No One Likes Surprises
Once upon a time in Hollywood, I overheard a newbie PA ask our executive producer “What advice would you give someone entering the entertainment industry?”
The EP, coming off a 12-hour-day on set, looked up at him and said “Quit now.”
Let’s put aside philosophical musings about why one should or shouldn’t get involved with entertainment. If someone were earnestly ask the same question of me, my advice would be this.
No one likes surprises.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it!” has got be one of the most dreaded (and commonly heard) phrases in the business.
If you discover something which is going to clash with someone’s expectations, always alert them in advance. Once you know something is amiss, you are now holding the football. Never do you want to be construed as the person who withheld information. A problem will always find its way to the surface, and nothing is worse than a problem leaking in some round-about, through the grapevine kind of way. If you know what’s brewing, get ahead of it. Make sure the right people hear it from you first.
People seldom respond well to an ambush. In the film/TV world, the higher up the person being ambushed, the more catastrophic the nuclear fallout will be. If there’s an unexpected twist that’s going to impact the showrunner or the talent — jobs could be at stake if it’s not handled right.
Example. Your lead talent is expecting a private trailer on set tomorrow. The vendor calls you and says the trailer can’t show up until 2pm, so sorry about that. You try and orchestrate a work-around, and it’s just not happening. Guess what. Your star better not walk onto set in the morning only to be told “So sorry about that.” Either you or some other producer needs to call the talent and diplomatically explain the situation. Manage expectations in advance. Simply knowing about the problem ahead of time does three things:
Makes the person feel valued
Demonstrates your honest and conscientious nature
Manages expectations
While fallout may not be 100% avoided, it will be mitigated significantly, simply because you’ve removed the element of surprise. All humans make mistakes. Maybe it wasn’t even a mistake. Murphy’s Law is the true overlord of any production, and anyone who’s been in the game knows this all too well.
Stay alert, stay honest, and manage expectations. You will earn respect (and reduce your chances of getting fired).
