Today’s subject, Lynn Hughes, started by interning at a theater in Chicago and then, while working as a Production Assistant in the London theater district, had an encounter with a Monty Python icon that spun her out of classical music training and into a successful career as a producer. Read on for more on her path…

Location: Washington, DC

Current position:  I’m an independent filmmaker who produces content for broadcast, private industry, and government. If it’s an interesting project, I’ll take it. I have a couple of series in development for cable outlets and just completed a bunch of videos for corporate and government clients. I was also recently in Sweden speaking on media and literacy at the World Summit on Media for Children and Youth.

College & degree:  Northwestern, BA in Speech (with a concentration in Theater)

Internship:  I interned at the Goodman Theater in Downtown Chicago.

First job in the entertainment industry:  I worked as a PA (called “runner” there) in the London Theater district.

First job out of college:  At Arena Stage in Washington, as the Assistant Production Manager. (I actually started in the box office to get my foot in the door and then moved into that position.)

What made you want to be a producer? I figured that out in college, I think. There was a point where I knew I had the right mindset, and that I was the person who could get everything done. I never even thought about it. I just jumped into. Somebody needed someone to organize everything and I just started into it.

Career path:  I moved into education when my first son was born. I went to work as a theater teacher at a private boys’ school, then I went to Howard University for a teaching position. While I was there, I got an opportunity at Time-Life, where I had temped one summer earlier in my career.

It was the greatest job in the world. I was the Executive Assistant to the vice presidents of Marketing, Business Affairs, and Production. I learned everything I know about the television business from those three people. They had two series in development, one at Warner Bros. and one at NBC. I would help cast re-enactments for the Production VP. I would proof the broadcast and distribution contracts for the Business Affairs VP and act as a sales assistant, since ancillary sales were done by that office. For the Marketing VP, I processed the focus testing results and helped her put together the reports.

I also got to read the trades and clip relevant articles, read project submissions, and go on sales calls. I ended up representing Time-Life on the Time Warner Educational Task Force, doing outreach and designing and giving away 30,000 educational kits to pre-schools and kindergartens. Unfortunately, once the Time-Warner merger happened, the television department was folded.

I freelanced for a couple of years after that, and then I got a call from a placement agency that BET needed a producer with a musical background. I went on the interview which ended up being for a hip hop show called “Rap City.” Though I am a classically trained musician and did not know much about hip hop at all, the series producer and I just hit it off and I produced the international version of the show for two seasons. (And during that time, became a hip hop junkie.)

After that, I went to BBC America. I was the supervising producer in the programming department. I was there for about three years and then I got called to work in Discovery’s international division. I ran a department that made sure all the programs from all the Discovery channels that went to air in the UK and other international markets met with the guidelines of those territories. The European version of the FCC is very stringent. My department rebuilt the programs and made them appropriate for the international market.

I left there to start a production company with Richard Dreyfuss, who I’d met through a program on the History channel. He wanted to do documentaries and I advised him on that. Illumine was a small company that produced educational TV programs (one for the History Channel) and live presentations which he would give at various venues. This was for about four or five years.

I went independent after that and have done a couple of small series for Animal Planet. I’ve recently been involved more in educational outreach, and I’m writing a lot. That’s where the media literacy thing came in. I just did a presentation on the topic, “What is the responsibility of the media makers to their market?” I’m getting hooked on digital distribution and non-traditional outlets as well.

Big break:  For television, I have to say it was getting hired at BBC America. There were a chain of events that got me there, but for me that was pivotal. I really blossomed. The team that was there taught me to understand story in a way I hadn’t before. And because it wasn’t an American broadcaster, it allowed me to look at things from a whole new perspective.

Eureka moment (when you realized you did or did not want to do something or that you should do something differently, etc.):  When I was in London, I was training as a classical musician (piano and flute) when I got the PA job. I was in an elevator going up to the Monty Python offices and the door opened and John Cleese was standing there with his staff and cast. He was telling a joke and I arrived just as the punchline hit and everyone doubled over in laughter.

Describe a typical work day in your current position:  I make myself have a routine. I get up and have tea and read the headlines on every newspaper and the trades, then I go through email. By noon, I make myself start writing or editing or scheduling, doing nuts and bolts of whatever the task is, depending upon where I am in the process.

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry:  I was in Cuba covering a music event. I had a bunch of interviews lined up (including Bonnie Raitt and Jimmy Buffet). There was a point at which I was told I couldn’t shoot and I was being sent out of the country. I was out there on a limb doing the story already and I didn’t have a lot of flexibility. I had to solve the problem or I was going home. (I did.)

Best job (or day) in entertainment industry:My best job was doing the Tibetan Freedom Concert hosted by the Beastie Boys at RFK in DC. I was covering it for BET. Lightning struck the stadium and blew out the system on the MTV production truck and they were lost. The studio I was editing out of was just a few blocks away. I grabbed the MTV production manager and let them come and cut there so they could get on air that night. It was a great moment. I didn’t want to see them lose the moment.  It was such a great lineup- and so much fun.

