Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487730
CC: Early on when you did multiple shows at the same time, you didn't tell anyone. The truth of the matter is, if you're doing a 12-episode series, that's only 12 weeks of work. I don't know why we thought it was bad to say the truth, "Hey, I'm doing something else 'cuz you're not giving me enough work to sustain me for a full year." It's honest and true. The trick when you do multiple shows is that you have to give each of them the same love and attention. There are a few steps I've found to be able to achieve this. You diversify, you expand your crew and you share your calendar with every show. Maybe that sounds like a bold move but it has saved both myself and the coordinators time finding spaces to book in my hours. I don't have the time to worry or make calls about my conflicting schedule. I'm fortunate that two of my current ADR coordinators knew each other previously and now work on two of my shows, Kung Fu and The Cleaning Lady. So when they want to book me for an ADR session, spotting session or mix, they know what my schedule is. I tell them, "Don't double- book me." If there's a conflict, I'll work it out myself with the producers to get it moved or covered. The ADR coordinators are generally very green on most shows I start on lately. If they're teachable, I'll take the time to help them learn the workflow. Sometimes this is a plus because they don't have any bad habits and we work as a team from the start. I tell each coordinator how I like to work and the best way to schedule around my other shows. I get them to start booking ADR time early. I even go as far as to pass along a template for scheduling shows. It consists of date, time, location, what the job is and what episode it involves. I'm gonna help them, They're gonna help me. We're gonna both be successful because of that teamwork. Next thing you know, years later they're a producer and they're calling me to do their show. Through diversifying my crew I have multiple people who can cover me when there are conflicts, and now, working remotely from home, I can jump from one session to another with just the click of a mouse. There's no traffic, there are no parking issues or trying to find the right building. Producers love working remotely as well, many are not going back to the pre-COVID ways. They supervise spotting sessions, picture cuts and sometimes even mix playbacks remotely now too. It's mind-blowing how much our industry has changed for the better in the last couple of years. Generally, we are only getting a handful of notes on each episode mix playback because my team preps the show so well. Which is a testament to their efforts. Part of this success is having some of my crew join me at the spotting sessions. We take notes together and make a plan afterward. This way they hit the ground running and know exactly what needs to be done. This saves a lot of time. My clients know my team and that's important. Should I need any one of my editors to cover me, it's seamless and they are not a stranger to any of the producers. Once my editors are done with their pass, everything comes to me to review before the mix. This way I know what we have and don't have. While I cut the ADR, I will adjust the edited dialogue tracks where needed so it's ready to mix seamlessly. We used to do this in features and it works well and saves the mixers from any guesswork. As the famous mixer Richard Portman said VERY LOUDLY once, "THE MIX STAGE IS NOT A GIANT "Hey, can you meet me for a happy hour?" "No!" "So we're gonna do dinner at 7. Is that good for you?" "I'm not sure." "What do you mean you're not sure?" It's hard to make plans when you're on a show week to week. My friends outside the industry eventually learn not to take my disappearance from life personally. Even when you're sick, you're going to find a way to make that deadline. I wasn't around for most of my kids growing up because you had to go to the studio until things got done. In those days there wasn't a way to work from home. Rigs cost $75K-$150K. I can't count the number of times I slept at work so I could just keep rolling. Even looking at the new tools we have at our disposal today and the affordability of home rigs, you still need to put in long hours sometimes. Creativity takes time. MA: You often supervise multiple shows at the same time. Can you break down your process for staying on top of all of that?