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Project Management

Contents

1. Getting Organized
2. Project Budgets
   1. Boilerplate budget
3. Scheduling
   1. Boilerplate Schedule
4. Oversight

Getting Organized

Putting first things first, before we get to the good stuff, we have to address the drudgery of organizing and overseeing production. It's common for the beginning production team to find the managing end of things difficult, time consuming and stressful. It can exhaust you and deflect your attention from the important matter of making the production as good as possible. On the other hand, neglecting administrative concerns can totally derail your efforts. You have to deal with them whether you want to or not. As you gain experience, you will need decreasing amounts of time effort and anxiety to get things done.

Leadership talent, the willingness to delegate tasks, and business acumen are important factors in management of anything. Unfortunately, they are too weighty to discuss in this book. Futile, too, I suspect. You're probably not an MBA. Most artsy types aren't. Just the opposite. You have not entered the arena of audio theater because you want to flex your administrative muscles. You may not have any administrative muscles to flex. Further, most of you probably have no effective institutional back-up — no radio station, network or corporation providing you office space, office machines and administrative support.

For the old hand as well as the novice, successful management depends upon careful advance planning. That's why I dwell on the subject in this chapter. The more forethought and common sense goes into your project, the smoother it will run. The larger or more complex the project, the more detailed the planning ought to be. And the two things you have to plan for are costs and time.

Project Budgets

Unless an "angel" is willing to write you a check every time an expense comes up, or all labor, materials and services are being provided gratis, estimating production costs is your first step. Because money is so tight for the audio dramatist, one needs to keep tight reign on finances. Before you can do that, you have to figure out what they are. The producer may need all or some of the following budgets, depending on the size of the project:

An initial estimate of potential costs figured for the way you would ideally like the production to go.

External budgets, based on your internal ones, are used for show. Within a bureaucracy, you show them to your higher ups or the governing board. You also use them in business and grant proposals. External budgets need not be as detailed as internal ones. For your own purposes, you want to make sure you have thoroughly covered all costs. You also want enough detail so that you can reconstruct the basis of your computations. But no one else has to or wants to see this detail. Besides, you may have good reasons for suppressing some detail, or adjusting figures for public consumption.

One or More Pre-production Revisions based on either your best guess of what the market will bear (that is, income you can realistically raise) or what you have actually received. Normally, this means scaling the project down to avoid over-spending.

Working budget in which, right before launching the project, you adjust figures based on the money available and any new cost information, such as inflationary factors, the latest air fares, and new production technologies.

Adjustments during the project based on cash flow, reflecting what you have left in the kitty to finish up. A cash flow is a periodic statement of income and expenses. If the cash flow says you have overspent, you have to rebudget remaining work. If you have under-spent, you can redistribute the remaining cash to cover expense areas, or "line items," where you feel you could use it (in your salary, for instance).It is dangerously easy to forget important cost centers when you’re budgeting. That’s why I developed a boilerplate boilerplate set-up on a computer spreadsheet. The boilerplate contains all the line items I could possibly need for producing, promoting, marketing and distributing dramatic audio. When budgeting, I may not anticipate incurring costs in all the line items represented, but can always delete unused line items. The boilerplate prevents me from overlooking essential costs.

The Boilerplate Budget

Following is a boilerplate budget for audio drama. It shows most of the line items you need in estimating project costs, general operating expenses, grant proposal budgets, etc. When you adapt it to your use, omit those line items that don't apply and complete the others. The boilerplate prevents you from inadvertently omitting important budgetary components and provides a common-sense budgetary organization. I keep my boilerplate on a computer spreadsheet, on which I can automate the arithmetic. I pull it out every time I need to estimate figures, which I save to my hard drive under an appropriate file name.

When I have to present a budget formally to my board, funders, or unindicted co-conspirators, I lay it out in four columns like so:

Salaries & Wages
	Executive Producer	@ 20% fte 9 mos.	$00,000
	Project Director	@ 100% fte 9 mos	00,000
	Support Staff	2 @ 50% fte 9 mos	00,000
	Talent	see talent detail	000,000
	Fringe	@ 20%	00,000
Total: Salaries & Wages				$00,000

The first column is for line item categories, the second for line items under those categories, the third for computation details, the fourth for line item totals, and the last for category and grand totals. The computations for some line items may be so complex that column three, as with the "talent" line item above, must be explained on a separate page. Note that numbers should be rounded off to the nearest five or ten dollars. And, when plugging in costs that you've researched, give yourself a buffer by budgeting more than you expect to spend. How much more? Whatever the traffic will bear.

