Meet Your Makers: Why Thomas Ramalingam Loves Problem Solving
Thomas Ramalingam is a French producer based in Paris. After spending 10+ years in Los Angeles, Thomas came back to Paris, France and has been producing TV commercials. After spending eight years at Sixtine Paris where he developed the TV commercial department, he is now a producer for Blue Paris.
Blue Paris is an established, award winning, 30+ years old production house in the heart of Paris founded by Patrick André.
LBB> What first attracted you to production - and has it been an industry you’ve always worked on or did you come to it from another area?
Thomas> Ever since I was 15 years old, I knew I wanted to partake in the film industry. At first cause I wanted to tell stories. I’ve been involved one way or another in the production industry since I was 18.
LBB> What was your first role in the production world and how did this experience influence how you think about production and how you grew your career?
Thomas> I started out as a PA on music videos and short films in France when I was 18, I moved to the US when I was 20, did my studies at Santa Monica College, Cal state Northridge and UCLA. Worked in the feature film industry as a production coordinator and producer on feature and shorts and moved back to France at 30.
My first jobs, were very interesting cause being a PA or coordinator you have to do what you’re told well and efficiently. We are in the service industry in the commercial production world, so having been a PA and all taught me that, but we also have another essential role (apart from doing what we are told) we can advise our client on how to do things and having seen a lot of things, it helps me be more creative.
LBB> How did you learn to be a producer?
Thomas> I didn’t learn really, I started as a PA, and moved my way up, going through every job in between. I just watched, and now I just do it my way. I try to do it at the best of my abilities. I love to meet directors, discuss creatively what we can achieve, and I love to think outside the box to do what we aim to do. Sometimes the client loves it, sometimes it doesn’t (on proposals of course, always happy of the end result if it went with me), but every time I grow and learn a little more.
LBB> Looking back to the beginning of your career, can you tell us about a production you were involved in where you really had to dig deep and that really helped you to grow as a producer?
Thomas> I shot some commercial in LA as a coordinator. It was a union shoot, but let’s say it doesn’t apply to coordinators or below… It was maybe in 2009. We were on a 10 hour shoot, in the middle of a desert shooting an astronaut coming back to earth for a sunglasses maker.
At that time I was still young, but with prep few days before, and the shoot, and the little budget, I probably slept 15 hours in five days, but it really taught me to not inflict that to my teams, but also to never let go until its finished. It taught me to never drop the ball until it’s in, meaning until the job is done.
Another example is a few years back, I went to shoot a digital ad in 2017, it was really demanding mentally. We went to four countries in 28 days. We shot on location with a small team in each country.
The real challenge, was that there was a limited budget, and very little time to find someway to do this film. But we managed to find great teams in each country (we sold the fact that each location should have a local DoP to bring subtleties to the image and a local feel, it was a creative aspect of our proposal, but ended up a practical one, because those DoPs knew how to be fast and knew which location were good).
It was stressful, because I would find a good production on site at the last moment. I negotiated with a production and booked it in the plane between Australia to Dubai!
Any way, I lost patches of hair in the process, but it was a real good experience looking back at it. I regrew my hair, and everything is well.
LBB> A good producer should be able to produce for any medium, from film to events to digital experience. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why/why not?
Thomas> I do think that a good producer could produce well for any medium. In the commercial advertising aspect, they should pinpoint what director they would select that could do the job, but also make a sound budget proposal, something that’d fit the budget and a way to produce it.
In other medium, it’s more tricky, because they should find the talent or idea that could get financed and then produced. However, a great commercial producer seldom becomes a good feature or TV show or program producer.
I do produce a talk show outside of producing TV commercials , and I often produce shorts and hopefully I’ll get to features again, but it’s really two different worlds.
LBB> What’s your favourite thing about production and why?
Thomas> I must say that the creative aspect of producing is what makes me enjoy it. I also enjoy thinking up ways to produce something tricky. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be interesting, so always up for a challenge.