Best thing about your current job: The freedom. I make my own schedule.

Worst thing about your current job: The freedom. I make my schedule. You really have to be disciplined and some days you just don’t want to be disciplined.

Brush with greatness (can be a celebrity encounter or just being exposed to someone being brilliant at what they do): My former boss at BBC America (who I went to Discovery with). Her name is Liz Barron. She was then the Vice President of Programming. She is my touchstone. I was in awe of her the first day I met her. She has taught me so much, not just about work, but about life.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: Find people who are smarter than you and surround yourself with them. Know your strengths and weaknesses and find people who can complement the former and make up for the latter.

Next move: The thing about being a broadcast professional that I don’t think enough people are talking about is that you can’t be stuck in one area. I was lucky in that I was trained as an Avid editor, but I’ve made myself learn Final Cut and am now teaching myself to shoot. I don’t want to see a story come to me and not be able to cover it, and I don’t want someone to make an offer to me and have me have to say no because they can’t afford a big budget. I still prefer collaborating. I really like working with a good DP, a good editor, a skilled writer. But we just can’t afford that these days.

I’m also getting more involved in advocacy, looking to build a community digital learning center, perhaps tackle the local journalism conundrum with some area leaders. I’ve been speaking about media literacy and most recently represented Discovery Channel’s Global Educational Partnership at the World Summit on Media for Children and Youth in Sweden. Trying to find the balance (and the means) to do both advocacy and production is a challenge.  But I feel pretty strongly about issues like net neutrality and tackling the digital divide, so I’m sure I will find a way to move forward with both.

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Today’s profile subject currently has three primetime animated series on the air. Because of the demands of the medium, this means that at any one time she could be producing well over 100 episodes in various stages of prep, production, and post. Still, she scoffs when people ask in disbelief how she handles overseeing 3/4 of the Fox Sunday Night Animation Block. “It’s really not that complicated. It’s people drawing funny drawings.”  Regardless of her nonchalance, here at YII, we are impressed and we think our readers will be, too…

Current position: Producer of “Family Guy,” “American Dad!,” and “The Cleveland Show.”

College & degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Pre-entertainment career: I was a bartender at a 50s-themed restaurant and then worked as an assistant to a theatrical producer for two years.

First job in the entertainment industry: My first entertainment job was at a commercial animation studio called Broadcast Arts. I was the assistant to one of the partners, a malevolent and sadistic person. I don’t deny that I learned a lot in my two years there, but it was such a traumatizing experience that I abruptly packed up and moved 3,000 miles away to LA, where I knew no one and had no contacts, no car, no real plan.

Big break: Never had a big break. I had to scratch and claw my way to the top, for every opportunity.

Career Path: Once in LA, I temped for almost a year, taking the bus to a series of increasingly bizarre and demeaning jobs. At one of these, a file clerk job at a bank in Sherman Oaks where I was once reprimanded for not wearing pantyhose (this was in August), I was reading the paper one day and I saw that Paramount was opening an animation studio (Hyperion). I called, had an interview the next day, and got a job. I was the first person hired. It was so early on in their formulation, I didn’t even have a specific position when I was hired. I eventually became the production layout supervisor on an animated feature called “BéBé’s Kids.” From there, I went to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” at Fred Wolf Films and then I worked at Hanna-Barbera, which was where I met Seth MacFarlane.

Working at Hanna-Barbera was a thrill because they had created all my favorite cartoons like “The Jetsons,” “Scooby-Doo!” and “The Flintstones.”  I was hired to produce a show for them called “Johnny Bravo.” For the first few months I worked there, it was still owned by Turner and it was a really creative and exciting place to work. They had an active and inspired development department from which great shows like “The Power Puff Girls” and “Dexter’s Laboratory” were created.

When “Family Guy” was picked up by Fox, I was committed to my job as producer on “Dilbert,” the animated version of the comic strip for Sony, with the show’s creator, Larry Charles. I moved over to producing “Family Guy” at the start of the third season.

During that season, we had a 13 episode order and were juggled around in the schedule quite a bit, so the ratings weren’t reflecting the fact that anyone was actually watching the show, and “Family Guy” was sort of quietly folded.

While “Family Guy” was dead (or so we thought), I produced a show for MTV called “3 South” with one of the writers of “Family Guy” who wanted the show to have the look and feel of a show that could air alongside “The Simpsons” on Sunday night, even though we were working on a basic cable budget. It was on for 13 episodes and cancelled.

