exchange was a breath of fresh air. Clearly, there's plenty of room for fresh voices to extend the discussion even further.

---Tom

Commodity to Community with Corporate Videos

The Greatest Gift You Can Give Your Corporate Video Story

Ever try building a home without expert advice?

I can certainly say I haven't but I can imagine how difficult it would be.

I've been spending some time the past few weeks budgeting for a large number of different types of corporate videos. Throughout the budgeting process, I also get to play "teacher" and help clients figure out how to most effectively produce their video.

Just recently, a metaphor jumped out at me.

Imagine building a new home.

You have a clear vision how your new home will look. The plans are in place. All the details have been meticulously worked out. The blueprints are finally done. Now, imagine telling your builder how many days it will take to build your new home. Remember, you've never built a home before but you proceed, nonetheless, to indicate the amount of time your builder will build your home. Also keep in mind, you have no sense of what this new home will cost, since you've never traveled this path before.

The builder comes back and says it will cost "this much." To which you reply, that's not what I planned on.

So here's the question: Why do this to your corporate video story? Why tell a producer how many days it takes to produce a film? Why hold back on budget discussions? Why deliver a fully developed script to a producer with (most often) unreasonable parameters?

Try this little no-cost experiment.

Pick up the phone and call your producer.

Before the pitch. Before ideas become concrete. Before expectations are set.

Share the idea. The context. The backstory. The politics. The budget issues. The audience. The purpose for the film.

Then listen. And take notes. Then ask this question:

Is your vision in sync with your producer's vision?

You'd be surprised what the ROI on a phone call could be to your story. And to your bottom line.

---Tom

The Greatest Gift for Your Corporate Video

Ask (?) Away: Part 2 of My Conversation Agent Interview

Part 2 of my Ask(?)Away conversation with Valeria Maltoni at Conversation Agent is now up.

Dive in. Get wet. Leave a comment. Feel free to Ask(?)Away on questions you might have about the interview.

The payoff? Valeria includes your comments along with the entire interview when she produces a beautifully designed, free PDF e-book for you to download. Cool.

Go ahead. Ignite the conversation. Ask(?)Away!

---Tom

Ask Away Part 2