The hands-on experience not only introduced him to the hierarchy and fast pace of production but gave him a chance to showcase his skills and talents.

Networking is essential at all stages of a production career. Since the film community is relatively small and “most production managers talk to each other...being well-regarded is important.” How does someone become well-regarded? According to Steven, it’s all about taking initiative and doing things differently. For instance, on his first production, he kept meticulous track of all the receipts, files, and paperwork he’d been handed until the end of the shoot.

“I'd kept all of that data and handed it over as a final report. It seems quite menial, but actually that's how they budget and track the costs - even how much food people are eating affects an invoice at the end.”

His attention to detail paid off - after he proved himself capable of adding value to a production, he was hired for multiple new movies with the same production team!

The challenge now was to succeed and develop as a production coordinator. Steven then highlights the importance of human values and to have a positive attitude regardless of the difficulties encountered, what is not so easy in an industry where everyone is under constant pressure.

Succeed the Rubik's Cube of coordinating a Film

Steven compares the coordination of a film with a Rubik's cube - there are several similar moving parts that must all be in the right place at the right time. To find the final solution, you must be organized and constantly thinking ahead to prepare for the next move. But it’s incredibly rewarding when the final square clicks into place:

“Just getting everyone involved and seeing all these different moving parts coming together, it's nice to see.”

To solve the puzzle and succeed with the film, Steven encourages communication as much as possible from the start of the project. He takes the time to involve everyone and to learn each team members strengths, weaknesses and goals by having one-on-one discussions with each member of the project to understand their motivations, skills, and career goals. The idea is to inspire people to be volunteers - if their goals are clear, they will automatically help each other:

“Everyone has their own priorities and what they want to achieve. I think it's important to learn from others. Everyone works on things together, and sometimes you can change how you prioritize things to give them a chance [to learn something new]. I think that's the important thing.”

This helps create cohesive, proactive teams who are motivated to take on whatever tasks are thrown their way - and even seek out new opportunities!

Unlike most jobs that require you to complete specific tasks with very little cross training, film production provides a tremendous amount of flexibility when it comes to career development. There is always someone there to teach you something and you can always teach others. If a production assistant is interested in learning more about cinematography, or grip work, or costuming, the production coordinator can make sure their tasks take them to those departments as often as possible. Steven's role is to identify all the pieces of the puzzle and coordinate their movements to find the solution skillfully, quickly, and efficiently!

Of course, not all teams are perfectly organized groups without conflict. You have to know how to make concessions, and accept that others work in different ways, which is a very complicated part of the job. As Steven pointed out:

“And if people are doing it differently or they're not happy in how they're doing it, something's gone wrong. It's a conversation. And it's a calm, collected kind of thing that's done privately.”

The right tools are essential, and SetKeeper can help.

Communication and organization are essential elements for coordinating a film shoot. But it is not always easy to keep track of so many moving parts (or so many Rubik’s cube squares!). Dozens of tools exist, but SetKeeper’s features enabled Steven to save precious time and better coordinate his teams. When you are coordinating a large feature, the small details can become huge issues very quickly, and

“Being able to manage things like that actually are huge task [...] Things like distribution lists and start packs of paperwork, getting all that information out quickly because communication is key for the production office. I make sure everyone in our production office has access.”

Steven also points out that SetKeeper adapts wonderfully to the changes occurring within the film industry.

“I think at the moment generally the media industry is very exciting because you got all this change. Changing the way we're making films and TV [...] you have to be a bit more nimble on your feet. You need to know exactly what you're going to do ahead of time. Things need to be clearer.”

Coordinating huge teams of individuals, all with their own desires, skills, strengths, and motivations, creates a huge human puzzle. The production coordinator’s role is to skillfully assign them the appropriate tasks to create the most beautiful (and economically efficient!) result possible. And when that last square clicks into place and the Rubik’s cube is complete, everyone can share in the satisfaction of a job well done.