Happy 2008, Everyone!

Let me try and sum up what 2007 has been for me. I stepped into "unfamiliar territories" in terms of work. Stepping out of my Ad Chick status and taking on a Producer role was a challenge. For those not familiar with the advertising industry, here's a little background: In an ad agency, you call the shots where suppliers are concerned. Oh alright, let me re-phrase that - you call the shots in between the creative director(s), art director(s), copywriter(s), traffic manager(s), studio manager(s) and account director(s). No, not exactly a pleasant position to be in. But hell I loved it. Loved every minute of being a lean, mean, fighting machine. Fighting off "get your client to write it herself if she doesn't like my writing" copywriters, "I know it isn't award-winning but just go present it first" art directors and "I've got no one to do your work now" traffic managers... you get the gist of it.

In an ad agency, you've got the luxury of working with a Producer who would take care of everything that's to do with producing a TV commercial. She would gather the Directors' reels for review, negotiate budgets with the production company, explain the options to the creative/art directors and tell them why it's impossibly to spend peanuts and expect miracles... the list goes on. The producer's job can be unnerving and might sometimes go unappreciated too. Perhaps that's the reason why producers are not the easiest people to deal with too *shrugs*

Having said that, let's get back to where I started - although I've always been in the advertising industry, I've always been a "suit". As a suit, you're expected to manage your clients' expectations. You leave the TV production bits to your producer. Your producer will tell you when to be at location X and at what time, blah blah blah...

Back track to Oct 2006 when I took on the Producer role at my current work place. I was all jittery and concerned if I would be a good producer.

Fast track to Dec 2007. I've produced more videos and TVCs than when I was in an advertising agency! What an irony! *laughs*

If you haven't already concluded, my 2007 was pretty much about work, work, and more work. I hardly had time to stop and smell the flowers. I hardly had time for friends or high teas! *gasps* I'm looking forward to yet more work this year, but also for some time out with friends and family...

I do not set resolutions because you tend to forget about them as the months fly by (so they're really quite redundant to begin with). I miss Bali and eating airplane food. I hope I'd get to go back soon.