One of my non-metadata interests is in food, so I read a lot of food related articles, including this one where Anthony Bourdain talks about the foodie revolution. What stood out was this comment after discussing the traditional way a talented young chef might make their way through the kitchen hierarchy over decades, vs the modern “democratized” approach where a talented young chef just ups  – maybe via a food truck – and gets their career started.
“A lot of old-school guys complain about this—you’re not paying your dues. That’s the downside. The upside is interesting people with something to say and a unique worldview can actually get their name out there and open a place with relative ease compared to the way it used to be.â€
This reminds me of modern production: it’s been democratized to the point where, if you have an idea, you can make it happen.
Comments
2 responses to “Democratization in the kitchen and production”
I actively encourage the younger media wannabes – unfortunately they still seem to head to University where they pay huge fees to learn very little and often learn entirely the wrong thing the wrong way – takes us a considerable amount of effort to unlearn them of incredibly old outdated workflows or techniques and bad habits or even just outright incorrect information. I would urge companies wherever possible to train up post 16 years olds in production and post-production apprenticeships which will produce much more knowledgeable and capable individuals. Counter to that I would ask universities to stop treating vocational courses like a cash-cows and start keeping up-to-date with industry and training the students paying those huge fees to actually walk straight into a job other than a 25 year old runner.
I could not agree more. Back in Australia when I was teaching a TAFE (vocational tertiary) course in production, I would inevitably get asked “how do I get into the business”. I always figured my answer “hang around a production company and do anything” was making a rod for my own back. Over the five years I taught that class, only two people took the advice and “hung around” my business.
Both ended up working for me, and afik, are still working in the industry.
My favorite legacy involved a key to my edit bay a young guy used to hone his skills in the wee small hours of the morning. He too, want just to “hang out” in a production company as his path to tertiary education was blocked at that point.
He’s now had a fairly successful career since that time also. Done some amazing work.
Of course, all three of these examples were talented and competent as their career success shows.