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There Is No Such Thing as a Creative Producer
Why the friction between "creatives" and "producers" is important in creating great experiences
I know a lot of producers.
In fact, I couldn’t do my job without them. Without producers, I would never have seen any of the ideas in my head come to life.
The grand opening of Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi would have just been an opening.
The world’s largest video dome on a beach in Dubai would have just been a patch of sand.
And the Ozark Mill would still be a dusty relic rather than a memorable experience along Missouri’s Finley River.
Creative Directors are responsible for developing the ideas. And producers take those ideas and transform them into reality. It is a co-dependent relationship.
However, I keep seeing producers who are taking the title “Creative Producer.” It’s a job title. It makes them sound like they are producing creative things. I get it. But it’s dead wrong!
I first heard this title years ago when I was clashing with a colleague at the now defunct The Brand Experience. I was the Executive Creative Director. She was the Executive Producer. We clashed often.
And isn’t it quite normal for these two roles to clash?
Anyway, she wanted her producers to be called “Creative Producers” so the clients would appreciate that they do contribute to the creative output. I, on the other hand, thought it was encroaching on my creative team’s responsibilities. I understand this desire to feel creative. The best producers I’ve worked with can also be creative. They contribute valuable ideas on how to take the creative and make it real.
However, they are not creative.
You don’t have to be a convert to appreciate the great truth in this line from the New Testament: “No [one] can serve two masters; for either [they] will hate the one and love the other, or else [they] will hold to the one and despise the other.”
Creative directors serve the creative. For us, it’s all about protecting the concept and inspiring a shared vision.
A producer, by contrast, serves the budget, schedule, production and, ultimately, transforming that creative into reality. They serve a different beast altogether.
True, there are creatives who understand how to create a budget and schedule. Not every creative director is a flibbertigibbet. And not every producer is devoid of creativity and fun.
But there is no such thing as a Creative Producer.
When it comes to creating and producing great experiences, you are either one or the other. You either serve the idea or the production.
If you have read to this point in my post, you may be wondering, “Why does Geoff even care about this?”
Well, beyond the fact that words matter, I care because I truly believe that the abrasion between “creatives” and “producers” is critical to that magic that is a great experience. The late Jerry Hirshberg wrote about this “creative abrasion” in his book on running Nissan’s design studio in Southern California.
“Conventional strategies to reduce friction by compromising, diluting or aligning positions are the equivalent of getting all the parts in a system moving in the same direction. That’s a fine procedure for rowing a boat; not so fine for creating one. Creative abrasion recognizes the positive dimensions of friction, the requisite role it plays in making things go. Without it, engines would not work, a crucial source of heat and electricity would be eliminated, and relative motion across the surface of the planet would all but cease. Rather than trying to reduce the friction that naturally arises between people working together by diluting or compromising positions, creative abrasion calls for the development of leadership styles that focus on first identifying and then incorporating polarized viewpoints. In doing so, the probabilities for unexpected juxtapositions are sharply increased, as are the levels of mutual understanding.”
So, if you are in the business of creating experiences, the choice is yours.
Are you a creative?
Or are you a producer?
Once you can answer those questions, we can let the friction begin!
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Geoff Thatcher and the family at Creative Principals writing on the subject of creative leadership in work and life.
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