Media Parents

I’ve been a Production Manager for 24 years and one thing I enjoy most is nurturing my teams, writes Michele Kimber. Attending Media Parents Autumn Drinks has inspired me to blog for the first time about my career.

PM Michele Kimber, left, not wanted by Interpol at the Media Parents Autumn Drinks https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/18138/michele-kimber

My job is not just making the budget and schedules work, it’s to ensure that everyone on the team know that they can talk to me regardless of the situation; being able to notice if someone is not happy, getting them to tell me why, and then finding a solution which is best for them and the team. It’s also making sure that you are on the same side as Editorial, so when they come up with a ‘must have’ item, it’s being able to say yes but then asking what they could do without. This ‘must have’ generally goes away!

Every time you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens that you really couldn’t have predicted.   During my 5 years working on Wife Swap (7 series back to back) we had a contributor who decided she wanted to go home before filming completed, the problem was she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to fly back North or go by train; as it was a Bank Holiday, this was causing considerable problems. Whilst she was changing her mind for the umpteenth time she managed to run away from the team into a swanky London hotel and straight into a wedding party having photos taken in the lobby; she then passed a note to a very bemused window cleaner saying she had been kidnapped by Channel 4.  That took some unpicking!

On Made in Chelsea (series 4 BAFTA award winning!)  we were filming a Christmas special in a country house and we had a very specific get out time, otherwise we were going to be heavily fined.  MIC was notorious for not adhering to timings so my job was even more stressful on that day.    I managed to get everyone out with 5 minutes to spare, when the house-keeper announced that the men’s toilet was blocked and I needed to deal with it.  With nothing to use other than my bare hands, the toilet was cleared but I was unable to wash my hand as I had to leave, only to see about ten cleaners standing at the door waiting to come in. My journey home was spent with my hand out of the car window, arriving back home at 3 in the morning.  I laughed about it eventually.

At Blast! Films, the one genre I said I would not be happy with was animals, especially if they were injured.  How they laughed, saying I’d just finished 26 episodes of 999: What’s Your Emergency?  During the first series of The Supervet onlines, I made the Online Editor turn the surgeries into black and white; by the second series I was much more comfortable with the formerly distressing material.  I went on to do not one, but three series of The Supervet!

I’m extremely adaptable and, after experience with shows like 999 and Forensics: The Real CSI (and Wife Swap) I am across all compliance and legal too. I am not good at having my photo taken (I’m afraid to say that I generally end up looking like I’m wanted by Interpol in 26 countries) so here is a picture of my trusty calculator which is currently showing my job situation…

Finally, not working, I miss not being able to tell my team that I’m going to join the Foreign Legion if things get a bit sticky.  The last time I said it, a coordinator asked me if they were a girl band he’d never heard of.  Said coordinator is now a very successful Series Producer!

To contact Michele Kimber, log in to Media Parents and click here.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/18138/michele-kimber

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