We are all Producers Now

I remember the first time I realized I wanted to be a producer. I was 11 years old and living on the beautiful island of Haida Gwaii with my family. My Dad, in addition to being a proud Navy man, was very involved in the community. He helped to start the first community television station on Haida Gwaii, called Masset-Haida Television (MHTV), back in the 1970s. It was a family affair; Dad was the camera man and editor, Mom was his lovely assistant, and my brother and I read the Community Announcements live on the air. The other thing we did was help produce a telethon every year. The telethon was put on my the local chapter of the Lion’s Club, and raised money for disabled kids. But my Dad was the producer. He took care of bringing all the pieces together to make a successful 21 hour live TV show – making sure the entertainment was where they needed to be when they needed to be there, ensuring the hosts had everything they needed, and confirming the number switching girl (sometimes me!) knew what to do and when to do it.

As I watched my Dad coordinate this live program every year, I became more and more intrigued. It was exciting, fast paced, and I got to stay up late – all things that any 11 year old would be keen on.

By the time I got to high school, I already knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to go to broadcasting school, and then become a producer. And I did. I was fortunate to go to a great college where I got tonnes of hands-on experience. Then, as luck would have it, I walked into a producing job at a community TV station in Ottawa that, while being quite a bit bigger, was not unlike good old MHTV.

Flash forward 25 years or so and we now live in a world where anyone with a great idea and the motivation to make it happen can be a producer. The online world has opened up so much opportunity for people to be producers of amazing things. But so few of us actually produce. In fact, studies have shown that only about 10% of people online produce 90% of the content. What that means is, a lot of people are out there who have great ideas, but are not, for whatever reason, producing them. To me, that’s a lot of missed opportunities.

Do you have a great idea? Are you having trouble taking it to that next step of actually starting to produce it? You’re not alone, as the numbers show. And that’s why I wrote Produce: The Art of Creating Digital Content Using Professional Production Techniques. 

In it, I lay out a practical approach to producing that is based on my 25+ years experience as a television and multimedia producer. What this book will do for you is provide techniques and guidance about how to remain focused, mitigate risks, and actually get to the point where you can make your idea a reality.

The book releases in June 2014, and over the next several weeks I’m going to be sharing my take on producing and giving you some insights into what you’ll glean from the book.

If you want to find out more, check out my Book Page, and sign up for my mailing list. You’ll get tips, tricks, insights, sample chapters and special offers. And no spam!

Writing this book is the culmination of many years of hard work and learning. It is a dream come true for me and I’m very, very excited to share it with you.