Meet Miami Alum Lindsay Rice, Film Production Coordinator

Written by Britton Perelman

Miami Media & Culture major, Class of ‘16

“Lindsay!”

The yell reverberates around the set and, as it was intended, causes production manager Lindsay Rice to bolt out of her office and come running downstairs.

Film director JC Schroder cannot figure out how to work a motion-activated gumball machine filled to the brim with M & Ms.

Rice, a 2009 Miami University Mass Communication graduate, is working with Schroder – also a Miami grad – on the feature film "Forever’s End."

She is in charge of compiling things for craft services (all the food and snacks available for the cast and crew) on the set, a job allocated to her because the budget doesn't allow for someone else to manage craft services separately.

“How do you get this thing to work?” asks an incredibly confused Schroder.

Rice swiftly swipes her hand under the machine, which automatically drops out around 8 tiny M & Ms.

“That is so cool!” he exclaims in response.

Schroder isn't the only one confused by the machine, though. Every member of the cast and crew makes the exact same mistake at some point during the shoot, and every time Rice comes to the rescue.

But there is much more to Lindsay Rice’s job than M & M machines.

Rice, who currently works as a production coordinator at Imagecraft Productions in Los Angeles, doesn any number of things on a daily basis, including hiring crew for any number of shows, renting out gear for shoots, and helping clients with locations, permits, schedules or contact sheets.

Working at Imagecraft has given Rice the opportunity to help clients such as the “Real Housewives” reality TV shows, the Academy Awards and various other awards shows, and the World Poker Tour.

Miami MAFIA was her calling

California was completely new to Rice, who grew up in Sharonville, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. In addition to her Mass Communication degree, she minored at Miami in Interactive Media Studies and Film Studies.

“I am like the biggest workaholic you’ll ever meet, so I did nothing but work in college,” she says. “I had two part-time jobs and when I wasn’t doing that I was doing stuff for MAFIA.”

She’s referring to the Miami Association of Filmmakers and Independent Artists, of which she was president from 2008 to 2009. Rice worked on more than 11 short films during her time with the organization.

She came to Miami with the intent of studying graphic design, but soon found that her talents would be put to better use in another field.

A combination of working with Schroder and the other members of MAFIA, and hearing Rick Ludwin – a Miami alum who was NBC’s longtime executive VP for late night and primetime series - speak brought Rice to the realization that she was going to have to move to Los Angeles to pursue what she loved.

After graduation, she formulated a plan and worked until she had saved up enough money to make it to California.

“My parents were just in shock the whole time; they didn’t think I was actually going to do it,” she says, laughing as she recalls the situation.

Once in Los Angeles, she shared an apartment - one with no furniture except a single TV and a handful of beach chairs - with hopeful actress Lauren Whitehouse. Rice began as a freelancer, and even did some background acting on various TV shows, including “Glee” and “NCIS” to get started.

“Being a freelance person is continuously frustrating because you’re always looking for your next job,” she says.

A freelancer no more

She eventually landed her current job with Imagecraft in the summer of 2011.

Rice, who kept in contact with Schroder, was the production manager for his feature film "Forever’s End," which was filmed in Cincinnati. It is scheduled to be released in late 2013. The post-apocalyptic film with a small budget was a lot of work in many ways for both Rice and Schroder.

Schroder admitted that Rice, as production manager, should’ve had several other people working under her and didn’t, but was somehow able to make it work anyway.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard her once complain about anything,” he says, a statement that was echoed by Miami Associate Professor David Sholle, who taught media communications to Rice and worked with her through MAFIA.

“It was great because I was literally in charge of everything! I don’t know what that says about me, but I enjoyed it so much,” Rice says of her experience working on "Forever’s End."

But having a job that, as she describes, everyone expects the world of, is exactly what she loves. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and, occasionally, doing typical “touristy” Hollywood Boulevard things.

“There are people who are really creatively minded and there are people who are really logistically minded,” says Schroder about his friend. “She loves to figure out all the paperwork and scheduling and all the logistical details that make a project run.

“Working with her is absolutely wonderful.”