Following ”3 South,” I produced the pilot for “Drawn Together,” which had just gotten a 13 episode pick-up from Comedy Central (I was hours away from signing a deal with them) when I got a call from our Fox executive from “Family Guy” saying that the show was being put back on the schedule. It was a surprise, but not entirely out of left field since Volume One and Two of the DVDs had sold very well (about 1 ½ million copies each), and the late night Cartoon Network reruns of the show were getting huge ratings, even beating “Leno” and “Letterman” in that key young male demographic we appeal to.

At almost the same time “Family Guy” was resurrected (actually about a week later), “American Dad!” was greenlit. We started production on the 1st season of “American Dad!” and the 4th season of “Family Guy” at the same time.

Eureka moment: After the first episode of “3 South” (which we had produced for about one-third of what an episode of “Family Guy” cost to produce) aired, I got a call from Seth and he said something like, “How come you’re the only person who understands how to produce adult primetime animated series?”

When “Family Guy” had first premiered, several networks besides Fox tried their hands at primetime animation and none of them panned out because the shows didn’t feel like the animated shows the audiences had become accustomed to watching.

Adults had to be eased into the idea of a show worth watching being animated and it only happened through the genius of “The Simpsons.” Other primetime shows, like “Mission Hill,” may have worked, but the design styles were so glaring and overbearing, they were immediate turnoffs and these shows didn’t resonate with viewers.

Since “The Simpsons” and then “King of the Hill” had gone on to become such huge hits, an aesthetic had been established which created an expectation by the audience for how an adult animated show was supposed to look and feel through the style of voice acting, design, and timing. It’s difficult to succeed in this genre, especially when your resources are so limited. “The Simpsons” set the bar very high.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: When I get to work, I chat about last night’s ball games with the assistants for a while, then go into my office and look at news stories and lie in wait for the phone to start ringing. Between three series running concurrently, most mornings there is either a table read, an anamatic screening, or a color screening followed by basically 10 hours of decision-making.

There are 22 episodes per season for each of the three shows we have on the air and they have very long, overlapping schedules. For instance, right now we are finalizing and then airing episodes for Season 1 of “The Cleveland Show” and doing production on Season 2. We have a staff of over 300 people and at the height of the schedule, we can be juggling up to 132 episodes.

Essentially, my job is to satisfy Seth, the fans, the studio, and the network, all separate but equally important. With their sets of priorities and agendas, I have to make sure that everyone is happy, that the shows get on the air every week, that the ratings stay strong, and that we don’t get sued along the way.

Worst day in entertainment industry: I’ve had two worst days on this job, one here and one on foreign soil. The American bad day was having to call the entire staff into the conference room and tell them the writers were on strike. It was terrible. Every week saw another 10 or 15 people get laid off. On top of that, I still had to deliver the remaining shows without having writers.

The other bad day was when I went to Korea to visit our two animation studios. One of them was having quality issues and I had a meeting with them to discuss options such as decreasing the number of episodes they would do. But they were lobbying hard for more episodes. As I was being ushered out, I looked around and realized they were quickly packing up boxes. It looked like the final days at Enron. They were going out of business right then. In other words, half of our overseas team was going out of business. It was a huge blow and until we got the other studio to pick up the slack and then got an additional studio in place, it was tough, very stressful.

Best job in entertainment industry: A few years ago, I was approached by director Jessica Wu to produce the animation sequences for a documentary called IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, about the artist, Henry Darger. It was a thrill to work on a show that wasn’t targeted at teenaged boys.

Best thing about your current job: There are three things- I get to work with the most talented artists and writers in town, in my opinion. I get to work with my friend, Seth. And I get to employ 300 people during a recession.

Worst thing about your current job: Any time I have to deal with idiots. I hate arrogance and disrespect for other people. This job is by nature relentless and demanding. Having to deal with any kind of politics, gossip, abuse of power, anything like that. The worst.

Brush with greatness: Being on a successful show has opened the door to collaborating with a lot of people. My premiere brush with greatness has to be George Lucas, who we collaborated with on the STAR WARS episode of “Family Guy.” While we were working on the episode, he invited us up to stay at Skywalker Ranch. He had a screening of the new series he was working on and also screened THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK for us in his private screening room.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: Some of those platitudes are true. Follow your passion and play to your strengths. But really, don’t be stupid. Read, know stuff, be informed, and have decent basic writing skills. When you get a job, just work harder than everyone else. And never ask a question of a coworker or a superior until you have exhausted every option to find out the answer. Be focused. Never stop learning. And don’t freak out.  Nothing ends up being as bad as it might seem. I have never encountered a problem that couldn’t be solved by throwing money at it.

Next move (or next five moves): More spins offs. Claymation domination. A whole night of claymation shows. (Laughs, then…) What I’d like to accomplish in terms of animation is to keep connecting with next generation viewers and fans of the medium by anticipating and utilizing new formats and distribution methods.

