Howdy Neighbors,
I want to tell you a little bit about the modern production office experience: it's pretty lame. I'm not talking about the people or the job itself, but the whole office space thing just isn't working out so well for us these days. Watching Mad Men (A MUST SEE!) made me think about how far we've fallen since the days when a guy (it used to be just guys) could walk into his office, shut the door, pour some bourbon, light up, lie down on his couch and stare out the window. When I was at HBO (ah HBO) I had my own office and a door for shutting out the world, but no couch and certainly no booze or tobacco, as far as you know. Nowadays I count myself lucky if I get a cubicle where I don't have to play twister with my neighbor to get to my chair.
My personal nadir definitely came this past Spring at NBCs world famous 30 Rock: great place for a comedy lousy space for an office. As you'll see in the attached photo, the genius who designed the space failed to take into account that producers often have sensitive, nuanced conversations on the phone with people around the world. Producers need to time to read and reflect, and producers also always need to have something (like the proximity of their neighbor) to complain about. None of the above are easy to do when your neighbor in front, behind and across from you can hear everything you're saying, and vice-versa. This kind of set up may work well for wall street traders but not for human beings. And forget about any personal privacy. I guarantee you the woman who sat next to me at NBC knows way more about my son Clyde than she wants or needs to. "BUT HE'S SO CUTE!"
This fall I'm producing an as yet unnamed series for TLC, and my latest production office has Magill-like carrels which allow for a kind of "cone of silence" privacy thing. Our team of APs and producers all sit together and that makes for some fun. Still, if someone bumps into my chair one more time or sticks their butt in my ear while they're talking to my neighbor, I may say something that's like really rude.
I understand that space is at a premium, especially in NYC, and I don't frankly have any immediate solutions. I just know there's got to be better way. Tune in next time when I complain about how my office chair is giving me Spina Bifida, and my computer is giving me Acne and Cataracts.
Peace,
David
