The enormous background to film production

I have been privileged to have access to the hard drive from one television series recently. I was amazed at the amount of paperwork involved in the development of a series.
There was a guidance manual for all steps and stages of pre-production, production and post production which was completed with a reflective summative evaluation of the planning that had taken place including suggestions for changes if another series was to be made.
The number of aspects to be considered and amount of detail was staggering! The overall project is planned with some big ideas and a budget being developed to a stage where the proposal is ready to pitch. Once funding has been accepted the detailed planning really kicks in. Key stages are identified and the smaller aspects of each stage are placed in the overall schedule. Roles and responsibilities for each person are clearly outlined along with lines of communication. Templates have been developed to ensure every aspect of the allocated tasks is recorded, and planners are filled in complete with due dates and personnel responsible.
Minute details were recorded which I can see would enable a new person to move seamlessly into a job if someone was sick or unable to continue in that position for some reason.
I was reminded of my record keeping at school and all of a sudden the amount of paper work I am required to do did not seem so bad!
I have made a list of the key aspects covered in the guidance manual and will use this as I produce my website on the technological practices of film and television makers later in the year.
I was able to take part in the costume fitting for some of the actors of another programme and to sit on on the first run through of the script for a couple of the actors. I was interested that the director took a lot of time and trouble to ensure the actors were familiar with the context of their roles. They were shown photographs of the real setting of the film, they were able to listen to interviews with people who had participated in the real action and discuss their own background reading of the story and people as they went through the script. The director fed further information to them as they read their parts, enabling them to gain an idea of how he wished to treat the story. The actors were thoroughly professional in accepting his guidance and clarifying their thoughts and actions even when they initially had established their own concepts of the situations through their research.
What amazing communications and team work skills these people have - and not a single ego in sight!