LBB> How has production changed since you started your career?
Thomas> I don’t think I changed much, I learned a lot, but I am still the same. My understanding of commercial production has gotten better too.
LBB> And what has stayed the same?
Thomas> The way I produce stayed the same, always trying to stay under budget, make my clients and agencies have fun in the process and enjoy the experience.
LBB> What do you think is the key to being an effective producer - and is it something that’s innate or something that can be learned?
Thomas> I think you need to be understanding of the production process, be kind and be a leader. If you are mean and bossy, the process is not as much fun for the team and for you, so there would really be no point of waking up in the morning if you came to suffer.
Sometimes getting 'ripped off' by the client or agency is also part of the game. But all in all, keep cool and be nice should be the motto of any producer I think.
LBB> Which production project from across your career are you most proud of and why?
Thomas> I recently produced something totally unexpected for a hair product. Not your typical hair commercial. We took a risk, we believed in it, we didn’t make any money, but we enjoyed it thoroughly and we can be proud of what we achieved in so little time and limited budget. And it’s awesome.
LBB> Producers always have the best stories. What’s the hairiest / most insane situation you’ve found yourself in and how did you work your way out of it?
Thomas> I have a good story, I almost lost my nerves on that day, looking back at it, I find it amusing.
So we were prepping for a shoot, and we realised it might rain. At the PPM, we talked about the possibility that it might rain, to the client and agency, and told them since you don’t have a weather day insurance, it could work to use the rain to our advantage. The agency and clients were fine with it.
The day of the shoot, it didn’t rain at all. So we were shooting the scene, and all of a sudden, the creative director comes to me and demands rain. I was truly at a loss for words because in his mind we told him we would bring rain (wtf right?), nonetheless, it would work so much better under the rain, and would be 100 times funnier, so I asked my set decorator to take a few bottles, make holes in the cap and prepare.
It was possible to do, so we started doing it. The creative director comes back to me and now he is pissed, he absolutely wants rain and is getting kinda rude. I really wanted to punch him, but of course that wouldn’t be good for business, at the same time I really didn’t want him to feel like he was owed that rain.
At the end, nice as I am, I caved in and let my set decorator bring a makeshift 'rain dispenser' to make the shot work.
I think it was the hardest time in my life, I almost lost control, and me telling it doesn’t do it justice. You should have been there.
LBB> What are your personal ambitions or aspirations as a producer?
Thomas> Get the trust of agencies when I submit this or that director. Trust that we will get the job done and that we’ll have fun doing it and that we won’t be too stressed because they know we always get the things done and have fun doing it.
LBB> As a producer your brain must have a neverending "to do" list. How do you switch off? What do you do to relax?
Thomas> Personally I can’t switch it off, that’s why sometimes I don't sleep much unfortunately. But as long as you can handle the pressure you ll be fine. When you can’t anymore, it’s time to hang up the cleats and retire… Ahahah.
LBB> Producers are problem solvers. What personally fuels your curiosity and drive?
Thomas> Exactly that, problems to solve. When I can’t make a budget fit, I’m always trying to find good creative ways to get the next best thing.
LBB> What advice would you give to people who are interested in becoming a producer?
Thomas> It’s tough out here, good luck, hope for the best, and you’ll get there. If at first you don’t succeed, hang tight. If you still don’t succeed, maybe it wasn’t meant to be and it will bring you somewhere else. Trust the process, put in the effort and you’ll be where you need to be.
LBB> From your experience what are the ingredients for a successful production?
Thomas> Good sense of directing talent, good business connections, being laid back but professional.
Knowing what you are talking about is very reassuring for a client.
LBB> What’s the key to a successful production-client relationship?
Thomas> Honesty I believe. If you’re honest and upfront with your client, they’ll be with you. And you can discuss budget issues more calmly, cause it’s always that that causes friction now.
