'One to Another' - Sharing Production Skills and Experiences during Covid-19

Elena Rubio-Hall is in her living room, sipping a cup of tea. Sitting across from each other through the Zoom camera; we start an hour long conversation that will take us through stories, experiences and a shared assurance that there is a lot that we can learn from one another in our industry.

Elena is a Production Coordinator that, like many, has been furloughed from the project she was working on before lock down.

She defines herself as a workaholic, but I feel she is so much more than that. Elena seems to be a passionate human being, she’s a learner and she’s a sharer. She has a firm belief that we can teach each other skills that we often take for granted or perhaps we are too scared to ask about because we assume that we should already know the answers.

One of the perils of working in a production office is that you learn to do something but you don’t actually know why you’re doing it. we’ve all experienced doing a task of which the intricacies we don’t quite understand but we are too embarrassed to ask about’

Elena’s approach to this lockdown is:

“If we can’t work, let’s take this time to learn new things, improve ourselves and support each other to be ready for when the industry is back up and running.”

That’s precisely what One to Another is - a series of meet ups organized either on 1-2-1 basis or for small groups to talk about daily production office subjects that we tend to learn “on the job” or expect new team members to know, like for example (but not limited to): Progress Reports or Cast contracts.

Elena told us that the focus is on production because she works in production, but her interest falls on widening the knowledge on other departments. That’s how ‘OTA Thursdays’ was born. Every Thursday afternoon Elena sits down with a crew member from a different department who will talk her and participants through their department giving them a better insight into the daily ongoings throughout prep, shoot and wrap.

“I always think we become better production crew if we understand what each department and crew member does. It means we can empathise and anticipate their needs much better and work together more effectively”.

The idea comes from when you’re shooting on location, and you sit around a table at the end of the day with people from all departments and you start sharing stories. In those stories there is knowledge that, perhaps, you’ll use at some point in the future and you are not really sure how you acquired it.

“Listen because you learn so much just by paying attention”

Starting with those evenings as well as from the personal experience of actually asking a Focus Puller to show her a rental house and tell her about the Camera Department pre-production and de-rig, Elena thought there was opportunity to make the most of the current situation.

“What I’m trying to do is digitalize what I do at work”

You’d be surprised what you can learn if you’re willing to ask. Also, people are really keen on sharing information about their work. We work in a creative industry driven by passion, it is only normal that for most people, talking about work is actually a real pleasure.

A lot of people have shown interest and have taken part in the sessions that have been held so far. There have been sessions with an Editor, a Producer and an Accountant to date.

There are recurring members turning up to these sessions, which is helping create a sense of networking.

Elena mentioned that one of the good things of having recurring participants is that she’ll remember them, and as her many other professionals in search of new team members.

“With the industry being as busy as it has so far, we’re always looking for new runners or assistants. I want my amazing runner to succeed and move on to the next stage in her/his career on the next job, but they are missed.”

One to Another follows the conference structured offered by Zoom.

For now, sessions are usually held on Mondays and Thursdays. They started at the end of March – Lecturers/hosts can give up as much or as little time as they feel they can give.

Participants will get in touch with topics they need help with. I will match either individuals or groups of people and schedule a Zoom Call between you and your participant(s). I will co-host the Zoom call, start you guys off and then leave you to it.

Elena said that the most difficult thing with this format is the lack of human interaction, not knowing if your message is getting across to everybody listening. But for both participants and lecturers this is being a very positive experience. The small group give a more personal approach and lecturers have said they come out of their sessions feeling empowered and with a real sense of accomplishment.

We all suffer from imposter syndrome and coming out of a talk that you might have been very nervous about with a sensation of achievement is a very positive feeling to take with you at the end of the day.

So if you’re interested in taking part of these sessions:

Get in touch with Elena on elena@onetoanothertv.co.uk

Twitter: @onetoanothertv