Peter Carr’s Biggest Lessons
Peter Carr is a partner and executive producer at Massïf in South Africa. He previously spent 20 years heading up Velocity Films followed by a three-year stint at Bouffant. He spent 11 years on the executive committee of the Commercial Producers Association and five years as a Loerie Awards board member.
Peter has worked alongside most of South Africa’s top-ranked film directors and shot some of the country’s most memorable and iconic work.
Peter sat down with LBB to chat about some of the biggest and most valuable lessons of his 30+ year career.
A few lessons I have learnt over the years:
Never take on a job if your heart is not in it. Work may be hard to come by, but your lack of love will show. The film will be underwhelming, and you won’t get briefed on the next one.
Think insurance. Be the pessimist for a couple of hours before a shoot because things don’t always go to plan. Consider every eventuality and have a fall-back plan in place. When things go wrong, don't panic. Step away from the crisis to assess your options, find a quick solution, and calmly take control. The producer or director who chooses to scream and shout is not fixing anything.
If someone makes an honest mistake, call them aside and speak to them about it – but don’t fire them! They usually won’t make the same mistake twice and they’ll work twice as hard to prove it to you.
Don’t hire buddies. The buddy might be more fun to be with, and give you comfort, but they may not be the best person for the job. Hire the best. You will benefit from their experience, and your film will be better.
Be approachable. Don’t be arrogant. Engage with your whole team. Keith Rose was one of our top directors, and he was good at this. He invited everyone, young and old, new and inexperienced to offer ideas and suggestions before a shoot, knowing that he might ignore nine out of ten, but there was always that one who offered that interesting idea, which might make his film that little bit better.
Be realistic when drawing up a shot-list. These days the length of scripts remains the same, but the budgets are lower so we’re now shooting in one day what we used to shoot in two. I spend a lot of my time cutting back the director’s shot-lists or separating out the excess into a wish-list that can be shot only if time allows. Too many shots = less time to craft the essential shots = a not-so-pretty-film.
Under-promise, over-deliver. We all want to win the job, but pitch only what you can realistically achieve within your capabilities and within the time and money. Agency creatives fall in love with great pitches full of promises but often fail to consider if the pitcher can really pull it off with the craft shown to them in the presentation.
Only pitch what is relevant. The great John Hunt was behind some of the most iconic work ever produced in South Africa. He only wanted to hear two things from a film director. First, that he or she sincerely loves the concept and second how he or she intends to dial it up. He did not consider directors who walked into the room with suitcases full of mood boards showing other famous commercial references. He chose directors he already knew could shoot beautiful films and preferred clear and simple presentations with relevant creative improvements that would make the idea better.
Never ignore the value of music and sound design. Too much time is given to the imagery and way too little is spent working on the sound. It’s always an afterthought. Many years ago, I was invited to speak at a creative indaba attended by agencies and clients about what made for our most effective and award-winning work. I selected ten of our best commercials and played the soundtracks without any visuals. The audience was challenged to recall the commercials that each track belonged to. The entire room recognised every commercial from the soundtracks alone. Clients must be encouraged to demand more attention to the soundtracks and they must invest more in this area.
Don’t ignore the value of a producer. Look at a director's showreel – but also ask who the producer will be. The producer is responsible for where your money is best spent, and he or she will maximise your production value.