A budget for practical internal use may be quite detailed; for external use it may be simplified to a greater or lesser extent. 

Boilerplate Audio Drama Line Items

(* indicates items that should probably be deleted or reduced when an indirect cost line item is used.)

Salaries & Wages ^[1]
     Executive Producer
     Project Director
     Support Staff*
     Talent ^[2]
     Singers ^[3]
     Fringe ^[4]*
Total: Salaries & Wages

Fees for Professional Services
     Producer(s)/Director(s)
     Script Writer(s)
     Production/research asst.s
     Payroll Service ^[5]
     Royalties
     Composer(s)/Arranger(s)
     Musician(s) ^[6]
     Consultant(s)
     Foley Walker(s)
     Adv'g, PR & Market'g Reps
     Photographer(s)
     Illustrator(s)
     License Fees
     Promotional Writer(s)
Total: Fees for Professional Services

Materials & Supplies
     Production Supplies^[7]
     Research Materials^[8]
     Office Supplies*
Total: Materials & Supplies

Facilities
     Rehearsal Studio
     Production Studio
     Music Studio
     Office*
Total: Facilities

Travel & Subsistence
     Transportation
     Lodging
     Subsistence
Total: Travel & Subsistence

Marketing, Distribution &Promotion
     Printing & Typesetting
     Conference Fees
     Satellite & Uplink
     Tape/CD Distribution
     Cassette/CD Copying
     Photo & Art Processing
     Advertising
     Mailing Services
     Station Mailings
     Web Page Expenses
     Entertainment
     Clipping Service
Total: Marketing, Distribution & Promotion

General
     Telephone ^[9]*
     Postage & Shipping ^[10]*
     Postal Fees ^[11]*
     Legal & Accounting*
     Insurance ^[12]*
     Equipment Purchase
     Equipment Rental
     Equipment Maintenance*
     Recordings Storage ^[13]*
     Bank Charges*
     Utilities*
Total: General

Contingency & Misc. ^[14]

TOTAL: PROJECT EXPENSES

Indirect ^[15]

TOTAL EXPENSES

---

Notes on the boilerplate budget

[1]. Includes anyone you pay after deducting withholding. This boilerplate budget assumes the desirability of employing as few salaried workers as possible to avoid payroll taxes. [Back]

[2]. When hiring talent under AFTRA arrangements, list them in Salaries, UNLESS you are paying them via a payroll service. If you use a payroll service, include the gross figure (fee + H&R + FICA + state SDI) under fees. [Back]

[3]. Sometimes singers fall under AFTRA jurisdiction. If so, list them under Salaries. If AFM or non-union, list below within the Musicians line-item. [Back]

[4]. This should include fringe, payroll costs, and AFTRA H&R (Health and Retirement). [Back]

[5]. Even if you pay salaries to permanent staff, you may wish to consider using a payroll service for such casual employees as talent. The cost is more than offset in the savings in unemployment insurance and paperwork. [Back]

[6]. When employing AFM musicians, you generally pay a contractor who in turn pays the musicians, payroll taxes and union deductions. The figure here should therefore include the gross figure plus the contractor's fee. [Back]

[7]. DATs, CDs, recording tape, foley materials, splicing tape, jewel cases and tape boxes, labels, SFX recordings, etc. Whatever you have to buy or  the recording studio charges you for. If you have your own studio or purchase such items in bulk, this line item becomes part of your indirect expenses. (See indirect below.) [Back]

[8]. I include here anything I have to buy or rent directly for the production that doesn't fit anywhere else. [Back]

[9]. When an indirect cost line item is used, this line item should estimate direct long distance only. [Back]

[10]. When an indirect cost line item is used, this line item should only estimate extraordinary costs; e.g., large promotional mailings, tape bicycling. [Back]

[11]. For example, bulk mail & business reply permits. [Back]

[12]. Depending on the size of your fiscal and production activity and certain local and Federal laws, you may be required to pay liability, board, unemployment, key man and/or other insurance. [Back]

