how to choose a direct marketing response writer/producer

How to Choose a Writer-Producer
By Jim McNamara
Reprinted from Retailing.org Magazine

You look deep into her eyes. For so long now, you've been searching for her, that one special person who could make all the difference. Someone who could really understand you. Someone who could make your dreams come true. At last, you've found her.

Now, if all this sounds like your love life, congratulations. But if it's your relationship with your infomercial TV writer-producer instead, count yourself even luckier.

DRTV success all depends on your writer-producer

Choosing the right person to create your infomercial or direct response TV spots is the single most important decision facing the direct response marketer today.

It's also one of the toughest. I know. As a former ad agency creative director, a product inventor, and as a direct response writer-producer-director, I've either been hired or done the hiring on a weekly basis for nearly 25 years now. I know terror when I see it.

Facing the terror

And terror it is, a terror unique to DRTV. After all, in traditional advertising, who knows if you get the wrong creative guy? Image advertising is so hard to track that it's nearly impossible to ever know if your copywriter did a great job or a poor job. Even a weak script can get a glossy, glitzy production so that, hey, nobody ever notices.

But not so with an infomercial.

If your writer-producer does a poor job, you wont be able to hide. In a matter of days, everybody's going to know that you just blew 6 months and a lot of money--say, the $150,000 to $750,000 you spent on production-and perhaps even jeopardized the entire future of your company. Needless to say, all of this can be mighty hard to explain at the next performance review. Assuming there is one.

Ah, but why dwell on the negatives? The upside is tremendous. If your show works, you'll be a hero. You'll have unleashed the most powerful selling force in marketing today, a medium that can move $200 million worth of your products a year, no sweat.

Still interested? Of course you are. But the key is selecting the right producer. He's the one who makes an infomercial happen, the key to success.

Here, then, are 19 tips and guidelines that I'd use in looking for a producer. They're questions that can save a lot of headaches and a lot of money:

1) Do you really understand what a producer does?

In infomercials and DRTV spots, their role is very different than it is in regular TV commercials. In infomercials, the producer dreams up the entire show, writes the script (usually), selects and hires the cast and crew, shoots the show and puts it together in editing. He may or may not have his own production company to make it happen.

Surprisingly, directors aren't usually that critical in infomercials. They certainly don't exert the influence they do over, say, regular TV spots. The reason? Infomercials are too long and too copy-oriented for most directorial nuances to make much difference. Plus, on a minute-by-minute basis, their budgets are smaller. The average infomercial today is made for about the same amount of money as the typical network TV spot.

2) Are you hiring a salesman as well as a writer?

In infomercials, your producer is actually your salesman. The good ones both write and produce their shows. What he or she says and shows wilt often be the only information your prospect ever receives about your product, so his instincts had better be good.

Ideally, you want someone with not just a strong creative ability but a strong background in sales and marketing as well. You want him to understand not just composition but consumer psychology, legal constraints, pricing theory and many other marketing disciplines as well.

I'd rather hire someone with a background in door-to-door sales than English. But that's not far from the truth!

Above all, your show's creator must be able to grab attention, make an irresistible offer and close the sale in a limited amount of time right over the TV. That's no small assignment, and the reason that direct response is secretly feared by many people in both advertising and TV as well. It's the toughest kind of creative work there is.

3) Is direct response his primary line of work?

Be careful of anyone whose real interests and credits are actually in movies, sit-coms, or other forms of television. Be especially cautious about anybody (heaven help him) who says he "really wants to direct".

DRTV writing is a demanding craft that can also be quite rewarding, not just a stepping-stone into something else. The good people that I2 know tend to make direct response television almost exclusively. That's not to say they don't have a movie or book in the drawer. It's just that they are in demand and, since they're good, make more at this than at anything else.

4) Has he been around the block before?

Along the same lines, your writer/producer should be able to show (and prove!) that he's had experience. The more the better, and the more varied, also the better. Direct response is a seductive craft that, like tightrope walking, looks a lot easier than it really is. Don't let your show become somebody's "learning experience".

5) Does he know the right people?

Actually, it's a small industry. People tend to get to know one another very quickly in direct response. Your person should be able to show you references and recommendations. He should have worked for many of the different companies that do lots of infomercials. You should check references.

6) What kind of hits has he had in the past?

In infomercials, as in everything else, you get what you pay for. If you're on a real budget and paying your writer-producer peanuts, maybe you can't be choosy. But if you're spending good money on a show, you deserve to see some hits on your writer's credit list.

7) Did he really write that?

Not to suggest that DRTV people can be (how shall I put this?) less than honest, but be sure you understand exactly what your writer/producer has and has not done before. Did he really write that blockbuster infomercial, or did he just happen to submit some ideas? Was it really his show, or did somebody else make most of the creative decisions?

Television is a very collaborative medium. Ifs not uncommon for a script to have input from 5,10 or even more people, and at least that many have input into editing. Plus, if it's a successful show, you'll be amazed how many people are ready to take credit.

8) Can he or she really understand your business?

Remember, you're hiring a salesman, not just a producer. So can this new salesman of yours really get down and understand your business and your customer? Does he listen? Does he have what it takes? Are you comfortable giving your writer access to your top people and connections and insight into your deepest secrets? If not, perhaps you should be asking why.

9) Can he do more than just the writing?

