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Multi Interested & Multi Skilled People Can Burst the Production Status Quo Bubble

19/08/2020
Consultants
Berlin, Germany
126
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Jan Brinkmann, head of matching strategy and operations at .fount, on the downfalls of pigeonholing talent and why it’s time to take a holistic view on who we work with
Since the start of the digital age, the industry has become bombarded with a growing number of different channels and media options. And as content platforms have diversified, so has the demand for talent with multiple capabilities. Yet, the traditional working model still seems to be predominantly in place. At .fount, they recognise that it’s time to step back, take a holistic view of the current industry landscape, and reevaluate how we source the right talent for the job - because it’s not black and white anymore and there are so many other skills that many creatives hold that are currently being left untapped.

.fount’s head of matching strategy and operations, Jan Brinkmann, talks to LBB about how they’re using data to help drive a new way of working, and how he hopes to see the industry evolve.


Q> You started your career in the industry as a production assistant but were given opportunities to develop your skills as a photographer, editor, DoP and more. How did this shape the way in which you view talent and how did it open your eyes to new ways of working? 

Jan Brinkmann> I think the different job titles I worked in were initially confusing for producers that are used to thinking rather classically, but now my diverse skill set has become more and more attractive. 

A story which illustrates this: before working as a director, I was a production assistant. One day, a producer I knew very well called me and asked if I was available as a stills photographer for a few case films. She knew that the budget and timing were tight and that I had always followed photography as a side passion - my skill set therefore was the perfect fit for the job. At the time this was great for me, because she broke up the classical pigeonhole thinking and gave me a chance as a photographer. However, five years later I still get calls from the production company she works at, because other producers now think I am a full-time photographer. So, instead of breaking up the pigeonhole thinking, others put me into the next pigeonhole. 

For some time this perception of my skill set was a little stressful. I had to explain myself every time. But the perception of “talents like me” is changing and when I look at my friends and colleagues, I feel like now it is the rule rather than the exception to be multi-interested - and therefore multi-skilled. I am very much looking forward to the next challenges to come. 


Q> What are the benefits of knowing and utilising a crew’s entire skill set and not just boxing people into one job description? 

Jan> Two of the most important reasons are for agility and budget management. It’s more flexible and less expensive to produce if you bring together a versatile and smaller team. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution. And that’s what makes .fount so exciting for me. We strongly believe that different types of productions require individual talents and production setups and cannot be executed with stereotypical thinking. Different channels like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube each require different content - this can only be achieved by working with different talents and teams. 


Q> Why do you think it has taken time for the industry to adapt to this way of working? 

Jan> I think people lack better options at the moment and do not have the need to always question the status quo. When you grow up with something that keeps you busy and works somehow, why should you want to change it? At .fount, we have put ourselves into the position to analyse and rethink the status quo, questioning production models that have been around for a few decades, even though the surroundings have changed. 


Q> How did you first come across .fount and why did you decide to join the team? 

Jan> I knew Philipp and Jo very well from working on various projects together. When they first told me about their idea for .fount, what struck me right away was that they were addressing an issue a lot of people in the industry have, but are unable to articulate. Fragmenting markets, neverending numbers of channels, assets and cut-downs, shrinking budgets... It seemed to be a collective feeling of uncertainty and overload - not because people were too old or not clever enough, but because nobody took the time to step back and get a holistic overview of the situation. 

For me, this was the striking argument to join the team - to set myself in a position where I could develop this holistic overview and shape solutions for the issues people in the industry are having. 


Q> What does a typical day look like and what are you responsible for? 

Jan> There is no typical day in a digital company like .fount! At the end of the day, I am responsible for the quality and accessibility of the data we store about all of our talents. Only if the data is of high quality (meaning as precise and accurate as possible, while still being scalable and manageable), can we create great matches between jobs and talents. 

However, the best set of data does not lead us anywhere if it is not easily accessible for our digital production managers - who usually have a background in film production and not in data analysis. The right selection of online tools and set up of easy-to-use infrastructure is therefore also crucial to my role at .fount. 

So, my role involves creating frameworks to cluster and measure our industry and the talents that will shape it further; talking to our developer about possible technical solutions and to the talent department about recent insights they gained during the verification calls we do with every application; and the most exciting part - developing tailor-made solutions for our clients that need digital content at scale and within the speed of the consumer’s demand. 


Q> How do you use data to help sort and find the right talent for a project? What sort of questions do you ask talent that is signed up to .fount? 

Jan> Before collecting data, you need to analyse what kind of information you actually need. So we constantly meet to observe and cluster every aspect of our industry. This is an ongoing process and transformation. Of course our journey started with classical job titles, but very quickly, we went much further: what job profiles are out there, what skills are needed to perform certain jobs, for what jobs do you need a producer in-between, what are the talent capable to handle on their own, how does production for social media differ from a TVC, what are the different channels you can produce for, and what are their differences in terms of technical requirements, production value, agility of production and crew size? 

Based on this framework, we developed questions, checklists, pools, and labels in order to cluster our talent - not into different categories (job descriptions), but onto different positions at the same interconnected landscape. Every now and then, we stumble across a talent we find hard to grasp and cluster - for me, this is the best proof of concept that it has long been overdue to start bursting bubbles. 


Q> So do you have a background in analysing data? 

Jan> I do have a theoretical background from my years at university where I studied Digital Media, but I am not a ‘techie’ in the typical way - I’ve always worked in different positions in the film and advertising industry parallel to my studies. This combination hooked Jo and Philipp from the very beginning. 


Q> As a director yourself, how do you hope to see the industry develop over the next five years? 

Jan> I think the industry will become more and more interesting - especially for producers and creatives. For producers, the challenge will be to effectively streamline processes and build up production ecosystems for constantly-changing outlets. They need to do this while at the same time working more cost-efficiently than ever before because budgets per project are shrinking while the total amount of projects needed increases. 

We are already facing a heavily fragmented market with dozens of potential channels and touchpoints where a piece (or parts of it) can and will be seen. For creatives, the growing challenge will therefore be to anticipate and understand the different channels and always be keen to dive into them. It will also be about creatively using and utilising each channels’ features - instead of working against them and insisting on old patterns and structures. 

Because of these developments, I believe that the barriers between clients, agencies and production will slowly dissolve. Instead, it will become increasingly important to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary and multi-skilled teams on a vision everybody sees, shapes and shares. As a young director, I hope to meet many interesting people who are not afraid of these changes, but take them for what they are: challenges that can foster creativity.
Credits
Work from .fount
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