[13]. The National Radio Theatre, having no adequate room to place its audio tape masters, contracted fireproof, climate controlled space in a document storage facility. Costs for such facilities is far below those for insurance, etc. involved with self-storage. However, you can now archive your work on less fragile digital media, thus making professional storage less crucial.  [Back]

[14]. Figured at a percentage of the other direct costs, typically 10% to 20%. When figuring an in-house operating budget, 10% is adequate. When figuring a budget for funding purposes, the percentage is figured on whatever the traffic will bear. Some potential funders do not wish to see this line item. Buffer money must then be factored in to individual line items and/or indirect. A contingency line item generally does not appear when an indirect cost line item is used. [Back]

[15]. These are costs not directly attributable to the project or too cumbersome to apportion to the project, but which are necessary for completion. The local phone bill, office rent, utilities, and the other costs asterisked above can't easily be apportioned among your projects and your general op. It is usually SHOWN as a percentage of non-distorting direct costs, though FIGURED on general op. Indirect is handy for providing discretionary and buffer monies in grant proposals. In some instances, indirect can total more than direct. The way to factor indirect is a lengthy discussion for another day. [Back]

Scheduling

Before Scheduling

Even relatively simple jobs require advance scheduling with a calendar. Everybody will want to know when to show up and how long you will need them. The more complicated the project, the more you need to assign dates to your tasks and the more detailed your scheduling ought to be.

Before you can begin, however, you need to have certain ducks in a row. Without them, you can't even tell if your project is feasible. Nor can you estimate how long these tasks may take. They may include all or some of the following:

Property acquisition, property in this sense being the play or literary work upon which your play is to be based. You have to choose (or have chosen for you, as is often the case with a work-for-hire) the property and, if it is not in the public domain, secure the audio production rights. Or you have to commission someone to dramatize the property for audio, or write an original audio play.

Financing: Research and reckon a production budget. Secure the money to cover your bottom line from your front office or such sources as venture capital, grants, gifts, loans.

Contracting: you must recruit, hire and execute contracts with your production crew, which may include all or some of the following:

• writer

• director

• P.A.(s)

• composer or stock music library

• musical director ( who is often composer and music contractor)

• foley walker

• production facilities (studio(s) and rehearsal space)

• engineer(s)

• equipment rental sources (e.g., remote gear, extra or special microphones, sound baffles)

• transportation

• catering (Food ought to be provided, if possible, for all-day sessions, because, even if a decent eatery is located nearby, you have more control of talent's time when they eat on the premises.)

Union Arrangements. Depending upon the pool of potential coworkers available to you, you may have to deal with one or more of three unions: the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and, very rarely) the National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians (NABET). Normally, a licensed contractor (your composer or musical director) deals with AFM. You pay the contractor an agreed-upon fee covering all the musicians he engages, plus certain out-of-pocket expenses such as copyist services Though vocalists fall under AFTRA's jurisdiction, the contractor handles their arrangements as well. When it comes to actors, you have to work out an agreement directly with AFTRA. This may take a while as the nearest AFTRA local may not be close by, may not be responsive or may not know anything about rates for audio drama.

Audio dramatists don't usually, if ever, deal with the Writers Guild (WGA), which has bigger fish to fry in film and television. However, I try to keep an up-to-date copy of WGA's published rates to use as a budgeting guide. For the same reason I keep AFTRA's applicable published rates handy. Unfortunately, AFM, the musician's union, does not allow non-members to see its rate schedules.

Setting Deadlines

All scheduling starts with the final deadline, the date when you must turn in the finished, "packaged" production. Factor completion of all other tasks backward from the final deadline. (See calendar instructions below)

Always set a deadline before the date you actually need a task completed. Give yourself wiggle room for contingencies. If you need three work days to get something done, allow yourself five or more.

Never set the beginning of a task on the same day you end a previous task that it is dependent on. For instance, before you can copy scripts, you have to finish typing them. Failing to do some means that, if the typing isn't done on time, you won't be able to remain on schedule for the copying or any further tasks dependent on having the scripts in the hands of your crew.

Schedule no deadlines for the last minute. You need to keep the last minute free for troubleshooting.

How Much Time Do You Need?

