Special Skills
A UPM must possess strong people skills to negotiate with, manage,
and motivate a diverse group of personalities. Organization and the
ability to administer a budget are necessities. "I think anyone can do my
job technically," says UPM Donna Bloom. "What makes me good at it are
my people skills. I can talk to people and I'm fair. I do not have a temper.
I don't think I have ever yelled at anyone in my life. I worked for some
pretty awful people and I learned from them how I never wanted to be.
I knew if I became a production manager, I was not going to be that kind
of person. I choose to follow the path of people I thought were great."
Advice for Someone Seeking This Job
"You have to believe you can do it," says Bloom. "Do all the home-
work you can. Touch base with people. Take any job. Never be a quitter.
If you're starting out in this business, you're going to eat a lot of crow.
You have got to pay your dues . . . People at the top are still paying their
dues. Don't be in a hurry to do it. Take your time and enjoy it as you're
on your way. You have to be humble, and be assertive, without being
aggressive. You have to talk to people and make it known what you
want, but in a nice way."
Professional Profile: Donna E. Bloom, Unit Production Manager
Originally from New York, Donna Bloom's family moved to Italy
when she was ten. After a year of college overseas, she returned to
America in her early twenties to study at Emerson College in Boston.
There she earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, planning to
become a foreign correspondent. Returning to Europe, she landed a job
making documentaries for the Italian television network. "I was the jack-
of-all-trades. I was the production manager, the location manager, and
interpreter. You did everything."
Unable to get papers to work overseas, Bloom returned to the United
States in the early 1980s and took a job working at Good Morning America.
One day she realized that what she really wanted to do was make
movies, and quit her job.
Through her sister Julie, who was working as a production assistant,
Bloom met several crew members. A couple of days later, one of the crew
members called to ask if Julie were available to work on Tootsie. Donna
answered the call and advised them her sister was working on another
picture. "Well, what are you doing?" he asked. "That's how I started
making movies: working as a production assistant on Tootsie at the
Russian Tea Room for two days."
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