Production Guild Awards: The Night Manager
Production Guild Awards 2016: The Night Manager
Nikki Baughan, Sept. 2016
This year’s Production Guild Awards, held on Saturday September 24, will once again celebrate the best of the UK’s world-leading film and TV production talent, recognising the talents of individuals across the broad spectrum of skills and sectors.
Five trophies will be presented at the ceremony including the Special Award, given posthumously to late entertainment/media insurance executive and longtime Guild supporter Terry O’Neill. This year’s Inspiration Award will go to Location Manager Harriet Lawrence, who has worked on myriad big and small-screen projects including Suffragette, Downton Abbey and Dancing on the Edge, while the Spotlight Award will be given to up and coming Assistant Accountant Pollyanna Gill in recognition of her work on such projects as Now Your See Me 2 and the forthcoming Brad Pitt-starrer Allied. The Contribution to the Industry Award goes to Hugh Whittaker and Jackie Rowden, who have supplied equipment to and supported the industry for over 40 years,and the Member/Team of the Year Award will be shared by the production team behind critically acclaimed TV drama The Night Manger (for which director Susanne Bier has just won an Emmy).
As part of that team, Unit Production Manager Clare Finnegan knows the value of having such hard work acknowledged . “It’s a huge honour,” she says of the award. “The Night Manager is one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve ever worked on, and I’m incredibly proud of it. I’m so pleased that the whole team can share in this well-deserved success.”
Neil Wallace, who served as The Night Manager’s First AD during its Mallorca shoot, shares Finnegan’s enthusiasm. “The production side rarely gets recognised, so it’s great to have everyone’s hard work acknowledged. On my part, it was a tough job to come into - lots of hard work had gone on before I arrived, and it continued over the rest of the shoot - so it’s a honour to have it valued in this way.”
“When the Emmys were announced,and The Night Manager was up for 12, I jokingly said ‘what about production?’ And then this happened,” laughs Production Coordinator Juliette Woodcock. “It’s very much an area that is often not fully appreciated or understood, even by people higher up the food chain.”
While the Production Guild award recognised the success of The Night Manager's team, however, its support goes far beyond the bestowing of a trophy. “It’s a great asset to have the support of an organisation that promotes professionalism and good practice,” says Finnegan. “It is also imperative that we have a strong and respected body working to keep the UK industry competitive. [They also have] a wealth of knowledge and experience, and their courses provide solid ways to learn and meet people in the industry.”
Finnegan also credits the Guild’s availability service as being an extremely useful tool to find key members of a production team, a sentiment shared by Wallace. “The number one benefit [of Guild membership] has been getting work through the availability service,” he says. “It can be difficult working in a freelance industry, so it’s good to have that sense of togetherness and collectiveness which the Production Guild provides.”
Having only joined the Guild just last year, industry veteran Woodcock is also finding membership to be an asset. “I have been able to call up for advice and training, and the networking evenings are brilliant,” she said. “We all know each other’s names in this industry but sometimes we wouldn’t be able to pick each other out of a lineup, so it’s been good to finally meet the people I have known by name for years.”
The sense of camaraderie provided by the Guild was also reflected, Woodcock says, in The Night Manager shoot. “We were incredibly lucky, everything aligned - cast, crew, locations, weather - and we knew we had a winner on our hands. The rose-tinted glasses have already gone on and I’ve forgotten all the hell,” she laughs. “I won’t lie, it was incredibly stressful at times, we filmed in four countries after all.”
For more information, visit www.productionguild.com
View The Night Manager on thecallsheet.co.uk