Showrunners - Training Gaps Analysis - Cultural Human Resources ...

Showrunners Training Gap Analysis
1.4 When on-set training is less than a full production season, ensure that it be long enough
for the trainee to follow an episode through all aspects of production: at least a 3 week
period for a half- hour comedy, and at least 6 weeks on one-hour drama.
1.5 Include a variety of genre and sizes of productions in the internship program to broaden
the number of opportunities available. Although it would seem that in a bigger more
complex production there is more “room” for a mentor/mentee relationship to be
accommodated, a small budget series can also provide good training in production skills
because writers have more access to other aspects of production (writers attend
production meetings for example).
1.6 In a second phase of the internship program, include opportunities for writers to shadow
directors or editors to help develop an understanding of their relationship to the
Showrunner.
1.7 Construct financial incentives for independent production companies to follow the best
practice examples of those that have integrated training and talent development into their
business model.
II FORMAL TRAINING
Training Gap 2: Access to programs that familiarize senior writers with directing, art
directing, acting and editing is required. Showrunners in training need to know enough about
the approaches and tools used by professionals in these fields to make the best possible
creative decisions. Similarly in Québec, producers, directors and writers do not necessarily
have training in each other’s professions, or in the “below-the-line” trades.
Recommendations:
2.1 Develop the curriculum for a combo-pack of master classes, led by a Showrunner, that
deal with each type of professional storyteller category (acting, directing, editing, etc.) in
workshop fashion.
2.2 Develop partnerships with professional training providers that put senior writers into
acting, directing and editing programs.
Training Gap 3: In Québec, training for writers, directors and producers tends to be
segregated. This perpetuates the professional silos in the industry.
Recommendations:
3.1 In Québec, develop cross-professional training curriculum for use in existing programs.
For example, the curriculum should offer: training in production and post-production for
writers whose scripts would benefit from a better understanding of the parameters and
possibilities of a production; training in scriptwriting and editing, casting, creative
brainstorming, and the management of creative teams for producers.
3.2 In Québec, develop industry-educational partnership initiatives in which cohorts of
students, organized into writing rooms and brainstorming new television content, would
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Deborah Carver and Benoit Dubois, January 2009