For those that don’t know, I am a TV show producer for the kids’ environmental program Into the Outdoors. This show airs nationally across the United States on PBS channels, and it covers a variety of topics relating to different areas of the country, so we get to film nationally. This is probably my favorite part of the job because I get to experience a variety of locations typically with the guidance of a local.
As a producer, I am in charge of planning and organizing all aspects of the production, that includes developing the narrative, scripting, casting and crew, location scouting, travel arrangements, schedules/itineraries and on-set directing, plus a lot more in post production process. With this many responsibilities, I can’t really say there is a standard day in the life of a producer, but one of the days that puts your skills to the test the most is a day on set.
Typically all the scripting and narrative planning goes out the window once you get out on set because documentary-style filming always takes a turn. As a producer, you always have to be thinking about how the dialogue will fit together, and you need to be ready to adapt your scripting/narrative to fit the actual events. This production was a perfect example of that.
Early in March 2023, my team and I traveled down to New Orleans, Louisiana to film an episode for the US Coast Guard and Future Angler Foundation. The narrative for this episode was about navigating our waterways, so we met up with a few members from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to check out various waterways in southern Louisiana.
We had hoped to capture the sunrise on the lake, so we arrived at 5:45 AM. However, the morning was foggy and we couldn’t see much past the breakwalls. Luckily, this was also a beautiful aesthetic, so while it wasn’t the original plan, it worked out just as well. That’s rather typical of productions though. Things rarely go to plan. It’s comical really since so much of my job is creating a plan for the day, but also creating multiple backup plans in case certain items fall through.
Not to mention, filming on a boat presents a lot of challenges, from mic interference to rocky waters, limited space and the constant potential of losing equipment to a watery death, these tend to be our most challenging productions. Luckily, we had some incredible Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) with us that made things pretty easy on the filming side. They were used to being on TV for other programs, so they had the base knowledge of how to position themselves and avoid looking at the cameras. A true producer’s dream to work with.
We met up with the team at Bonnabel Boat Launch and launched the 42-foot boat onto Lake Pontchartrain. When I was doing my initial research on the area, I found out that Lake Pontchartrain is actually a brackish lake. Brackish means that the water is a mix of fresh and saltwater. The lake’s freshwater source comes from Lake Maurepas, but it also outlets into the Gulf of Mexico. This brackish water allows for the lake to support a variety of wildlife including sharks. I was truly hoping we’d end up seeing one, but no such luck. The youth hosts we had on board were having a blast talking about how sharks are just “lake puppies”. Can’t say I’ve ever heard that one before.
Right off the bat, my plans went out the window. Our original plan was to navigate through a lock into the Mississippi River, but we were low on the priority list for getting through. Ahead of us in line was a massive barge, a tour boat and a bunch of smaller barges. Just to get through the lock one way would have taken 30 minutes for the water levels to match and the gates to open. With this many people ahead of us, we would have been waiting for hours. However, we did wait for an hour or so to weigh our options. During this time, we had a brief lunch break which is also when I realized I left my lunch in the car, so that was unlucky. After a brief filming session near the lock, we changed our plans and headed into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway instead.
I asked our SMEs where we’d be able to see some buoys so we could highlight the importance of navigation aids for the educational aspects of the episode. Ironically, our SME informed me that Louisiana is notorious for being terrible with buoys and navigation aids. Poor location choice on my part with that, so buoys were almost entirely cut from the episode mid-production.
We navigated through the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Lake Borgne to check out the Lake Borgne Storm Surge Barrier. This massive concrete wall is known as “The Great Wall of Louisiana” and its purpose is to protect the southern part of the state from storm surges like hurricanes. Since the city of New Orleans is essentially positioned in a giant bowl, and only sits six or so feet above sea level, storms like this flood the city. You can pass through this wall on most days, but when storms are on their way, the doors close to prevent any water from passing through. It’s quite an impressive infrastructure. After a long day out in the sun, we finally made our way back into Lake Pontchartrain where we hopped off the boat and said our goodbyes to our SMEs and youth hosts.
Since we lost out on being able to discuss buoys and navigation on riverways, we needed to fill our episode time with something else. A lot of this filler became about how man-made infrastructure has an impact on waterways. This includes the Great Wall of Louisiana, locks and dams, dredging of rivers for safer passage and plenty more. While the episode likely won’t fit into the planned mold, the lessons to be learned from it it will be just as beneficial. The real gamble is whether or not the clients are still satisfied with the product.
So that’s a day in the life of a producer, everything goes wrong and you have to figure out how to fix it on the fly. Honestly, it’s stressful in the moment, but I wouldn’t trade it. On the days when my office is the great outdoors, I’d say I’m the luckiest person out there. I couldn’t imagine spending every day sitting at a desk. And while this isn’t the typical vacation boating activity you might have in mind, I’d highly recommend getting out on the water in whatever way you can when in New Orleans because the bayou is beautiful.
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