Protecting craft and crew in an industry that demands more for less

I have been producing for over 22 years and working in production for most of my adult life. The biggest shift I have seen is not simply technological. It is structural.

We now live in a digital-first world where the demand for content has exploded. Brands need more assets, more versions, more formats, more platforms, and faster turnaround. At the same time, budgets continue to shrink. Expectations for quality have not softened, but the resources to achieve it often have. 

We absorb pressure from every direction so teams can stay focused and do their best work. 

Access to talent has also never been broader. Incredible filmmakers, editors, designers, and storytellers can now work from almost anywhere in the world. In many ways, this is an exciting moment. It is also deeply fragile.

Brands need more assets, more versions, more formats, more platforms, and faster turnaround. At the same time, budgets continue to shrink. 

Today’s producer sits at the centre of a growing tension. We are translating between clients and creatives. We are helping brands move quickly without hollowing out the process that makes the work strong. We absorb pressure from every direction so teams can stay focused and do their best work. Increasingly, the producer role is less about process and more about judgment.

Knowing what is essential versus what is simply nice to have. Knowing when a lean team is the smartest choice. Knowing when cutting one more role starts to erode the craft, the safety of the set, or the sustainability of the people doing the work.

There is a soft skill to navigating this moment that does not get talked about enough. It is the ability to hold creative ambition and real-world constraints simultaneously and to protect both.

We do not need to fly seven people around the world to watch monitors, be wined and dined, or oversee an edit in person simply because that is how it used to be done.

I founded Avocados and Coconuts during an earlier wave of disruption, when digital and online content were beginning to reshape how brands told stories and how production was being valued. The goal was not simply to be leaner. It was to build a production model that could adapt to changing formats and faster cycles, while still protecting the people, the process, and the creative integrity required to do the work properly. The industry has continued to shift since then, but the underlying challenge remains the same. How do we evolve without hollowing out the craft?

There is a difference between smart production and invisible labor. And there is a difference between creative agility and systemic burnout.

We are also living through the end of what I would call the “trophy hunting” era of production. For a long time, parts of our industry were built around excess. Long hotel stays. Large traveling teams. Video villages filled with people whose presence rarely affected the work's outcome. Entire budgets tilted toward comfort and optics rather than impact. Enormous amounts of money spent on awards campaigns.

That model no longer makes sense. We do not need to fly seven people around the world to watch monitors, be wined and dined, or oversee an edit in person simply because that is how it used to be done.

But there is another extreme quietly taking hold.

We do not need to fly seven people around the world to watch monitors, be wined and dined, or oversee an edit in person simply because that is how it used to be done.

As budgets compress and content demands grow, production is increasingly expected to collapse into a single, overextended role. One person shooting, producing, directing, managing logistics, handling post, managing clients, and delivering dozens of assets on timelines that used to belong to full teams. Technology makes this possible. It does not make it healthy. 

Making more with less is absolutely possible. Making more with endlessly less is not. Just as there needs to be a ceiling on excess, there should be a reasonable floor if we want this industry to survive in any meaningful way. There is a difference between efficiency and erosion. There is a difference between smart production and invisible labor. And there is a difference between creative agility and systemic burnout.

 Safety, craft, and care do not become optional simply because the distribution channel has changed.

What often gets lost in conversations about scale, speed, and cost is that yes, we may be watching our content on smaller screens, but there are no smaller humans operating smaller cameras for smaller rents. Crew members still have families. Editors still need weeks, not miracles. Production teams still need time to plan and prep, not just time to execute. Safety, craft, and care do not become optional simply because the distribution channel has changed.

At its best, producing is about putting client money to work where it has the greatest impact. Not on excess. Not on ego. Not on optics. On the work itself.

That means building strong, flexible teams of talented, hard-working people who understand the current landscape and know how to hold projects and people together under pressure. It means designing production models that align with the creative ambition of the work, rather than defaulting to bloated legacy structures or stripped-down survival tactics.

It also means being honest with clients and partners about what budgets actually buy.

This is not about protecting old ways of working. It is about protecting the craft itself.

For years, our industry trained clients to believe that broadcast was premium and digital was inherently cheaper. Today, digital often requires longer content, more versions, more storytelling, and far more ongoing production support. The screens may be smaller, but the creative lift is not.

When clients ask for dozens of deliverables across multiple platforms for a fraction of what a single traditional spot once cost, producers are left to quietly perform impossible math. Something has to give. Too often, it is crew pay, prep time, safety, or the ability to build sustainable teams.

This is not about protecting old ways of working. It is about protecting the craft itself.

We must build strong, flexible teams of talented, hard-working people who understand the current landscape and know how to hold projects and people together under pressure.

At this stage of my career, I believe the real goal of producing is to protect the craft and crew so this work can last. 

That may sound simple, but it requires constant negotiation. It means knowing when to push back on unnecessary spend and when to fight for essential roles. It means recognising that sometimes wearing two hats is reasonable, but wearing 10 is not. It means resisting both the gilded excess of the past and the race to the bottom of the present.

It also means remembering why so many of us chose this work in the first place.

This industry has a romantic pull. We get to tell stories for a living. We are invited into other worlds. We collaborate with brilliant, passionate people. We help brands and organisations communicate ideas that shape culture, behavior, and belief. We are lucky to do this work.

There is a healthier middle ground between bloated, trophy-driven production and anemic, hyper-compressed content factories.

But luck alone does not sustain an ecosystem. If we want this industry to remain viable and for the next generation of producers, cinematographers, editors, and designers to build real careers, then efficiency has to be paired with responsibility. We have to care about every link in the chain. We have to stop pretending that shrinking budgets justify shrinking standards for how people are treated and paid.

There is a healthier middle ground between bloated, trophy-driven production and anemic, hyper-compressed content factories. It may mean producing fewer things. It may mean spending more time shaping what truly matters. It may mean educating clients as partners rather than simply executing requests.

But it offers something far more valuable.

It offers a future where creative work can still be ambitious, teams can still be supported, and production can continue to be a profession, not just a temporary hustle.

For producers today, protecting craft and protecting crew is no longer idealism. It is leadership. It is how this work survives.