The Hustle: Producing Tips for Branded Content
By Urwa Zubair
Urwa Zubair is a producer based in Los Angeles. Urwa was born and raised in Pakistan. She started her career in feature space and has worked in two feature films and several international commercials as an Associate Producer. As a filmmaker, She is gravitated towards creating acceptability and understanding towards different cultures, religions and generation gaps by incorporating poverty, gender discrimination and women equality in her films.
In the last three years, she has produced 50+ commercials. Her clientele includes United Airlines, Chase, Target, State Farm, Warner Bro, Paramount, Makers Mark & Haleon brands such as Flonase, Voltaren, and Excedrin. She has worked with artists such as John Leguizamo, Icona Pop, Kellee Edwards, Elnaaz Norouzi and has a few in the works with A-list celebrities. She has 21 awards and 15 nominations for several short films she produced and directed. Currently, she has a feature film in development, BANI which is a coming-of-age comedy-drama that attempts to bind the gender & generation gap and the misunderstood cultural and traditional practices in eastern cultures. In this edition of the Hustle, Urwa shares insight on producing branded commercials. She shares effective communication tips, the production triangle, and how she works with clients,
I was born and raised in Pakistan, during the 90s when it felt that modern cinema was under development and going to theaters was just starting to become a family affair. Growing up, my father would take me to movies, and in the theater I’d see New York City for the first time and immerse myself in the world of storytelling right from my seat. I fell in love with cinema and storytelling as a child, and I fell in love with the ever-changing and challenging puzzle nature of producing as a young adult learning the world of producing in college.
Eventually, after working in the feature film world and commercials in Pakistan, I was able to get work in the indie and music video world in Los Angeles before moving on to producing commercials (United Airlines, Maker’s Mark, Flonase, Target, State Farm) in the corporate space in the US market. In every chapter of my journey, I’ve learned valuable lessons, the biggest ones being the ‘not to dos,’ and how filmmaking, above everything else, is a collaboration of collective visions amongst different minds, even in the commercial or branded space in corporate America.
Money Doesn’t Solve Everything
A big lesson I learned early on when transitioning to the corporate space is that money is not the answer or solution to every problem. When you’re scoping the creative, you need to assess the time, and the resources you need/have in order to execute it successfully at the desired production quality level.
As a rule of thumb, I follow the production triangle - TIME, MONEY, QUALITY. It’s unlikely to hit all three points in the triangle, so realistically, pick two. For instance,
If it needs to be fast and high quality, it will be expensive.
If it needs to be cheap and fast, it will likely not produce high-quality results.
Understand Union Rules and Negotiations
One of the key lessons in my transition to the corporate commercial space has been the art of negotiations. When negotiating with the union as a producer, always take down decisions and information in writing. Most of your interactions may take place over a phone call, recap everything in writing for all parties.
This may seem incredibly small or basic, but the amount of times this has come in handy for me has been astonishing.Most productions do not engage with unions due to a common misunderstanding that if your company engages in a union project, they are now limited to making all further projects union. Unions allow you the flexibility to engage with union talent without the commitment towards the union for future projects by signing a One Production Only Agreement, otherwise known as an OPO Agreement. As a sole producer and production companies cannot sign OPOS. Only ad agencies or brand/advertising companies can sign an OPO without any future liabilities or commitment to the union. Ad agencies or advertising companies can get 3 OPOs in one calendar year, and each calendar year this limit is revised and they can start with a clean slate.
Regardless, most agencies will prefer to not sign an OPO or become a one-time signatory, so in this case, you may have to hire a third-party signatory, which is an entity that has agreed to comply with the union guidelines under a legally binding agreement. For instance, a SAG signatory would have a written agreement with SAG that allows them to legally contract SAG talent for production. SAG offers a database to members & non-members to confirm if a production is a signatory to the SAG contract. If you are going to hire a third-party signatory, always have the signatory be the negotiator or lead communicator with the Union from the start, otherwise, you will be left without a signatory and may need your client to sign an OPO, leaving them in an uncomfortable position.
Identify State-Specific Labor Laws
Another major lesson in my career in the US revolves specifically around the legal specifics of being a producer. It’s crucial that as a producer you always double check on labor laws based on the state you are executing or filming in. For example, in CA, you must pay individuals without a registered business via payroll. The only way to compensate a hired crew member through invoice or 1099 is if that crew member has a registered entity under their name or has a loan-out. Even if someone is self-employed, they must have a registered entity under their name or a loan out to go with it. The same rule does not stand in other states such as NY.
If you are paying your crew via payroll, always account for P&W (Pension & Wealth) for those particular positions. It's basically a percentage on top of the comp rate for crew members. For example, if you are doing a non-union shoot and using a payroll service to pay your crew, you will need to add P&W on top of the rate. Let’s say you are paying your HMU artist $600 for a 10-hour day, the P&W is usually about 22% so that $600 rate is more like $732. This covers the workmen's comp, processing, and other fees for the payroll company (which is officially the hiring entity). If you are compensating crew by 1099'ing everyone, the P&W can be zero. Again, this may seem basic but can create severe damage. For instance, a project that utilizes labor for about a 100k can create about $23k worth of P&W, that you would need to eat up or tag as an overage to your client if not accounted for in the bidding phase. I have seen producers not inquire about the compensation methods for their crew earlier on and not allocate proper P&W, and went on with execution thinking they had a lot more funds in play than they did, and had to term P&W as an overage later on, losing the business of their clients for future campaigns.
Communication Breeds Effective Collaboration
A big part of the job is open communication and making it a collaborative medium. A piece of work is a shared vision and collaboration. Each department has a vision tied into the final piece. Open communication each step along the way helps you set them up for success. Over-communication is much better than under-communication. Give your client, your performers, and your HODs (Head of Departments) the most up-to-minute details, even if you don’t think they are necessary. They will always help manage expectations, and align everyone on the same page, and you have a bigger shot of getting the business back or crew back to work, even if you didn’t have the preferred resources for execution because you were always transparent.
At large, producing is always in service of the creative, not the numbers. It is the art of navigating how to yield the best possible outcomes for the creative or how to best execute the creative with your resources. It’s a delicate balance between upholding the integrity of the creative with minimum impact or compromise and upholding the time, schedule & budget constraints at the same time. Not all decisions can be to service the budget, just like how not all decisions can be to service the creative.