Biggest Challenges Faced by an Associate Production Manager at Dreamworks Animation
Priyaa's biggest challenge as a newly promoted Associate Production Manager at Dreamworks Animation is learning the financial aspects of the role, transitioning from managing "Labor Weeks" to understanding how "everything is money." This involves carefully considering costs when making decisions, as illustrated by the example of needing to choose between more and less expensive personnel to complete tasks.
Project Management, Finance in Media Production, Budgeting, Leadership, Career Advancement
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Priyaa Kalkura
Associate Production Manager
Dreamworks Animation
MOP Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai
University of Sydney, Film Studies
Film, Media Arts, Visual Arts
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Operations and Project Management
Immigrant
Video Highlights
1. Managing budgets and resources effectively is a crucial skill in production management.
2. The transition from managing labor weeks to managing budgets requires learning how various tasks and personnel translate into monetary costs.
3. Careful decision-making regarding resource allocation is essential to stay within budget and meet deadlines.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
The biggest challenge in my current role is learning how to handle money. Earlier, as a production supervisor, I only managed labor weeks.
As you move up, everything eventually translates into money. I've recently stepped into that realm and am learning that everything is money. If you need something from another department, it costs money.
My co-producer might say, "Priya, we need this by this time, but you can't use this person because they're too expensive. Use this other person instead." All of that is new information for me, so I need to be very careful when making decisions.
That has been my biggest challenge: learning how labor weeks translate into money. I'm learning about it and am excited about it, but it's the biggest challenge I'm currently facing.