Production 101: The Pandemic

By Maurya Overall, Gail Schoenbrunn and Diego Cevasco 

There are two ways of responding to disruption.

One is to stand fast to the old ways of doing business. The other is to embrace the opportunity to discover new ways to work.

User-generated videos, viral content, vlogs and technological advances in all aspects of filmmaking, from smaller, lighter, cheaper hardware to smarter, faster and ever-more-dazzling software, changed the world of production forever and upped the ante on what can be accomplished with limited budgets and faster cycles. 

Fresh content platforms keep appearing, inspiring us to deliver both quantity and quality in new formats for storytelling. And while the “old ways” siloed production approaches according to the media, the “new ways” are about imagining the final product and reverse engineering the most efficient and effective path to it.

At Boathouse, we embrace disruption with a passion. We are constantly looking to optimize the journey between idea and finished product, pushing for solutions to problems before others can discern them, researching the latest technologies, partnering with the best resources, executing and producing in ever leaner and more agile ways. 

The world pandemic raised the challenges to a whole new level, creating an extraordinary set of circumstances for clients who had messages that needed to be in the market and for whom the reach of a broadcast buy was the best way to find their audience. 

Boathouse media was quick to identify the extra time consumers were spending online and on TV. For Tufts Health Plan, communicating to their members that they were—as always—open to help them navigate their healthcare was critical. A spring broadcast buy was already booked, but—challenge one—it was barely three weeks away. Challenge two: the spot scheduled to run was about their care managers being out in the community. It would appear tone deaf. And challenge three: no budget had been reserved for production. 

How do you produce within three weeks when your client is in a highly regulated industry with many stakeholders? How do you achieve quality while spending as few dollars as possible? And how do you accomplish this during a pandemic under shelter-in-place orders?

With an agile mindset, the right technology, a true client partnership and a shared commitment to embrace new ways of working.

Daily videoconference calls by account service began to build the on-site production bond. Our producers joined together to find the most effective approach to remote-capture. Our creative team crafted a simple message using visuals and type, while our client mobilized internal stakeholders around the idea. Thanks to the generosity and passion of Tufts Health Plan employees, within days we had a group of hand-raisers willing to participate. 

Our technical solution was a brilliant piece of software called OpenReel, a platform we had identified a few months prior as a tool for remote productions with quick turnarounds. OpenReel lets us capture video using the subjects’ own smartphone, tablet or webcam. The video is actually recorded on the device and then sent to our producers, so the video quality is not dependent on the subject’s Wi-Fi connection. A producer could direct the entire shoot from their computer at home, while the art director and writer each oversee the shoot from their computers. 

Pre-production was crucial, as our producer spent the day troubleshooting the technology while still respecting the appropriate stringent security measures of a HIPAA-compliant organization whose work-issued computers are camera-disabled. 

Underpinning this daily remote whirlwind was a client relationship built over five years of working together, which had long ago moved beyond a “them-and-us” relationship. Production, script and editing issues were dealt with openly and quickly. The resulting spot went on air on time and on budget, to the pride of the client organization. The client eagerly shared emails she received from Tufts Health Plan employees.

This moment simply highlighted the power of what can be accomplished when the trust is there, the goal is clear and everyone is all in.