Do you ever wonder why the producer gets the Academy Award for best picture? Or why does the Executive Producer get the Emmy for say, Best Drama Series? I’m sure we’ve all wondered about these universally puzzling quandaries, however, when you take a close look at it, you realize that the producer has been with the show since the very beginning, formulating the concept, putting the concept into schedules and scripts, to executing the shots. He or she ushers the project through every storm and through every phase of its shooting schedule and hours clocked in by crew members. The producer is also, generally anyway, responsible for hiring the talent and the crew, and getting things done so the crew, the director and contributors can do their magic. James Olav Hill can tell you all about this.
He has served as Producer, Senior Producer, Supervising Producer, and Co-executive Producer on countless award-nominated and award-winning TV shows. He can tell you all about how one of the specific jobs of a producer is to worry about tomorrow’s shoot; or when everyone’s else day has ended, the producer must do his or her homework and be ready on the set before anyone else sets foot on it. He can tell you that if a B-roll shot is missing, the producer is the person to beg a camera operator to come with him to quickly shoot it and get the train back on track, and if they won’t, grab a camera and get the shot themselves.
James has worked on shows such as: American Idol, The Masked Singer, America’s Got Talent, Undercover Boss, Gold Rush, and many others. He has also put his other finely honed skills to work on TV shows while he was either directing or producing them. He has edited many TV shows and got behind the camera as the main DP (Director of Photography) when his talents and eye were needed.
James Olav Hill is one of those truly interesting people in the movie and TV industry. He actually loves what he does, is intelligent and disciplined enough to continually learn what it takes to complete a show from beginning to end. The Emmys will most certainly be honoring him in the near future!
