The life of a producer - Interview with Precious Mahaga
Award-winning producer Precious Mahaga shares her behind-the-scenes insights on collaborating with top artists on music videos, and starting out in the industry
Precious Mahaga is the Head of Music at Riff Raff Films, who has been nominated for various awards for her projects. In my interview with her, we delved into what it is like to be a producer working with artists like Jorja Smith and Arlo Parks, and she shared how everything unfolds behind the scenes.
It can be extremely challenging to find your path when the whole world is laid out in front of you. When asked whether this is always what she wanted to do, Precious expressed, that she became “absolutely enthralled” by her media courses. “As soon as we learnt something I would practice these techniques, and this is what led me to go to university and do television production.” As a result, she created a portfolio early in her career, which is not usually the case. “Media industries are quite isolated, you don’t really know until you know”, she says.
Starting out in any industry, creating connections is probably the most crucial thing, and Precious shared that people usually start out as someone called a “runner”. “Like an assistant to everyone. If you are a runner on set, you are doing everything from making coffee to putting up documents, there’s just all these little things that you have to do” explains Precious.
As tedious as running seems, Precious urges its importance. She adds: “It’s actually a great position, because you really get to see what everybody does, and it exposes you to everything without having the responsibilities”.
Another valuable tip Precious shared is to always be yourself. It might sound evident, but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to achieve. A part of this industry is to showcase individuality and passion, and people will appreciate that. “What I learned was that if you have a good attitude and show interest in everyone, people will like having you around and so they will suggest you for their next project”.
A beneficial trait to have in work and life is to always be eager to learn, which is how Precious described herself as well. “I think that the way I work is there’s always something new to learn, there’s always a new challenge to take on. I don’t like feeling like I’ve done it all.” However, she added, that you also have to “stop and be grateful for your achievements and give yourself a pat on the back”.
Precious has worked with multiple directors before such as the Oscar-winning Aneil Karia and Marc Klasfeld, who has directed projects for artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, so she shared the lessons she learned through them. She believes that a good director is someone, whose “visions are authentic and who doesn’t necessarily try to be like everybody else or mimic others”.
Precious has an extremely positive outlook on everything, as she believes that even when you have a bad experience, you can take something from it and turn it in a completely different direction. This is what her thought process looks like when it comes to a project: “With every production I like to have a debrief; I might sit down with the director or just by myself and think about what went well, what didn’t go well, what we could have done to prevent the things that didn’t go well, so you learn from everything”.
Furthermore, when you are working with someone, it is significant to take everything in. “When I was coming up, every production that I worked on with a new company, I would look at the way that they catalogue their folders, how they put their documents together, and I would say to myself that ‘I like that document’, so I’ll make my own version based on that. So, over time I collated this number of documents that I would use that other people would look at and say they like it, and they would like to have it.”
Even when you work together with famous artists, learning new things never stops. Precious has created projects together with artists such as Jorja Smith, and Arlo Parks, and I asked about the mindset she adopts when working on a new project with a new artist. “I go into it with the same mindset but with one that works for everybody, it’s like an open mindset. I’m used to collaboration, and I’ve learned so much about the importance of it, and giving people the space to be themselves, and to present themselves in a way that they want to. It’s not just about making people fit into your idea of how the production should run.”
Precious reiterates, that it is key to be ready to “learn” this person and “work around the way they work”. As a creative person you keep your core values, you only adapt them to the shape of whoever you are working with, since “most people just want to be listened to”, which is what it all breaks down to at the end of the day. This is also what creates a successful and working “collaborative process”, as Precious said.
When talking about creativity, individuality, and success, it can be really tough to pinpoint where they should come from. Is it awards, is it other industry professionals reaching out? When asked about this, Precious shared that it is more important to appreciate your own work, since art is subjective. “It’s nice to get that acknowledgment from the rest of the industry and it’s nice to have further opportunities as a result, but I think that some people are making work that doesn’t necessarily speak to the wider industry”. So, in a sense, it is more about what you as the artist take from it, not about what the world takes from it.
Going into the depths of her works, Precious shared what her experience was on the set of creating the Caroline music video by Arlo Parks. “Before you shoot, it is often stressful, because you’re trying to get everything together but what kind of brings me back time and time again is that there’s this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and excitement when I’m on set”.
What made it special for her was “the great team of collaborators”. In the music industry it is crucial to be able to be on the same page with the people that you are working with. “It really felt like a space where people were learning, it was a really encouraging environment. It was one of those projects where everybody’s got the same mindset”.
Precious also shared her opinion on the By Any Means music video by Jorja Smith. “It was a time when the world was talking about racial prejudices and I think the approach just felt very human”, she said. “There was a lot of pain and violence, and it just got to a point where I needed to see something that felt more positive. Whilst I’m so aware of racial prejudice and have experienced it, I’ve also experienced so much joy within the community.”
It was really uplifting to hear Precious say that she wanted to create something positive out of all the hopelessness surrounding her, instead of being consumed by it; which is the beauty of art. The main concept was to film people who are a part of black communities doing their everyday tasks, and they were “standing in front of a camera and looking right down the lens”. “It’s really powerful, because it’s such a simple image, but it speaks so far against the stereotype”, she said. “It was just so beautiful, and I think it speaks so much more than the headlines”.
At the end of our interview, Precious stressed, that even if you do not have connections yet, you still have to keep going. “It’s something we all have to contend with, but there are people who make it because they work hard and they grind, they meet people, and leave a good impression on others”.
Again, she mentioned, that “you have to be excited about what you’re doing, and you’ve got to learn about what’s going on, and all of that will be noticed by people”. But also, “it is important to make good relationships in the industry, and you can do that by being the best version of yourself because that just attracts people”.