Producer Thoughts: Welcome to Base Camp

Late night discussions, arduous paperwork, laughs, and gear prep. The common denominator that all these things have in common is where they happen. The Production Office. So let’s dive in and find out what makes a good production office and why it can be important to have on your next film set.

To start this conversation off let’s look at why it might be helpful for you to have a production office on your next film. Like everything in the film, the need for a production office, or P.O., and its requirements are going to vary by film project. If you’re simply shooting a 1 day commercial gig you probably don’t need a P.O. However, if you’re on a two month feature film a production office is most likely an essential aspect of the production.

So what are some of the benefits to having a production office? For starters you now have a central location for your production. This can come in handy if you need a place for the crew to meet, if you’re having to ship items in for future shoot days or for people to know where to go or who to call if they have questions about the shoot.

Another advantage to a P.O. is having a place that people can meet together to collaborate in the planning and close themselves off if a private meeting is needed. This can become especially important if the majority of your crew is being lodged in a hotel where you don’t want to be invading people’s personal space.

Finally, depending on the size and location of the Production Office, it can become an asset to the different departments. Whether that’s providing the space for G&E to do inventory on the grip truck, for art department to paint and work on props, or for camera to set up different camera rigs and test them out. There really is no limit to what you can do at a P.O.

Script Read through on Counter Column.

So you may be wondering what type of location makes a good P.O.? It really comes down to the size and needs of your production. I’ve worked on shoots that rented out a meeting room at their hotel, others that borrowed a spare room in a church or office building and others that used a spare room at the Airbnb they were staying at.

Another factor that comes into play is the cost to use the property and how that affects your production’s budget. Sure a production office with all the bells and whistles might be nice but if you’re doing a short film and are only going to be spending an hour a day there, you can probably find a better solution. So take the time to really understand the needs of your production and try to tailor the P.O. to fit those needs. On a recent promo shoot I produced our P.O. was two rooms in the house we rented. One with a small table that had a printer and office supplies and a second table we also used for meals and a second small room that was used for DIT, footage review and gear prep.

Director and AD’s discuss the next day’s plan in the production office on the set of Wheelchair.

Now you may be wondering what are some of the main features any good production office should have? Well to start, in today’s modern world internet is of high priority. So make sure that it either has Wi-Fi powerful enough to handle your needs or bring the equipment so that people can have a hardline for their devices.

A second big feature is power. Make sure if you’re going to have 7-8 people and office equipment all in the same room that there are enough outlets available or that you have splitters and power stripes available. Nobody wants to be dealing with trying to get work done before their battery dies.

Like mentioned above if you can find a place that has several rooms so that people can meet in private is a big help. Nobody wants to be talking about personal issues or issues involving certain people where everyone can hear it.

The proximity of the P.O. to the set and where people are lodging is another factor. Even if you’ve found a great production office, if its a 30-45 minute drive one way to people’s lodging or the set it might not be the greatest location when you’re trying to allow people to have time to rest and sleep.

A final factor as mentioned above is the size of your crew and how many people are going to potentially be working in the P.O. at one time. The last thing you want is for 20 crew to be crowded into two small rooms but you also don’t want to end up with an entire office building for just 2-3 people.

In closing, the production office can be a vital part of the set allowing for the crew to have a place that they can focus on what needs to get done while also being free from distractions that could arise when other crew and cast are trying to relax at the end of the day. What your production office needs is also going to be dependent on the script and scope of your film so taking the time to understand that and having the accurate time in pre-production to plan and look around is vital to being able to provide an appropriate P.O. for your production.

Is there something I missed discussing or a unique situation you’ve encountered on set with the production office? Let me know in the comments below and keep the conversation going.