Experiments
Try new things without breaking the show.
An old friend I had not heard from in years sent me an email.
He had a new passion: Drones. He wanted to show me how his new toys could help in my shows. No guarantees, no contract, just a proof of concept during a Beach Soccer competition in El Salvador back in 2015.
I said yes.
We saw the first shots during the setup day. The stability was impressive. The angles changed the way we could tell the story of the match. By the time we put the drone on air, organizers, colleagues, and clients were sending compliments.
That one-day proof of concept turned into a seven-day paid gig. And it became the beginning of a long implementation of drone coverage across different tournaments.
Nowadays, drones are standard in most sports productions. Eleven years ago, they were nowhere near the picture. It was not easy to implement this resource.
The Pattern
I have been in this industry for 27 years. And there is one thing I keep seeing in the people who consistently move forward.
They experiment.
Camera operators, directors, production managers, executives. The ones who progress are the ones willing to challenge the way things are done and find ways to test something new.
IP transmission. Specialty cameras. Putting new people in important roles. I have been part of experiments like these throughout my career. Some worked. Most did not.
And that is the part we need to talk about.
Most Experiments Fail
This is the sentence that makes people uncomfortable.
If you are going to experiment, you need to accept that failure is the most likely outcome. That is not a problem. That is the process. We learn more from the experiments that do not work than from the ones that succeed on the first try.
The real question is not “will this work?” The real question is: how do I test this without putting the final product at risk?
Where to Test
You might be thinking: our business is too visible. If something goes wrong, everyone sees it. That is a fair point. And that is exactly why offline testing matters.
A camera operator should be consistently looking for new angles, new ways to cover a sport. The hours leading up to a game, when there is not much happening on the field, are perfect for this. Practice new movements, new framings. Show them to your director. Decide together if something is worth trying during the pre-game.
The other opportunity is what I call the low-stake events.
Yes, you might work mostly on high-profile productions. No margin for error. But there are always games that are not prime time. The ones buried in the grid of the streaming world, the ones that only the parents of the players are watching. Those are your testing ground.
Try new technologies. Test new vendors. Explore new coverage approaches.
Many crews see these “low priority” productions as a chore. A great way to make them more valuable is to turn them into your experimentation lab.
After the shows, take time to evaluate. Gather feedback. See what sticks.
The Hat, the Haircut, and the Tattoo
Author James Clear has a framework that I think about often when it comes to experimentation.
The Hat. Some experiments are like trying on a hat. You put it on, look in the mirror, ask someone what they think. If it works, keep it. If it does not, take it off. No damage done.
The Haircut. Other experiments are like a new haircut. If you do not like the result, it might take a couple of months to grow back. The impact is temporary, but it takes longer to reverse. Worth doing, but with a bit more thought.
The Tattoo. And then there are the experiments that leave a permanent mark. The ones where getting it wrong has long-term consequences. These are the ones you do not rush. You test offline, you gather extensive feedback, you evaluate from every angle before you commit.
Most of the experiments worth running in our industry are hats. Some are haircuts. Very few should be tattoos.
Know the difference before you start.
In TMB #149, I wrote about how the best professionals study what they see on screen instead of just criticizing it. Experimentation is the next step. It is not enough to notice what could be better. You have to be willing to try something different and see if it works.
The people who stay in the same lane because “it is working” are not wrong. They are just not growing. And in an industry that changes as fast as ours, standing still is its own kind of risk.
If this edition helped you think about experimentation differently, forward it to a colleague. It could be the thing that gives them permission to try something new. “that is how we have always done it,” send them this edition. It might be the push they need to try something new.
See you next week.
Oscar S.
One More Thing (For Paid Subscribers)
If you are a paid subscriber of The Ministry of Broadcasting, you already have access to the Broadcasting Industry Directory: a curated database of 133 companies in our industry, with their main locations and direct links to their career pages.
Whether you are looking for a new partner to experiment with, a vendor to test a new workflow, or your next career move, that directory is one of the most practical resources in the hub. Use it.