Being a Kind Producer and Still Getting My Way - How I Find the Middle Ground

The golden age of filmmaking in Hollywood set up an image of a producer being the person who calls the shots and says what goes and what doesn't – outsiders often or not have this image of a white, male, most likely middle-aged big shot, totally comfortable with demanding what he wants and getting it too. He is assertive, which is a kind way to say mean or bossy (when talking about men anyway), and everyone drops to their knees, scampering all over the studio to please him and meet his requests.

In the modern world, we still have these important producers, but the image of them has changed slightly, along with the way producers operate, and importantly what has also changed is how the people working below the producer respond to their demands.

Our generation is accepting of producers of any gender, religion, race and colour, but we are also aware of the power imbalance that comes ingrained in the hierarchy of the film industry. This was demonstrated by the much needed Me Too movement, and what followed for industries outside entertainment with the Time's Up movement. Both proved that you can't be simultaneously worshipped and an insensitive asshole that abuses the power that comes from your role.

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Living in the Shadow of Dace

Some actors have a character they portrayed on the screen whose shadow they live in most of their lives. For Sean Connery and Roger Moore it was James Bond, Boris Karloff had Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi had Dracula and mine is Dace Decklan: Private Eye.

Who the hell is Dace Decklan: Private Eye, you might ask?

It all started as a twinkle in the eye of film director Ivan Malekin. How he ever came up with the concept of melding Magnum P.I and James Bond I will never know. Then again maybe I should just ask him? I just realised I never did.

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The Cult of Busy

There seems to be this mentality held by some creative people and even non creatives who are working the daily grind that being busy all the time means you are the most productive person on the planet. That your self-worth is somehow tied up with how damn busy you are all the damn time. The busier you are, the more packed your schedule is, the more proof there is that you are working much harder than your peers or colleagues. And this is what defines us as people.

I confess that I was one of these people around four years ago. I use past tense as now I'm more chilled and sometimes less productive than I have ever been. I still get stuff done but in healthy moderation. Even with my full time job, I get home and manage to smash out a couple of hours working on an investment deck or marketing for one of my films.

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