Good direct response writer/producers don't just write for you. They can, and often should, do much more. In my 25 years, I've named products, set price points, tabulated cost-of-goods, created bonus products, and a million other things that are necessary in the creation of winning direct response television.

The writing is the heart of your spot or show. Nothing else--not the directing, or the star, or even the media budget--comes close in importance. Make sure your writer/producer has a full set of creative tools to bring to your project. And make sure you let him use them!

10) Do his sample scripts look like direct response scripts?

Format alone carries a lot of clues about your writer's background and experience. Regardless of whether they're for infomercials or :120 commercials, direct response scripts follow a 2-column format with the pictures described on the left and the words to be spoken on the right. They never look like movie scripts. And if they do, they never work.

11) Are the details completely worked out and easy to produce?

Yes, it's another dirty little secret. Some of us in TV have, on occasion, been known to cheat. But not on their wives, but on their scripts. They leave video descriptions vague, don't call out specific shots, forget to write the all-important "chyron" copy (the words that will appear on the screen). It may make for a breezier read, but this lack of detail can cost you a fortune on the set or in the editing bay.

A good infomercial script can run 35 pages , have over 200 detailed shots, and 100 or more supers and effects clearly spelled out. With that kind of detail, you're ready to make fast, efficient decisions all the way through the production process. In fact, a good script can more than pay for itself just in the production money it saves.

12) Does the work remind you of "Saturday Night Live?

If so, watch out.

I'm often asked to fix or help on shows or scripts that looks like empty parodies of direct response. They use classic buzz words ("But wait!" Don't answer yet!") or direct response techniques like "problem &solution", but they seem hollow and unrealistic. Even worse, these scripts often make fun of direct response or the viewer as though they were some comedy skit.

I have no problem with comedy. In fact, it's one of the things I've written professionally. But I just don't see it working for most direct response products. Would you send your money through the mail to somebody who's laughing at you, or talking down to you, or lying to you? Of course not. No matter what anybody tells you, a direct response commercial has to be something people like and believe or they just won't buy.

13) Will he do the homework, or will he just slam it out?

Some writers hammer out copy faster than you can say "call now". It may not be good copy, it may not have much thought behind it, and it may not sell, but, what-the-heck, they did it fast and they did it cheap.

Others take a more careful approach. They do the research, study the marketplace, get to know your product and customer before committing to a creative direction.

If I were spending thousands of dollars on TV creative, this is the approach I'd want taken.

14) Can he explain what makes his stuff sell?

My feeling is that a good DR person should be up on his reading. He should understand fundamental concepts like the Unique Selling Proposition, Promotable Difference, and Positioning. And he should be able to describe the techniques he has used successfully to make sales. At the very least, it shows the writer's interest in persuasive communications and professional dedication.

15) Does he know his "puffery" from his "unsubstantiated claims"?

You can always tell an amateur from the way he handles a claim. It's easy for any producers to slip over the line into legal trouble, but inexperienced producers will do it without even knowing there's a potential liability. In the writer/producers samples, are the claims handled in a way that is easy to substantiate? I've seen some projects where the attorney made more money than the copywriter.

16) Trick Question: When does your producer write "the commercials" that go into the infomercial?

Nine times out of ten, if he does it last, watch out! Your writer is most likely a beginner. If he does it first, chances are, he's a pro. Why? Its simple. The "commercials" inside an infomercial, or the "call-to-actions" as we call them, are the toughest thing to write in the entire half hour. They contain the essence of the sales message, the core of your argument, and therefore take quite a bit of thinking to create. (If you've ever been around an ad agency, you know that even top copywriters can spend days just writing a billboard message.)

Beginners tend to put off writing the call-to-actions until last for a couple of reasons. One, the CTAs are the hardest writing and therefore easy to postpone. And two, beginners mistakenly believe that their infomercial is like a regular TV show, for which they would just leave room for the commercials.

The best people, in my experience, tackle CTAs first or simultaneously with the rest of the script. That way the brainwork they put into the CTAs can pay off for them all the way through the script.

17) Has he worked in other mediums?

As important as it is, television is can still be just one part of your total communications mix. You have other media to think about, other projects and concerns. It's a tremendous asset if your writer has experience in other media as well. That way, an element from your TV campaign might lend itself to, say, a print campaign. Or your TV testimonials might also be useful in your newspaper ads.

18) Does he make a deal like a professional?

Experienced direct response people make their living from their work. Typically, they charge a fee plus a percentage of sales. Remember, they aren't just writers and producers. They are your salesmen. Less experienced ones will often work for a fee or day rate.

Regardless, you can tell a lot about a person by the way he makes a deal with you. If he isn't effective in selling his own services, it makes you wonder if he'll be able to sell yours.

19) Do you get along?

Finally, ask yourself if you like your writer/producer. Whether you're recreating a spot campaign or an infomercial, you'll undoubtedly be working together quite a bit. Picking a compatible personality can go along way toward making the association a lot more pleasant and productive.

Jim McNamara is president of McNamara & Associates, an LA-based company that writes and produces infomercials and DRTV spots. Over the last 25 years, his ads have sold more than $1 billion worth of products and services for clients like ThighMaster, Jenny Craig, Dean Martin, MindPower, and more. Reach him at (818) 907-6212 or at the following email address: Jim@McNamaraAndAssociates.com