This is always a matter of educated guess work. The more experience you acquire, the more accurate your time projections are likely to be. Nevertheless, you will always just be guessing, for which reason you should always allow yourself ample time. Perhaps the experience of others can guide the beginner somewhat, as long as you recognize that individual circumstances, working methods and talents have to be factored in.

For instance, in radio's heyday, producers commonly left only enough time for one read-through and performance. Typically, the sound effects guys would independently pull sound effects and stock music from their library of devices and recordings before the session. Before the advent and wide use of transcription devices, the first real-time performance for the East Coast and Middle West was a dress rehearsal for the West Coast real-time performance two hours later. Cast and crew could protract the production time because they did this every day, the scripts weren't particularly challenging, and the sound of old radio drama was highly conventionalized.

In contrast, when working "in studio" as opposed to before a house audience, I generally figure three minutes with the talent for every one minute of estimated playing time. I leave a little extra time at the beginning of each session day, because talent tends to start slow and rev up into a stride. For every half-day with actors, I need a day-and-a-half of editing and mixing.

Employing experienced Hollywood actors and directors, LA Theatre Works gives its casts two-and-a-half days for rehearsal plus five performances in real-time before a live audience at L.A.'s Skirball Cultural Center.

Roger Gregg, an American working in Ireland, notes:

This year we did one hour long radio plays [ 56' 30" time slot]. We started at 9:30 and worked straight through until we were done which most Saturdays turned out to be around 7 or 8 in the evening.... No time for a script read through in the morning - which normally I would like to do. The actors all had their scripts a week ahead of time and most actually had read them. The dialogue and spot effects mostly recorded before a stereo spread also with spot fx in live with the actors. This takes a read through or two to set — and serves as the rehearsal.

All the session material recorded on Pro Tools TDM, put on DVD and in turn loaded onto my home Pro Tools system. It takes me about 2 to 2½  weeks to post produce an hour. This is composing and recording the music and adding in additional fx, ambiences, editing for time, test mixes and so on. Composing and fine tuning the music can take a great deal of time. Doing 3 minutes of music to fit under one scene can take a day or two to put together. The studio is mine so I work when I can.

For a half hour play, New York based teacher and producer Sue Zizza wants:

...at least 3 full read-throughs before going into the studio — and for leads I like to work a bit with them prior to getting to read-throughs — helps the rest of the cast. As for taping, hard to say — but on average for a half hour play I plan about 6 hours recording session juts for voice tracks — especially if I can't have the cast all together. I figure 1 hour of post/edit time — which includes live SFX  and music -- for every hour of the play from start to finish -- that way I am happy if it comes out under -- so a 28 minutes piece can take 28 hours.

However I can usually save about a third of this time if I can get: 1) Manual SFX to record in and around the voice tracks; 2) Have all actors in the same place for each scene — not in recording the play in order — just having everyone all together for the scene; 3) None of the music I am using is original and also needs to be recorded.

Says Bay Area producer Erik Bauersfeld:

The only radio drama series I produced having a regular schedule was the Black Mass series in the 1960’s.  The half-hour programs, starting from scratch, were each, ready for broadcast every two weeks for a more or less three-year period. The schedule was something like: three days to select and adapt and type the script, one day to cast and schedule recording, one hour rehearsal, usually no rehearsal, just a read through and the recording and retakes until I (and the actors) were satisfied. Two days in editing room, add a few hours getting sound effects and music, one night (8:00 PM till 2:00 AM) mixing.  Another few hours editing the mix!  Boxing, labeling, duplicating, up till broadcast time.

I suggest the following rule-of-thumb for novices: for every half-hour of program time, allow yourself seven hours (a production day) for rehearsal and recording, plus from two days to a week for post, depending on the complexity of the sound and music plot. Give yourself more time to prep for real-time production before a house audience, including one full-dress rehearsal with all forces.

Boilerplate and Calendar

Let's say you're scheduling an hour-long original play. You want to plug in tasks and assign responsible for each. There's only you the producer, the director and the P.A. to see that everything gets done. So, you sketch out a schedule like the one below. Or, you pull out a boilerplate calendar that you created in the computer a while back and have up-dated from time to time as you have benefited from experience.

KEY: (P) = producer  (D) = director  (PA) = production assistant