If you want to work in post, you’re going to need thick-skin-it’s just a fact of life. You should know right now that Hollywood producers have a lot of talents, but ‘respectful criticism’ is not one.
Watching my boss deal with his producer. The guy took a lot of crap. Sometimes the producer would come by to watch what he had, and they would have notes for changes to make. No big deal. Then the producer would come back, after my boss made the requested changes and would just tear into the editor.
“This is totally unairable! This is totally unprofessional! Why would you edit this way?”
Because you gave me notes and told me to change it to look like this, sir?
“Why does the music fade here, what’s wrong with you?”
The production company gave it to us that way, sir.
“What did you do to screw up the sound so bad here?”
The cameraman forgot to turn his mic on, sir.
Well then FIX IT!!
Fix it, sir? I can’t….I can’t go back in time and turn on the-
And what’s wrong with the colors here? What happened?
I think the cameraman forgot to white balance here, sir.
You’re supposed to do that in POST! Don’t you know what white balancing is?
Sir, there’s a button on the camera explictly for that -I can show it to you- I’m not sure you understand how-
FIX IT!
I wish I could say I was making most of these up to be funny but….pretty much all real conversations here. We also had the producer google a music video to show what “cutting to the beat” looked like, and another incident where the producer brought in a color wheel because he legitimately thought the head editor was color-blind.
Perhaps, this is just my experience, but you should be aware of and prepare for the fact that some bosses will be insulting or condescending. You’ve gotta grit your teeth, and role with it as best you can- it’s just part of the job. Find your happy place!
The head editor’s secret? Anytime the producer is talking, he zones out and thinks about Loony Tunes reruns in his head. Works like a charm!