When chatting with successful production coordinator Victoria Marino, it’s clear from the outset that she possesses a unique skillset and determination that would land her golden opportunities in the difficult landscape of entertainment. It’s therefore no surprise to hear about her experience working on “UFC: The Road to Octagon,” a hugely popular sports show on FOX in which Victoria played a crucial role behind the scenes. As part of her responsibilities as a production coordinator with Figura Media (Brazil Production Services - BPS), Victoria was handed the key task of serving Positive Image Video (PIV) and the UFC. It’s clear when speaking with Victoria that she takes her job seriously, but found the joy in ensuring the project’s success.
She explains, “I was particularly involved in the shoot for episode 24 of the Road to the Octagon series, and worked closely with the entire team to make this shoot happen as well as it did. We were filming with Jacaré Souza, a world-renowned UFC fighter for this project and it was a demanding production in terms of coordinating all the elements to make it happen well.”
In a niche world like mixed martial arts, an outsider might be forgiven for thinking that the machine is so small that everyone knows each other and shoots would be easy to organise. Victoria, however, functioned as a liaison between all the moving parts in what proved to be a mammoth undertaking. “Some of the challenges I face when coordinating a shoot like this include communicating with the fighter himself and his agents and managers to schedule the shoot with them, putting together a production schedule that works within the fighters training schedule and in the best interest of the crew, and hiring the most talented crew members to best showcase the fighter in hand.”
An even more exciting part of her responsibilities working with the UFC? Victoria was able to use her unique knowledge of her home country as part of her work with UFC Embedded 212, a separate docu-series shot in Brazil. Each episode, released on YouTube, follows a UFC fighter for a whole week before a major fight. “We had a crew of over 20 people working to put these episodes together, filming the fighters everyday in their pre-fight routine in Rio, and editing the footage overnight to put it up the next day.” Victoria elaborates that it was an “intense schedule,” but joyously expresses pride in the huge numbers of viewers (700,000+) who show interest in the fighters. Victoria hints at a bright future in network television. “I...enjoy the fast pace of producing a series like Embedded 212. And it’s extremely rewarding to see the episodes go up online and get so many views and such positive feedback!”
The hard-worker she is, Victoria of course has not limited her experience to just one genre of programming as a production coordinator. Her involvement with such hit shows like “72 Dangerous Animals - Latin America,” to air on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, is further proof of her diverse skill-set and commitment to client interests. “I was involved in research and pre-production for about six weeks, starting in March this year. Production happened in the span of a month, and I am still assisting the client in the post-production process.”
A rich and varied resume like Victoria’s has ensured she has an exciting future to which she can look forward. Regarding her plans for the future, she talks with laser focus, “I am leading new marketing initiatives at BPS to get new Brazilian clients that want to film here in the USA also, since most of our clients are foreign clients that want to film in Brazil.”