DRW Media Works

07/02/2026

If you're managing productions with a small team and a tight budget — I built something for you.

It's called the Producer's Playbook. It's free.

It covers every phase of a production — locking the idea, building your budget, setting your crew, managing your timeline, and planning for the unexpected.

One document. Completely free. I put it together because this is exactly the stuff nobody teaches you in church media.

Grab it here → drwmediaworks.com/playbook

And if you want to go deeper, head over to drwmediaworks.com, where I talk about this stuff every week.

Dan Wathen helps churches and nonprofits get strategic about media.

07/01/2026

Here's something I wish someone had told me early in my career:

Wearing every hat in church media isn't a problem. It's an advantage.

You're the producer. The director. The shooter. Sometimes the editor. People in Hollywood would look at that and think something is wrong.

I look at it and see the best training ground you'll ever have.

You're learning to think at every level of a production simultaneously. That's a skillset most people spend years trying to develop.

Don't let anyone tell you that doing it all is holding you back. It's actually what's preparing you for the next level.

06/30/2026

Can I be honest with you for a second?

I'm not a film school guy. I've said the wrong things. Mispronounced terms. Done things the "wrong" way.

And I've still produced international documentaries, projects for major ministries, and a Paramount network show.

You know what matters more than knowing the right words?

Getting it done. Thinking ahead. Solving problems before they become emergencies.

That's what a producer actually does. And you don't need a degree for that.

If you're in church media and you've ever felt like you're figuring this out as you go, you're not alone. That's exactly why I started DRW Media Works.

06/29/2026

I've been doing this for 25 years, and nobody ever sat me down and said — Here's how you stop being a technician and start thinking like a producer.

I had to figure that out on my own. Through reps. Through mistakes. Through years of producing for some of the largest ministries in the world.

Here's the thing I finally figured out:

A technician's head is down. A producer's head is up.

The technician is fixing and preparing. The producer is watching everything — the talent, the crew, the client, the clock — all at once.

That one shift changes everything.

06/22/2026

There's a difference between a technician and a producer.

A technician asks: what do I need to shoot this?

A producer asks: what does this need to communicate — and what's the best way to get there?

That one shift changes how you plan, how you budget, how you lead your team, and how you handle problems on location.

Most church media teams are full of talented technicians.
Cameras, lighting, audio, editing — all covered.

But the producer layer is often missing. The person who locks the idea, runs the pre-interviews, builds the real budget, and has a plan before something goes wrong.

This week's episode of The Producer's Seat is built around exactly that gap.

🎙️ Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-producers-seat/id1896282413?i=1000772082349

🎙️ Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GNUQ2F053aiKLtwWKSPcQ?si=33b0916b7e0c467b

▶️ Watch on YouTube → https://youtu.be/x-V-wcl5b5I

Building a clear production workflow is the difference between a pr...

06/16/2026

Before I ever book a flight, call a crew member, or touch a camera — I open a six-tab Excel workbook.

I built it after years of watching projects go sideways because the planning phase got skipped or rushed.

It covers everything: pre-production checklist, project timeline, project summary, production budget, post-production budget, and actuals.

It's the exact tool I use on every project — church media, documentary, broadcast, all of it.

I'm giving it away free. If you run media projects at your church and you're still planning on instinct, this will change that.

📋 Free download →

Dan Wathen helps churches and nonprofits get strategic about media.

06/15/2026

Years ago, I approved a video shoot based on a testimony someone heard over the phone.

My team flew across the country to film it.

They came back.
Called me into the edit room.
Pressed play.

The story was good. The emotion was there.

But the person couldn't communicate clearly on camera — and we had no way of knowing that until we were already standing in their living room with cameras rolling.

We wasted the trip. We wasted the budget. And I had to make a hard phone call afterward.

That mistake taught me something I now do on every single project, no matter how big or small.

I talk about it in this week's episode of The Producer's Seat — along with a few other lessons that took me years (and a few painful experiences) to learn.

▶️ Watch on YouTube → https://youtu.be/x-V-wcl5b5I

🎙️ Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-producers-seat/id1896282413?i=1000772082349

🎙️ Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GNUQ2F053aiKLtwWKSPcQ?si=33b0916b7e0c467b

The Producer's Seat · Episode

06/04/2026

Two things a church media director told me recently.

"It's easy to hide behind the tech and never get involved in people's lives."

And —

"Sometimes we're made to feel like a video janitor."
Both of those are real.

You were not put in this role to hide.

And you were not put there to just clean up messes.

You were put there because God wired you — specifically — to reach people through media.

That's not a support role.

That's a calling.