Variety: With 97 Emmys set to be given out over the two-night Creative Arts ceremony, it can be easy to forget that the silos the Television Academy creates for awards purposes belie the need for crafts departments to collaborate as much as possible to create a successful show.
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The importance of collaboration and communication when working on a production cannot be stressed enough. "Sometimes, collaboration can be the difference between life and death on a project." this can cause the process to run really smoothly or cause the process to be hell. It gets really frustrating when working with a team on a project that doesn't communicate or communicate properly with each other. The minute this starts happening, someone starts to panic (mostly the production manager) because they can see where it is headed and the damage it could cause down the line. For a team to work well, there has to be respect, trust, communication and an absence of ego just like the article says. This is something every individual who is a part of the team has to come in ready to do for the end product and process to come out well and be a good representation of the team.
To me, it's a given that we have to collaborate in theater. Knowing how lighting can be utilized much more if the deisgner communicated with the scenic designer, and how the whole cast and crew of designers and technicians have to be in constant communication with the director, it is vital to have collaboration in theater. In film however, the process can seem much more different. With how the team would have the pre-production process only with a small percentage of the whole team, then going into the actual production, whole cast and most of the crew spending long hours to complete different scenes. After all the footage is shot, the actors are done and there is still the post-production where all the editing happens. To incorporate cinematographers, the director's vision, the editors, color correctors, and more, throughout this 3 stage process is very difficult to do. This article makes the realization that this collaboration within a show that could be filming for over a year is extremely vital and hopefully goes into the Emmy awards.
I think it is really incredible that there is more and more recognition of the various elements that go into the production of a play, movie, TV show or any element of entertainment. When shooting or producing anything, if all members of the creative team are not in communication with one another, the final product will not all fit together and look coherent. One of the most exciting things about theatre is the opportunity there is to collaborate across various mediums, arts related or not. The author of this article draws on that fact when he talks about the documentary, Free Solo. What we as viewers do not see behind the Camera is the professional climbers who also had to know how to shoot professional films. One of the most exciting things about attending this school in particular is the connection between the arts and the rest of the school because there is an opportunity for various perspectives on a certain work.
I absolutely love and believe everything this article highlights. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been watching awards shows and excitedly listening to the acceptance speeches of the creatives. Something I have noticed is that with the designers, they tend to thank their entire production teams and shine light on the individual talents who have been involved, more than any other “category” of winners. Collaboration is the key element in making a creative product great, and it continues to astound me how much people in the entertainment industry respect it. I absolutely loved that this article included conversations with different types of designers—from sound to production design to editing—collaboration was emphasized on so many different levels. I found it really interesting that Elisabeth Williams, the production designer of The Handmaid’s Tale described collaboration in another sense as well. “You can’t have an ego. That’s collaboration, too”. This quote gave me the chills, because I have been a part of many creative teams in the past where someone had an ego and it blocked productivity and prevented a process from moving forward with efficient collaboration.
Collaboration is key. Let me say it again, COLLABORATION IS KEY! That was the first lesson I learned when i began working in theatre and that is the lesson every single day I continue to do so. While every designer, manager, engineer, technician, etc has moments within their work that come straight from their own personal heart and soul, the only way for those beautiful moments to come alive in front of an audience is by working with others. This gets difficult for sure. The theatre world is filled with some very strong and very individual personalities, so on every show you touch, there will most likely be at least one other person working that show that you have a difficult time getting along with, but if you allow that tension to seep into the workspace, you waste valuable time and energy for truly no reason. This filed is difficult because the line between coworker/superior/employee is often blurred with friendship. This is really good, because it is not a productive creative space if you treat your assistant as your cubicle neighbor, but it also makes navigating workspace relationships much stickier. The key is this collaboration. Always be open to collaboration, because it is pointless to attempt to be the only opinion in the room.
This article talks about a really important topic in our industry. Without collaboration, everyone’s job in theatre would be 10x harder. For example, in props class with Todd we talked about just how much overlap there is with the props department and literally every other department. Props makes the light fixtures, but lighting lights them. Props handles the set dressing under the direction of the scenic designer. Everything in the theatre world is so closely intertwined with every other department that it is imperative that we collaborate AND RECOGNIZE the collaboration when the final product is produced. If someone else helped you complete a project it’s simply understood that you will give them credit as well, which is what I think this article explains really well. There are some situations where projects just simply cannot be done without the collaboration of several different departments. We really can’t do anything without each other
When the curtains are drawn on any production or the end credits roll on any film or show, the audience always seems to jump to the actors. "He/She could've done that scene better." "He/She was AMAZING during that whole movie!" Yet, no one seems to think about the immense collaboration that goes on behind the scenes. In relation to theatre, every production I've participated in, whether behind the scenes or on stage, the entire process starts with a meeting. The production team gets together to discuss the different elements needed to create the atmosphere necessary to make the production perfect. The actors get together with the director in order to tell the story they believe should be told. I'm so glad the Emmy's are starting to include more and more elements in their awards that bring light to the people who may not get all of the recognition they deserve.
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