#58 Chain of Command

I don’t think many people like getting someone fired. But business is business. I’m not just a freelance writer now; I’m on staff, a part of something.

Kevin’s telling me to take Sandy’s job was clear enough, as was Lori’s handing me off to Kevin. I’d served in the military, so I knew about chain of command.

Chain of command works up and it works down. Orders from the top brass pass down to administrators

and supervisors until they reach the staffers they are intended for. This guarantees everyone is on the same page.

Queries are passed from the person with the query up to their supervisor, then to administrators until they reach the person with operational responsibility. This ensures no one is doing an end run and that everyone is aware of what’s going on.

I’d followed the chain of command, first going to Lori, then to Kevin. W

ith Kevin’s clear suggestion, my next step was Andy. Andy was in charge of business; Jean was in charge of creative. Andy would surely mention the issue to Je

an, but Andy was the person to go to.

I walked into his office knowing Lori and Kevin were behind me on this, and I presented the situation to him. He nodded, said it would be taken care of, and, just like that, the meeting was over. As I walked from Andy’s office, I realized the decision to terminate Sandy had already been made. For reasons of their own, Andy, Lori and Kevin wanted me to have some ownership of it.

Now it was over.

Welcome to show business.

#57 “I’ll handle it from here.”

As I walked from Lori’s office to look for Kevin, I thought about what she said: “Producing and delivering a television series is like a runaway train. Once it starts, I’ve got to keep up with it or it’ll jump the tracks. The worst thing I can ever do is miss an airdate with broadcasters. If I don’t deliver a script on time, they’ll pull the series.”

She’d personalized it, telling me because Sandy and I were behind schedule it would jeopardize her. I wondered why she’d told me all that. She was in charge of writers. If she thought Sandy wasn’t moving fast enough, if she wanted to cut him loose it would be simple for her to do so.

No. She wanted me to handle it, I think to see how I perform under pressure.

No problem.

I spotted Kevin, the exec in overall charge of DIC’s production schedule, by a cubicle talking with an artist. He saw me and motioned me closer, telling the artist, “I need your cubicle for a couple minutes.” The artist dutifully left.

Kevin smiled and asks how I was doing. I told him I’ve done better and his smile eased. When he asked what was up, I tell him how when I started, Sandy said we were a week behind schedule and now Lori tells me we’re two weeks behind and that if we miss an airdate the broadcasters could pull the series and that I should talk to him about it. I tell Kevin “I’m just the assistant story editor. What should I do?”

In a voice as friendly as if he was asking a bartender for another beer, Kevin said, “You should take his job.” I felt a chill. The guillotine blade was ratcheting up, all right. I just never thought I’d be the one cranking it.

#56 A runaway train…

On Wednesday I returned to DIC. My first stop was Lori’s office. I handed her what I say are a dozen “amazing” Care Bears story springboards. Lori rolled her eyes, but it was a friendly eyeroll. She said she’d look at the springboards and pass them along to Jean. Then she asked what she already knew. “Where do you think you are on the delivery schedule for Care Bears?”

I told her, “When I came onboard, Sandy said we were a week behind. I’m guessing writers haven’t been streaming in with springboards and completed scripts since then.”

Lori turned grim. “Producing and delivering a television series is like a runaway train. Once it starts, I’ve got to keep up with it or it’ll jump the tracks. The worst thing I can ever do is miss an airdate with broadcasters. If I don’t deliver a script on time, they’ll pull the series and sub something else in its place.”

I’m not sure if that’s really true or it’s a boogeyman story to keep story editors on schedule. Either way, Lori was serious about this. Her voice even, she said, “You’re two weeks behind schedule. It’s like dominoes. If the storyboards are slow coming in, it slows getting scripts written. If scripts are late it holds up voiceover artists and recording sessions. If the recordings are late it holds up the animators. And if it holds up the animators it means I can miss an airdate.”

I sat in the chair opposite her and asked, “What should I do?”

She said, “Get up out of the chair and go talk to Kevin.”