Agency Producer Q&A
Gotham head of content production Letitia Jacobs' ingenious tips for cost saving, avoiding peanut M&M's and her dream of well-oiled pool boys... er... productions
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Letitia Jacobs, Gotham, Agency Producer Q&A,
The best cost-cutting tip you’ve picked up over the years?
Having a bake sale. In five words or less, describe the perfect conference call. Spot approved. Conference call cancelled.
Your best excuse for going over budget?
“Well... the client wanted to get a satellite TV in the trailer to watch the game… I don’t even like sports. How is that my fault?”
The best or your favorite location for shooting abroad?
Favorite city to shoot - London. No doubt it’s the most expensive.
The commercial you remember the most from your youth? The Keep America Beautiful campaign. The one where the Indian cries on top of the hill.
Do you TiVo?
Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?
Your reputation in the industry (in your opinion)?
Southern. Fair. Polite.
The most memorable act of God?
It wasn’t really an act of God so much as an act of a not-so-smart PA who allowed a plane to leave the island we were shooting on without our crew. We had to push our last day of shooting since we couldn’t get everyone back in time for our 4am call time the following day. 50mph winds with not a cloud in the sky. Explained to my client the situation as my plate from lunch flew in her face. Have pictures to prove the vegetable medley that hit her.
The most outrageous proposition anyone has made to you?
“I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”
What’s your dream production?
Great concept, good schedule, decent money and a cute pool boy who will fetch me cocktails while everything else is running like a well-oiled machine.
What do you most like to see on the catering table? Mittens. If you wear mittens, it is harder to pick up those peanut M&M’s.
What’s your favorite swear word?
I try not to swear, God damn it.
If you wrote your memoirs, what would the title be?
That Dog Won’t Hunt If You Beat It To Death: The Life of an Agency Producer
Your favorite, and most egregious, guilty pleasure?
Getting my hair blown out.
Your favorite quote on advertising?
“Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, be afraid of not getting caught for the mistakes you’ve made,” Morty Baran, my first boss in production. Or: “I’m not stressing out, I’m just kickin’ ass,” Tracie Norfleet, RSA. Q
www.gothaminc.com
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Magazine
May 2010
Our May 2010 issue features a roundtable of directors, agency execs and production company EPs discussing the dire lack of women behind the camera on commercial shoots, our annual list of the year's top spot helmers, the story behind Philips' "Parallel Lines" shorts and more.