As the former head of production and design for MTV Networks’ special event department, Lynda Field has executed all kinds of events: press tours, award shows, after-parties, meetings, media upfronts, and outdoor festivals, among others. “I come from a production background. [Before I got into events,] I stage managed theater and dance, toured, production managed, and was even, for a brief time, a stagehand,” says Field. “Events with performance components and complicated logistics are my specialty.”
After working in-house for 14 years, Field says, she wanted to branch out and work with a wider range of clients again. In summer 2010, she left MTV and launched Lynda Field Productions, targeting her services to media companies and other “adventurous, creative, risk-taking” brands. Early clients include MTV parent Viacom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Field prefers to work more like a staffer than a vendor. “My goal is to go in as early as possible on a project. Sometimes when you come in later in the process, the critical thinking has already happened internally, and I like to talk as a team about what a client wants and what works,” she says. “I like to come in as part of your internal team, but also have the freedom to get things done in an efficient manner, as an external person.”
Field says she also brings a deep knowledge of sponsorship integration. “I did so much work [at MTV] with ad sales and integrated marketing, so I really understand getting brands to rub up against each other, as well as how to incorporate creative entities like artists and filmmakers,” she says. “People don’t respond to giant banners on the side of a barn anymore. Everything we do has to be creatively and seamlessly integrated.”
Field produced the premiere of the movie Waiting for Superman in Washington, which was hosted by Viacom and its education program, Get Schooled. The September screening, which drew 600 legislators, journalists, and other political insiders to the Newseum, also included a V.I.P. cocktail reception, a video introduction by Stephen Colbert, and a panel discussion with filmmaker David Guggenheim, former Washington public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
“She helped secure the venue and organize all aspects of the evening’s activities, from the layout, to the food and drink, to the multimedia. Washington, D.C., is a hard town to impress, and Lynda did it,” said Marie Groark, executive director of Get Schooled. “Lynda brings three essential qualities to any project she works with: an organized approach, a penchant for detail, and a cool head for when challenges invariably present themselves.”
