The 5 most important attributes of a Production Coordinator

by 25 November 2019Blog, Team

Interview with Georgina

After completing an MA in Ethnographic and Documentary film production at UCL, Georgina went on to work on films for charities and nonprofit organisations before starting at Rogan Productions as a Production Coordinator. With careers in the Media & TV industry being highly competitive, getting your foot in the door and then keeping up with the demands of the job are vitally important in making your mark on the industry. We interviewed Georgina to find out more about her journey, how she first landed a job at Rogan Productions and what she thinks the 5 most important attributes of a Production Coordinator are.

Can you talk about your route into the TV/media industry?

I started working at a television shopping channel in my hometown of Peterborough, it was basically where everyone went if they wanted a job in the media. Daytime craft shopping television was a far cry from the life changing, current affairs documentaries I wanted to work in. I saved up enough money to move to London to do an MA in Ethnographic Filmmaking. Throughout my course I got really short contracts doing various bits of TV work; from running to logging research etc. At the end of my course I secured at job at a charity film company. I was part of a really small team and got to learn a bit of everything, from shooting to editing and producing. I learnt a lot at this organisation and it was great to work on projects that would really make a difference. After gaining this experience, I knew I wanted to work in TV, so I applied for the job of Production Coordinator at Rogan Productions, and got the job!

What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?

The highlights of my career so far include going to Israel and Jerusalem to film around hospitals for a charity. Speaking to the children that they were helping was really interesting – just the experience of filming in a different country was exciting! Since being at Rogan I’ve worked on some really exciting projects, most recently Stabbed: Britain’s Knife Crime Crisis. The film and its subject matter is so relevant, and I knew it was going to make a difference. Getting to attend the Grierson awards this month and being part of a team who won two awards for the film was definitely a really exciting moment. Just getting the opportunity to speak to really interesting people on a daily basis is a real highlight of the job for me.

What do you enjoy most about being a Production Coordinator?

Being a Production Coordinator means you get to know the whole production process from start to finish. There are so many different elements to the job that mean no day is the same.

What are the 5 most important attributes of a Production Coordinator?

1. Staying super organised and knowing exactly what stage of the production process the film is at is very important.

2. Being thorough. Remember that it is up to you to tell the editorial team where they will be at a certain time, so be sure to check again and again that the schedule works.

3. Good communication skills. Maintaining a good and open line of contact for all people on the team, including contributors, is massively important.

4. Having foresight. It’s important to foresee future issues, for example, the director might want a certain piece of archive that you know they will not be able to clear.

5. An ability to multi-task. It’s important that you learn to juggle multiple tasks at once.

What advice would you give to anyone starting out in the industry?

It’s difficult starting out and getting your foot in the door can be so frustrating. I hear a lot of people say ‘work for free’, if you can that’s great, but for myself (and a lot of people) that’s just not financially viable. I got my foot in the door by working on some short-term paid contracts that I found through Facebook groups, I would literally be applying for jobs whenever I wasn’t studying! I also think learning a bit of everything and having a wide skill set is so important now – learn to shoot and edit if you can.