Seven-Packing

In the last bunch of years at ABC, the One Life to Live production team became quite the experts at what was called "six-packing." A genre that for years had shot one episode each day was now shooting six episodes in five days, and honestly, by the end, more like seven in five. Such a shooting schedule allowed the show to go "dark" for whole weeks throughout the year, which saved a tremendous amount of money, a huge concern as cheaper-to-produce talk and reality shows loomed large.

And so it was that we went from producing twenty-something scenes each day to producing fifty or sixty most days. For a period of time, I actually scheduled these days--it wasn't easy, but it was an education in how to make the most of time, and a constant reminder that it was often possible to do more than a day's work in a day.

And so, as I have spent an entire week feeling one day behind in blog posts, I can't help but feel as though I am seven-packing now, as I post my second in a day. Have I gotten ahead enough to go "dark" for a week, or even a day? No way. But for today, just being back on track is enough for me.