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Producer & cameraman
By Jim McNamara
Reprinted from Retailing.org Magazine
You look deep
into her eyes. For so long now, you’ve
been searching for her, that one special
person who could make all the difference.
Someone who could really understand
you. Someone who could make your dreams
come true. At last, you've found her.
Now, if all this sounds
like your love life, congratulations.
But if it’s your relationship with your
infomercial TV writer-producer instead,
count yourself even luckier.
DRTV success all
depends on your writer-producer
Choosing the right person
to create your infomercial or direct
response TV spots is the single most
important decision facing the direct
response marketer today.
It's also one of the
toughest. I know. As a former ad agency
creative director, a product inventor,
and as a direct response writer-producer-director,
I've either been hired or done the hiring
on a weekly basis for nearly 25 years
now. I know terror when I see it.
Facing the terror
And terror it is, a
terror unique to DRTV. After all, in
traditional advertising, who knows if
you get the wrong creative guy? Image
advertising is so hard to track that
it’s nearly impossible to ever know
if your copywriter did a great job or
a poor job. Even a weak script can get
a glossy, glitzy production so that,
hey, nobody ever notices.
But not so with an infomercial.
If your writer-producer
does a poor job, you wont be able to
hide. In a matter of days, everybody's
going to know that you just blew 6 months
and a lot of money--say, the $150,000
to $750,000 you spent on production-and
perhaps even jeopardized the entire
future of your company. Needless to
say, all of this can be mighty hard
to explain at the next performance review.
Assuming there is one.
Ah, but why dwell on
the negatives? The upside is tremendous.
If your show works, you'll be a hero.
You'll have unleashed the most powerful
selling force in marketing today, a
medium that can move$200 million worth
of your products a year, no sweat.
Still interested?
Of course you are. But the key is selecting
the right producer. He's the one who
makes an infomercial happen, the key
to success.
Here, then,
are 19 tips and guidelines that I'd
use in looking for a producer. They're
questions that can save a lot of headaches
and a lot of money:
Jim McNamara with cameraman
1) Do you really
understand what a producer does?
In infomercials and
DRTV spots, their role is very different
than it is in regular TV commercials.
In infomercials, the producer dreams
up the entire show, writes the script
(usually), selects and hires the cast
and crew, shoots the show and puts it
together in editing. He may or may not
have his own production company to make
it happen.
Surprisingly, directors
aren't usually that critical in infomercials.
They certainly don't exert the influence
they do over, say, regular TV spots.
The reason? Infomercials are too long
and too copy-oriented for most directorial
nuances to make much difference. Plus,
on a minute-by-minute basis, their budgets
are smaller. The average infomercial
today is made for about the same amount
of money as the typical network TV spot.
2) Are you hiring
a salesman as well as a writer?
In infomercials, your
producer is actually your salesman.
The good ones both write and produce
their shows. What he or she says and
shows wilt often be the only information
your prospect ever receives about your
product, so his instincts had better
be good.
Ideally, you want someone
with not just a strong creative ability
but a strong background in sales and
marketing as well. You want him to understand
not just composition but consumer psychology,
legal constraints, pricing theory and
many other marketing disciplines as
well. I used to joke that l
I'd rather hire someone
with a background in door-to-door sales
than English. But that's not far from
the truth!
Above all, your show's
creator must be able to grab attention,
make an irresistible offer and close
the sale in a limited amount of time
right over the TV. That's no small assignment,
and the reason that direct response
is secretly feared by many people in
both advertising and TV as well. It's
the toughest kind of creative work there
is.
Watching a monitor
3) Is direct response
his primary line of work?
Be careful of anyone
whose real interests and credits are
actually in movies, sit-coms, or other
forms of television. Be especially cautious
about anybody (heaven help him) who
says he "really wants to direct".
DRTV writing is a demanding
craft that can also be quite rewarding,
not just a stepping-stone into something
else. The good people that I2know tend
to make direct response television almost
exclusively. That's not to say they
don't have a movie or book in the drawer.
It's just that they are in demand and,
since they're good, make more at this
than at anything else.
4) Has he been around
the block before?
Along the same lines,
your writer/producer should be able
to show (and prove!) that he's had experience.
The more the better, and the more varied,
also the better. Direct response is
a seductive craft that, like tightrope
walking, looks a lot easier than it
really is. Don't let your show become
somebody's "learning experience".
5) Does he know
the right people?
Actually, it’s a small
industry. People tend to get to know
one another very quickly in direct response.
Your person should be able to show you
references and recommendations. He should
have worked for many of the different
companies that do lots of infomercials.
You should check references.
6) What kind of
hits has he had in the past?
In infomercials, as
in everything else, you get what you
pay for. If you're on a real budget
and paying your writer-producer peanuts,
maybe you can't be choosy. But if you're
spending good money on a show, you deserve
to see some hits on your writer's credit
list.
7) Did he really write
that?
Not to suggest that
DRTV people can be (how shall I put
this?) less than honest, but be sure
you understand exactly what your writer/producer
has and has not done before. Did he
really write that blockbuster infomercial,
or did he just happen to submit some
ideas? Was it really his show,
or did somebody else make most of the
creative decisions?
Television is a very
collaborative medium. Ifs not uncommon
for a script to have input from 5,10
or even more people, and at least that
many have input into editing. Plus,
if it's a successful show, you'll be
amazed how many people are ready to
take credit.
8) Can he
or she really understand your business?
Remember, you're hiring
a salesman, not just a producer. So
can this new salesman of yours really
get down and understand your business
and your customer? Does he listen? Does
he have what it takes? Are you
comfortable giving your writer access
to your top people and connections and
insight into your deepest secrets? If
not, perhaps you should be asking why.
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9) Can he do more than just the writing?
