The Fixer: Managing What’s Off-Script

Shenzhen Summer

A university engineering team in Singapore hired us to manage the video production for their electric aircraft testing at a facility in Shenzhen. We served as the bridge between their research and the facilities in China, managing ground logistics, filming operations, and providing language support for their team.

We needed to adapt our own processes to the iterative nature of their testing process. The aircraft engine either connects or it does not; we were not able to script the outcome. We positioned cameras behind glass and plastic shields, kept them ready through repeated attempts, and stayed patient. The extreme temperatures required managing both equipment and people: keeping the cameras from overheating and the crew from overheating.

This is fixer work: overseeing what happens in real time when you cannot always direct the outcomes. A good fixer navigates cultural and social contexts, nuance, and anticipates. It is problem-solving in real-time.

What Fixers Do

Overseas production companies working in Hong Kong need Cantonese-language support, someone who understands local logistics, and can coordinate everything from itinerary planning and visa paperwork to crew hiring and arranging drone permits.

The nature of fixer work is broad and variable. Recently, working remotely alongside an overseas production house on a documentary series about Hong Kong, we operated as a one-camera crew, filming bamboo noodle makers, a lizard keeper on Lamma Island, and harbour-cleaning robots. The production house we collaborated with sent storyboards with precise shot requirements to fit their style guide and the existing material in their series. We had to trust our instincts while executing the brief, as they were not providing real-time direction. Not every interview subject will say what producers hope they will say, and not every shot can come out exactly as planned when a scene or an interview deviates from an outline; we navigated those conditions on the ground as they were happening, all the while leaning into our production knowledge and understanding of Hong Kong.

Where Others Fail

We joined another production after a production team’s original fixer was unable to handle the visa applications and other production-related paperwork. Work visas require back-and-forth as policies change and requirements shift by location, equipment, and technological specifications.

The previous fixer stopped responding. We respond.

A restaurant pulled out hours before filming—we defused it. Language barriers escalated on set—we navigated them. Someone who did not want to be on camera was filmed—we managed it.

Fixer work requires the same patience we brought to that Shenzhen testing facility: staying present, anticipating what might go wrong, and solving problems as they unfold. We understand Hong Kong’s production landscape and know how to keep projects moving.