The work that goes into a Lucasfilm production or an ILM project for an outside client is almost incalculable, and Lucasfilm.com have been running this series, their Lucasfilm Employee Spotlight, for a while now, shining a light on the talents who may not be household names but keep that vast machine running smoothly from day to day. The latest looks at the career of senior producer on Lucasfilm’s Franchise Production team Daniel Cavey.
To start, can you tell us your role and describe your day-to-day responsibilities?
I’m a senior producer on Lucasfilm’s Franchise Production team. We cover both franchise animation and non-fiction content. Specifically, the LEGO Star Wars portfolio is my primary role. I’m really proud of the three specials that we’ve done in collaboration with Atomic Cartoons, Skywalker Sound, writer David Shayne, and our Lucasfilm leadership team including Josh Rimes, James Waugh, and Jacqui Lopez.
As the company develops its overall strategy, we brainstorm what stories can be developed for LEGO Star Wars. Once we’ve settled on an idea, that’s my trigger to initiate the production. They give us the best release window, which sets the parameters for what the plan could be. I lay out a schedule and put together a budget with our finance team. We then take that back to our leadership and explain how we need these blocks of time and budget in order to achieve the goal. From there, we build the team of partners.
So putting this plan together is a core element of your role?
Yes, once a show is greenlit and starts development, all the creative, technical, and logistical choices arise over the course of production, and you refer back to the plan. It lets you know what you might be compromising if you make a certain decision. What are its consequences? It’s my job to communicate that to make sure everything aligns with where we want to be.
You’re sort of laying out the tracks in front of the train and preparing for changes in the route along the way.
Yes, we have something that we call the “waterfall schedule.” It’s like a primitive version of the game Tetris! It’s a graphic representation of this big plan. It’s a little harder today as we work from home, but before the pandemic, I’d print out this large schedule on the wall. Different colors and shapes track different pieces of the puzzle. You can see how everything relates to each other, and when changes come, it’s like playing Tetris and fitting things back together.
- Audible Audiobook
- Lydia Kang (Author) - Marc Thompson (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 04/04/2023 (Publication Date) - Random House Audio (Publisher)
