Day-to-day operating brief
What Production Manager work looks like in practice
A Live Production Manager turns an approved creative plan into a workable technical production, coordinating staging, lighting, sound, power, rigging, scenery, venues and crew. Terms should define productions, technical scope, budgets and purchasing, staffing and contractors, fit-up and rehearsal schedules, touring, risk and emergency governance, permits and inspections, equipment hire, change control, show communication, working hours and the distinction between coordination and specialist competent-person decisions.
Responsibilities reflected in the contract
- Develop technical schedules resources and budgets.
- Coordinate departments venues suppliers and crew.
- Manage authorised hires purchases and changes.
- Support risk controls inspections and show readiness.
- Report status incidents costs and handovers.
A realistic working scenario
A late scenic addition affects rigging loads, crew calls and transport capacity. The manager records all dependencies and obtains design, safety and budget approval before scheduling it.
Outputs to agree
- workable technical production plans
- coordinated crews venues and equipment
- complete show and technical handovers
Records and evidence
- Technical plan schedule and dependency.
- Crew supplier hire and budget.
- Risk permit inspection and approval.
- Change show report cost and closure.
- Work records.
- Handover notes.
Reporting relationship
Typically reports to Senior Manager, Director or Business Owner. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.
Authority and escalation
- The manager cannot make specialist engineering decisions, exceed spend or signature authority, bypass inspections or require unsafe hours to preserve schedules.
- May allocate routine work and make operational decisions only within documented staffing, financial, contractual and policy limits.
Supervision
- Allocate and review assigned work within delegated authority and escalate formal people matters through the Employer's procedures.
Tools and systems
Workplace context
- Office, client premises, remote systems or assigned work locations.
Contract priorities
- productions venues touring and schedule
- departments crew contractors and hours
- budgets hires equipment and changes
- safety inspections shows and records
Information the employer should prepare
- the productions and technical remit
- the crew contractor and venue structure
- the budget hire and purchasing authority
- the safety permit and inspection process
- the touring show and handover requirements
Individually written and reviewed against the maintained role record.