On being a Gopher
I have worked in a lot of different places over the years. Corporate offices, bars, tech startups- I even once worked the graveyard shift as a doorman in a fancy hotel. But one of the most important jobs I ever had was as a gopher on a TV show.
The official euphemism of the job was “Production Associate” but gopher is a more fitting term because that’s what we actually did. Every day brought with it a new set of things I was required to retrieve for various people more important than me (which was everyone). Go for this dry cleaning that needs to be delivered to my office. Go for that birthday cake we need for the actor’s kid. Go for gopher.
It may not have been glamorous, it may not have paid well, or provided health benefits, but being a gopher was one of the most important jobs I ever had because of all that it taught me. I learned how to properly hold a boom mic, and what the different colors of each version of a script mean. I learned that people who don’t care don’t look you in the eye, and that a lot of the rumors you’ve heard about Hollywood aren’t true (but most of them are). Most importantly, I learned what it meant to be a good producer.
What Makes A Good Producer
In show business a producer can mean all kinds of things so to be clear, the producer I’m talking about is not the kind who sits in an office…
