Choosing Your DRTV Producer Wisely

For a successful infomercial, there is no substitute for a producer who specializes in DRTV, particularly those within your demographic niche. Who you choose to produce your project can ultimately mean the difference between the best and worst professional and financial decisions you’ll ever make.

Producers are quite adept at convincing you that they think your idea is the hottest thing to hit the market in ages. They know that to appeal to your emotional attachment to the project means immediately endearing themselves to you.
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Related Links & Courses::
>> Choosing The Right Service Providers
>> DRTV Management Boot Camp
>> Should My Ad Agency Produce My Spot?
>> Infomercial Marketing
>> Project Management
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The key thing to remember during the selection process is that regardless of the infomercial’s success or failure, the producer is likely to get paid the same rate. It’s important to discern between enthusiasm for making money and a sincere belief that they can help your project succeed in a DRTV format.

Make sure that a producer is good at all aspects of production. They oversee the entire project and ensure that it stays on schedule and within budget. The producer is responsible for selecting, paying and coordinating the activities of all the critical roles associated with production. Develop an understanding of who they typically hire and who will be working on your project.  Let’s use Scriptwriters for an example.  Is this portion of the creative developed in house or outsourced? If they outsource, do they use one person in particular or do they have several to choose from? What are their individual qualifications? Is there any guarantee that your script will be written by the most talented and qualified of the Scriptwriters they use?

Another incredibly important factor is selecting a producer that you can work closely with. Without collaboration the project will never reach its full potential. Through a series of strategic questions, dig deep and determine if they will take the time to listen to you and offer constructive, experienced feedback. Do they handle sticking points in a way that appeals to you? Is this producer willing to tell you when they think your ideas won’t work or aren’t effective? Can they objectively discuss why they believe a different approach is better?

A great way to determine their ability to be honest and collaborate effectively is to ask the following series of questions:

Can you give me an example of a marketer that hired you to work on a project and had a very strong sense of how the show should be made and you disagreed?  What happened? Did you get the business?  Did you compromise?  Did you talk the marketer into doing it in a different way? How did that turn out?  Does that happen often?

Imagine the insight that can be gained from well thought out, open ended questions. Though only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of questions you’ll want answered, it’s an excellent starting point to your DRT V road to success.

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For more information on DRTV production, contact the Direct Response Academy and ask for Greg Sarnow.