In my home town, the most excitement we've had in a long while was a Hallmark Movie being shot at our little independent grocery store: The B&H
There's a large film crew, about 20 trucks full of equipment, hair and makeup, support crew that has the entire store and most of the parking lot blocked off for each scene they will need to film.
They only have a limited amount of time to get everything they need, and months of planning went into getting every detail perfect, as once the 2 days are done, they can't come back.
If you're new to film production, the camera angles, where the actors stand, and what's in the scene is all predetermined, and carefully crafted ahead of time. Cameras don't just need to be pointed at the actors, but they have to be pointing from the right direction, as expensive rigs of lights are also predetermined.
Essentially: Every team member depends on the others being in position.
My office happens to be in the middle of the filming and I was working late at around 8 pm. All of a sudden, I hear a knock on my door and a flustered looking lady walks in.
"Do you know who owns the Black Truck?"
(A humorous side note... at first I thought she said Black Chalk... like a chalk sign. I'll leave that embarrassing part of the conversation out)
"Nope." I replied. I typically don't get out of my office much and generally keep to myself. She seemed to be getting more agitated.
"Do you know anyone around who might?"
"At this time I don't think anyone is really around. People park in the parking lot all the time though. Why what's up?"
"They are going to kill me because the very first parking lot scene is being shot and I was supposed to make sure no one parked there... thanks anyway" and she left as quickly as she came, not looking too happy.
Months of planning...
closing down a grocery store for 2-3 days...
lugging a whole studio, actors and support crew across the continent to film a big-budget movie where every second has been accounted for:
And a Big Black Truck, who probably had no idea of all of their plans, parks in their way.
There can be many metaphors created from this situation, but here's one that stood out for me:
You would expect: "Watching a parking space" is probably not the most glamorous of jobs. I can't see it paying very well. And it would probably be pretty boring if that's all you did full time.
But that small task, when not done properly, upset the entire movie production.
This girl was probably great at her job. But she probably had many different responsibilities, and temporarily had to switch tasks.
As business owners, we often have the mindset of: "I can do that too" or "that's not really worth hiring/outsourcing for" And you probably can do it all yourself.
But what happens when a big black truck comes along, and you're busy doing something else?
Sometimes, the value of the smallest tasks isn't apparent until it goes wrong. Then it suddenly has a ton of value.
There is value in not trying to do everything yourself. Sometimes the value of what you are paying for when you outsource jobs is having someone dedicated to watching for Big Black Trucks.
Watch for big black trucks friends.
