WHAT DOES A STORY PRODUCERS DO? (In the Entertainment industry. What does a Story Producers Do?)

Story Producers Field Equipment / Photo Credit: Transom

WHAT DOES A STORY PRODUCERS DO? (In the Entertainment industry. What does a Story Producers Do?)         

Bruce Bisbey…please follow me at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/DumbDogProductionsLLC/ thank you.

What do Story Producers do?

A Story Producer is a term used in reality television for the person who is responsible for creating a story line via editing/producing the show's source footage. They may also be responsible for writing Host dialogue. They will track the story of the cast during the shoot, and help to convey that story during the editing process.

Running the story lining heart of the show. To organize and manage story conferences, write the storylines and create new regular characters. Run the Writers’ Room sessions – guiding and inspiring the writers present to create the most dynamic episodes in a collaborative forum. To run the quarterly Planning Meetings and to articulate the vision for the show and its stories to Producers, editors and writers.

Depending on where you work or the type of show, the duties of a story producer may include all or some of the following: 

• Field logging…
• Interviewing talent on camera…
• Field producing scenes…
• Writing hot sheets…
• Tracking story through field and/or post…
• Beating out the episode, creating a story grid…
• Finding and watching all of the raw footage…
• Cutting string outs/paper cutting…
• Managing editors and handling their requests for footage and interview bites…
• Creating Franken bites…
• Researching any science or statistics used in graphics or VO…
• Writing VO…
• Writing and conducting pick-up interviews…
• Addressing notes (in-house and then from the network)…
• Working with production coordinators to secure releases for subjects/ locations / artwork / photos / music / articles, etc.…
• Making sure the episode includes all advertising and graphics requirements, conforms to s&p, and is to time…
• Watching down outputs for QC… 

A story producer will work with the Executive Producer, Series and Script Producer – the editorial vision for the show. Under the management of the Series Producer, to have overall responsibility for ensuring the editorial vision is maintained in the storylines alongside the other Story Producer and in conjunction with the Script Producer via the scripts. To inspire and lead the editorial team in conjunction with the Script producer. To write the serial storylines and create new regular characters for the show. In conjunction with the Series and Script Producer, to approve all guest stories. To act as the focal point for actors in terms of their characters and storylines.

Your average story producer for a non-union show is paid by the week and therefore can be (and usually is) worked to the bone for as many hours per week as they can stay awake.  Ideally a story producer will be in the field during the shooting of his episode(s), conducting his own interviews, writing his own logs, etc.  But often story producers are not included until the post production process, starting a week or two before their editors begin cutting the show.  So, the trick is to keep "feeding the machine," that is, keep one step ahead of the editor with string outs and everything they need so that story is already thought through and they can concentrate just on editing.  All the while, story producers must keep the full episode in mind, track story at all times, and make sure everything flows story wise.  The episode basically only exists in the story producer's head until there is a rough cut.

On a non-union show, the story producer will use an Avid editing system to make basic edits to the raw footage, cutting it down and streamlining it as much as possible before it goes to the editor, adding interview bites where needed.  On a union show, the story producer is not allowed to touch an Avid and must write his string outs using tape numbers and time codes, and they are later assembled by an AE (this is called papercutting).  I personally cannot imagine a world without using my Avid for story, it just makes the whole process go so much faster, it's a much more immediate way to see if a scene is working, and it's just more fun.

Sometimes a story producer is lucky enough to have a story editor, which is basically an assistant to the story producer.  They share in the duties, but they are not held accountable if something goes wrong, and they generally handle the less important scenes or requests.  Ideally, the story editor and story producer are a team that work on several episodes together, but often due to budget constraints there are more story producers than story editors and they act as sort of a "story editor pool," where any editor or producer can make requests of them and those requests are prioritized by deadline. 

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, WikiBooks, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, Careers Hub, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Blurb, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Chron, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Truity, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety, Wolf Crow, Get In Media, Production Beast, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, UCAS, Frankenbite, Realty 101, Careers Hub

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Story Producers Field Equipment / Photo Credit: Transom