Good direct response
writer/producers don't just write for
you. They can, and often should, do
much more. In my 25 years, I've named
products, set price points, tabulated
cost-of-goods, created bonus products,
and a million other things that are
necessary in the creation of winning
direct response television.
The writing is the heart
of your spot or show. Nothing else--not
the directing, or the star, or even
the media budget--comes close in importance.
Make sure your writer/producer has a
full set of creative tools to bring
to your project. And make sure you let
him use them!
10) Do his sample
scripts look like direct response scripts?
Format alone carries
a lot of clues about your writer's background
and experience. Regardless of whether
they're for infomercials or :120 commercials,
direct response scripts follow a 2-column
format with the pictures described on
the left and the words to be spoken
on the right. They never look like movie
scripts. And if they do, they never
work.
11) Are the details
completely worked out and easy to produce?
Yes, it's another dirty
little secret. Some of us in TV have,
on occasion, been known to cheat. But
not on their wives, but on their scripts.
They leave video descriptions vague,
don't call out specific shots, forget
to write the all-important "chyron"
copy (the words that will appear on
the screen). It may make for a breezier
read, but this lack of detail can cost
you a fortune on the set or in the editing
bay.
A good infomercial script
can run 35 pages, have over 200 detailed
shots, and 100 or more supers and effects
clearly spelled out. With that kind
of detail, you're ready to make fast,
efficient decisions all the way through
the production process. In fact, a good
script can more than pay for itself
just in the production money it saves.
12) Does the work
remind you of "Saturday Night Live”?
If so, watch out.
I'm often asked to fix
or help on shows or scripts that looks
like empty parodies of direct response.
They use classic buzz words ("But wait!"
Don't answer yet!") or direct response
techniques like "problem &solution",
but they seem hollow and unrealistic.
Even worse, these scripts often make
fun of direct response or the viewer
as though they were some comedy skit.
I have no problem with
comedy. In fact, it’s one of the things
I’ve written professionally. But I just
don't see it working for most direct
response products. Would you send your
money through the mail to somebody who's
laughing at you, or talking down to
you, or lying to you? Of course not.
No matter what anybody tells you, a
direct response commercial has to be
something people like and believe or
they just won't buy.
13) Will he do the homework, or will
he just slam it out?
Some writers hammer
out copy faster than you can say "call
now". It may not be good copy, it may
not have much thought behind it, and
it may not sell, but, what-the-heck,
they did it fast and they did it cheap.
Others take a more careful approach.
They do the research, study the marketplace,
get to know your product and customer
before committing to a creative direction.
If I were spending thousands
of dollars on TV creative, this is the
approach I'd want taken.
14) Can he explain
what makes his stuff sell?
My feeling is that a
good DR person should be up on his reading.
He should understand fundamental concepts
like the Unique Selling Proposition,
Promotable Difference, and Positioning.
And he should be able to describe the
techniques he has used successfully
to make sales. At the very least, it
shows the writer's interest in persuasive
communications and professional dedication.
15) Does he know
his "puffery" from his "unsubstantiated
claims"?
You can always tell
an amateur from the way he handles a
claim. It's easy for any producers to
slip over the line into legal trouble,
but inexperienced producers will do
it without even knowing there's a potential
liability. In the writer/producers samples,
are the claims handled in a way that
is easy to substantiate? I've seen some
projects where the attorney made more
money than the copywriter.
16) Trick Question:
When does your producer write "the commercials"
that go into the infomercial?
Nine times out of ten,
if he does it last, watch out! Your
writer is most likely a beginner. If
he does it first, chances are, he's
a pro. Why? Its simple. The "commercials"
inside an infomercial, or the "call-to-actions"
as we call them, are the toughest thing
to write in the entire half hour. They
contain the essence of the sales message,
the core of your argument, and therefore
take quite a bit of thinking to create.
(If you've ever been around an ad agency,
you know that even top copywriters can
spend days just writing a billboard
message.)
Beginners tend to put
off writing the call-to-actions until
last for a couple of reasons. One, the
CTAs are the hardest writing and therefore
easy to postpone. And two, beginners
mistakenly believe that their infomercial
is like a regular TV show, for which
they would ust leave room for the commercials.
The best people, in
my experience, tackle CTAs first or
simultaneously with the rest of the
script. That way the brainwork they
put into the CTAs can pay off for them
all the way through the script.
17) Has he worked
in other mediums?
As important as it is,
television is can still be just one
part of your total communications mix.
You have other media to think about,
other projects and concerns. It's a
tremendous asset if your writer has
experience in other media as well. That
way, an element from your TV campaign
might lend itself to, say, a print campaign.
Or your TV testimonials might also be
useful in your newspaper ads.
18) Does he make
a deal like a professional?
Experienced direct response
people make their living from their
work. Typically, they charge a fee plus
a percentage of sales. Remember, they
aren't just writers and producers. They
are your salesmen. Less experienced
ones will often work for a fee or day
rate.
Regardless, you can
tell a lot about a person by the way
he makes a deal with you. If he isn't
effective in selling his own services,
it makes you wonder if he'll be able
to sell yours.
19) Do you get along?
Finally,
ask yourself if you like your writer/producer.
Whether you’re recreating a spot campaign
or an infomercial, you'll undoubtedly
be working together quite a bit. Picking
a compatible personality can go along
way toward making the association a
lot more pleasant and productive.
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Jim McNamara
is president of McNamara & Associates,
an LA-based company that writes
and produces infomercials and
DRTV spots. Over the last 25
years, his ads have sold more
than $1 billion worth of products
and services for clients like
ThighMaster, Jenny Craig, Dean
Martin, MindPower, and more.
Reach him at (818) 907-6212
or Jim@mcdrtv.com.
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