I believe being a great creative doesn’t mean being a great creative all the time. Part of the task of getting great work produced and not having it ruined before crossing the finish line involves entering what I call air-traffic-controller mode. It’s a phrase I came up with to describe what I do as a director on a shoot.

Ideally on production day, the majority of creative decisions have already been made (if you’re winging it on a shoot day, god help you and your end product). Now it’s up to you as director, producer, or creative to make sure nothing goes wrong. This provides the best possible environment for the actors and the crew to perform their best. Changing the script or the art direction on the fly isn’t fair to the people working hard to make your vision the best.

But I think this analogy also makes a lot of sense beyond shoot day. After a great concept is birthed, it becomes the creative team’s job to remove all obstacles from the work getting produced at the best possible quality. Creatives should focus on all threats and make sure they don’t take down their brilliant idea.

How?

Be able to articulate how your concept dovetails with the strategy. If you can’t, someone is gonna try and cram some extra junk on your concept that will surely make it suck.

Identify threats internal and external and tailor your rationale to fit their bias. This is cost effective because x, y, and z. Or it will motivate consumers because of x. If you’re not prepared to fight for your work, don’t assume someone else will be. They have far less skin in the game than you do.

Figure out how it can be produced on budget yourself or in conjunction with a producer. Don’t wait for someone to tell you it can’t be done before you decide to get involved.

If it requires outside production, figure out how you’re going to sell it to the best possible resources. At Riddell, we always sent tight comps to a-list photographers before mentioning budgets. Photographers got to imagine how their work fit into concepts before they were disappointed with the dollars.

Air-traffic-controller mode involves second guessing everything so it can be very annoying to people who work with you. So use it sparingly and only on the work you care the most about. Good luck with your next production.

Posted on: April 19, 2010, by : Jimmy Gilmore