TECHNICAL ADVISOR (In the Entertainment industry. What is a technical advisor?)

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Technical advisor

A technical advisor is an individual who is an expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired to provide detailed information and advice to people working in that field. For example, a construction company might hire a technical expert in fluid dynamics to advise them if seeking to move a small water course or a company operating in adventure education will frequently hire technical experts to ensure that their policies and procedures are robust enough to handle the hazards they are going to face.

Film and television

Movie or television directors, will often hire a technical advisor to ensure that a complicated area is portrayed accurately in the production. For example, a director for a show involving combat aviation might hire one or more current or former combat pilots to serve as technical advisors. Similarly, a period movie may include one or more historians of the period, or eyewitnesses if possible, for the same purpose.

A Technical Consultant / Advisor is an expert in a particular field who is hired to provide their advice and knowledge. In film, Technical Advisors are often hired to ensure that certain scenes or settings that filmmakers want to portray are as close as possible to real life without compromising the storyline in order to add some authenticity and realism to the production.

Technical Advisors typically get an early draft of a script to review, however, they can collaborate throughout a project from beginning to end with writers, directors, producers, actors, accountants, wardrobe and prop departments, and editors to ensure everyone is on the same page about modifying or correcting details to fix inaccuracies.

For example, a Technical Advisor about war in a specific time period and country will be able to provide input about the types of clothes military personnel and civilians wore, the kind of weaponry and technology that was around as well as the cultural aspects of the country (e.g., slang and gesticulation). If there is something in the script that is historically inaccurate and the film is based on actual events, the Technical Advisor for this film will need to make filmmakers aware.

Technical advisors typically answer to the director. Their expertise adds realism both to the acting and to the setting of a movie. Some advisors for military movies have been known to run miniature boot camps to give actors a first-hand experience of a military setting. Captain Dale Dye is a noted technical advisor and provider of military training for actors through his Warriors, Inc. The US Army has often provided technical advisors to war films. Nipo T. Strongheart was a noted technical advisor on several movies dealing with Native Americans.

Technical Advisors also provide training to actors to help them understand their characters better. They can advise actors on speech, body language, and the natural thoughts that would occur in a scene that the actors may want to portray through facial expressions, such as fear or caution. Technical Advisors for military films often train actors on how to prepare, hold and fire weapons.

Many Technical Advisors work full-time in their area of expertise and only do technical consulting as a part-time venture. However, some people who start off as Technical Advisors may actually end up with some small or large acting roles in the production.

The British Army have supplied their own brand of technical military advisors to the film industry. Paul Biddiss is one such expert, who has built on a long military career to advice on a multitude of high-profile films and TV series. War and Peace Jason Bourne

Technical advisors who have become actors include George Kennedy (an Army advisor to the Sgt. Bilko television show) and John Dierkes (an accountant working for the U.S. Treasury, who provided technical assistance to the makers of To the Ends of the Earth). A former child actor, Frank Coghlan Jr, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and later became an advisor to Hollywood on Navy-themed films.

R. Lee Emery, a former U.S. Marine who became a technical advisor on several Vietnam War films lensed in the Philippines became a lead actor in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket as well as an advisor. Emery said "A technical advisor must be a salesman. He's got to be able to sell the producer-director on his way of doing things":158 Emery told of battles with Kubrick over realism, and what could be shown onscreen and be appreciated by a cinema audience. Emery lost battles over such items as a recruit having concealed a fully loaded magazine in his footlocker rather than a few stray rounds, and the way Marine Corps Drill Instructors hit recruits in the solar plexus rather than slapping their faces. Emery won over Kubrick in other points of Marine Corps decorum.

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Entertainment Careers, Adhere Creative, In Deed, Glass Door, Pay Scale, , Business Insider, Slate, Copy Blogger, USA Today, Merriam-Webster, Job Monkey, Studio Binder, The Collective, Production Hub, Nevada Film,

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