The Journey from
Filmmaker to Producer
When I first joined the project, I came on as a freelance filmmaker, hired to shoot some of the initial interviews. Later in the project, I transitioned into a production manager role and by the end of the project was serving as the producer.
Alex brings order. He’s a rare organized creative, and he knows to play into both of those strengths well. He can keep the bigger vision in mind while also narrowing in on important details, and makes for a great collaborative partner!
Project Timeline
This project took place over multiple years and multiple seasons of post-COVID changes. To get a better idea for how this project progressed, here's an overview from when I joined to when it wrapped.
Joined the Project
February 2021
My first contribution to the project was to help pick up a few small interviews here in Richmond.
DC & NC Shoots
May 2021
The project continued and I was hired to travel to multiple locations in Washington DC and Winston Salem to shoot 9 interviews and capture b roll.
Production Manager
April 2022
After another set of Richmond shoots, I wound up coming on the team as a production manager to help get some of the footage, editing, and overall producion schedule back on track.
New Producer, New Director
October 2022
Through the summer we're able to knock out a bunch of edits and made plans to shoot any missing content we needed. At this point, we made the decision to pivot some roles - I moved into the producer role, our other PM moved into an editor role and we brough on a new Director to oversee the story through the end of the project.
Final Remote Shoots
Winter 2023
To start wrpping the project up, we booked a few virtual interviews and b roll shoots with local filmmakers to fill in any missing story gaps.
Write and Shoot Final Session
April 2023
Because this project had spanned over multiple years with different visions and directions, we needed to really put some polish on the final episode to make sure it tied up the series well. We spent a few weeks writing out a script for David and then shot a few takes which made for an excellent final session to the project.
Final Delivery
June 2023
After having finished the Session 9 shoot and the remaining sessions came to final edits, we put some finishing touches on the project, and delivered the finals and took some time to rest & celebrate.
Without Alex's ability to organize, we never would've finished the project.
- Arrabon Teammate
Working in Remote Production
Because the series had spanned multiple years, (and different levels of COVID restrictions,) a lot of my work centered around getting the project back on track and re-clarifying the vision. My work included:
- Realigning the Team. A few big decisions involved reorganizing the team, like bringing on a director and a dedicated editor for the remainder of the project, to ensure visual consistency between all stories and interviews.
- Production Management. In addition to personnel changes, we made a new production schedule and reworked the budget to wrap up the remaining work; a few interviews, supplemental b-roll capture, and any outstanding edits.
- Pre-production for Virtual Interviews. With a new team, timeline, and budget in place, we moved to shooting everything remotely, hiring a local filmmaker at each location to capture the interview and hosting the interview virtually. This meant we had to create new processes for pre-interviews, footage handoff, shooting (camera/file consistency), and editing.
- Installing a New Revisions Process. Before I joined the project there were multiple contracted editors who were doing rough cuts and sending them to the Executive Producer for approval. With a new team in place, we revamped the revisions process to streamline team communication, which also cleared some tension in the process.
- Vision & Scripting. We felt we needed one final episode to wrap up the project. This wound up being a new script and additional shoot with David. Leading up to the shoot, I collaborated with him to write and refine the script, then on set, I helped coach him to get a strong performance.
Personal Takeaways
I learned a lot about myself through this 2-year project. My favorite part was probably stepping back from being in the camera, lighting, or audio department and working on the project from a very high level. I especially enjoyed helping David write the script for the final session shoot and instead of running a camera, getting to work with him on his performance.
This project also wound up being what inspired me to quit my full time job and start my own business as a producer!
This project also wound up being what inspired me to quit my full time job and start my own business as a producer!
*Because this was an internal pre-release version of the series, I unfortunately can’t share clips of the video publicly.