“Family Guy” fans (and who isn’t?) should tune in this Sunday night (5/23) for the one-hour season finale, “Something, Something, Something Dark Side, Parts One and Two,” a continuation of their homage to the STAR WARS saga in the form of a retelling of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. 

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Doug Jung’s Hollywood path is a fairly well-worn one: Working an admin job in the field you want to be in as a writer, spec-ing shows on the side, making connections, getting repped, and getting paid. But lest we give you the impression that it’s an easy path, or one that everyone can succeed on, we are quick to point out his years of hard work developing skills and trying to get read, his obvious talent, and the dash of kismet that got his unread script out from under his agent’s desk. Read on for details…

Current project(s): I am the Executive Producer/Co-Creator of “Dark Blue” on TNT. We are filming our second season, tentatively set to premiere in early June. I am also in the middle of adapting a book called “The Last Duel,” which is based on true events in 14^th century France, as a film project for Paramount.

College & degree: I have a BA in Fine Arts from NYU’s Tisch School.

Internship: I had a very good internship at “Saturday Night Live.” I was a Production Assistant in their film unit, which does all of the out-of-studio content for the show, which at the time was “Toonces the Driving Cat,” in addition to the fake commercials.

First job in the entertainment industry: I worked for a director on a Savoy Pictures Studios movie, then became a Production Assistant at Amblin (when it was in the process of turning into DreamWorks.) From there, I worked as an executive assistant for Darryl Frank, a TV executive at DreamWorks Television (now President of DreamWorks Television).

Big break: When my feature film spec script, CONFIDENCE, was optioned by LionsGate and then ultimately was produced.

Eureka moment: I’d been working for years steadily and I took a job on a movie rewrite that I didn’t believe in, didn’t really like. I woke up every morning thinking about how NOT worth it it was. I realized at that point the long-term benefit of only doing things that you are passionate about, which is beyond monetary rewards.

Career path: While I was working for Darryl, I was writing TV specs. (Note: TV specs are samples scripts of current TV shows similar to the ones you want to work on in order to demonstrate your abilities.) I got an agent off of a TV spec and, from there, I started getting work in TV. I got some freelance episodes, and I worked very briefly on a miniseries called “Taken,” then on a drama originally for TNT (which aired elsewhere), ”Breaking News.” While doing that, I created the spec for CONFIDENCE. I sent it to my TV agent who promptly (literally) put it under his desk.

I had a general meeting with a producer who asked if I had any movie scripts. I sent him CONFIDENCE. After reading it, he contacted Brad Mendelsohn, then a film agent at the agency where I was repped for TV, to find out who repped me for movies. Brad stopped by my TV agent’s office and asked if I was his client and then asked him if I had a film script. My TV agent bent down and brought the script out from under the desk and handed it to Brad. Brad became my agent and then, when he left the agency, my manager. The man who read my script became one of the producers of CONFIDENCE.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: When I get to the office, which is on the Warner Bros. lot, I check in with the other writers to find out if anyone needs help with anything. Depending on what’s going on overall, either we gather in the writer’s room to work on story ideas, or I work on an outline or a script. After lunch, I tend to whatever is happening with other aspects of the show- casting issues, production issues, network or producer questions. It’s all about trying to keep everything above water.

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry: I had written a pilot that I really, really loved and put a lot into and it was moving along with a lot of enthusiasm and then, at the one yard line, it wasn’t picked up. I remember being really crushed because I was so invested in it.

Best job (or day) in entertainment industry: Any day when I’m alone and I’m writing something and it’s working and there’s no hint of doubt about what I’m doing and at the end of the day, I know where I’m going tomorrow- then it’s just the greatest job in the world.

Best thing about your current job: Working with other creative people and also, in this world of TV, you see the whole process from idea to script to pre-production to shooting to editing. You don’t feel worry about whether it will see the light of day- it’s going to happen, it’s going to go from an idea you get to the finished episode being on TV.

Worst thing about your current job: It’s the most like a day job I’ve had since I had a day job. In other words, I have to be somewhere at a certain time. And it’s unrelenting. You have to constantly feed the machine.

Brush with greatness (can be a celebrity encounter or just being exposed to someone being brilliant at what they do): Working with Dustin Hoffman. That was good.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: I’ve never heard of any two people doing it the same way. You have to play to your strengths and be true to yourself. If you know what you’re good at and determine your own self worth, people will see that. But if you pretend to be something just because it’s in vogue or something otherwise you are not, people will see that, too. I couldn’t pretend to be a romantic comedy writer, for instance.

Next move: I’m in a fortunate position where I can wait and make things happen that are meaningful to me, as opposed to going for a “job.” This goes back to my earlier comment about if you’re doing something that you like and feel passionate about, people can sense that and the work is more fulfilling.

Become a Your Industry Insider Facebook fan for updates on when you can see Doug’s work on the small screen and on the big screen. 

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