MediaMKRS Spotlight: Mercy Rodriguez

Merced “Mercy” Rodriguez is a Reel Works alumni and graduate of the MediaMKRS program with a long-standing career working in the art departments of the entertainment industry since 2014. She was seeking a career change just before the pandemic shut down all production, which inevitably impacted her income. 

“I had grown tired of the physical labor aspect of that job. I didn’t want to put my body through that anymore,” she said. 

After hearing about the program from a friend, Mercy applied for the second cohort of the WarnerMedia Post Production Coordinator training program in the fall of 2020. Through a partnership with WarnerMedia Access, Reel Work launched this free seven-week remote training to develop Post-Production Coordinators in 2020. The training prepares early-career professionals to work in high-end scripted programming.

“I didn’t know what a post manager or post producer did, but I knew that I was good at maintaining budgets, scheduling, coordinating moving pieces and putting together the puzzles of working on a show and producing a show from the production prop side,” she explained. Mercy attended the info session and applied for the program that same evening. 

Out of more than one hundred applicants from New York and Los Angeles, Mercy was selected as one of 16 trainees who all came from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The seven-week training was led by two instructors with an emphasis on hands-on training and guest speakers. 

“I had an amazing time. It was a challenging year and I did not get to socialize much prior to the program. [The training] became a bit of a safe haven...There was so much I realized I didn’t know about TV and film. It was a little overwhelming at first, but [the instructors] never made us feel dumb or that any question was too stupid. They were always so willing to give their time even outside of classroom hours.”

The final training session included speed networking with WarnerMedia employees and post coordinator trainees. During that event, Mercy met Post Producer Reuben Lim who worked on HBO’s acclaimed series Insecure.

Mercy Rodriguez was a part of the second cohort of the WarnerMedia Access to Action program in Winter 2020 [second row, right].

“I talked about how much this show meant to me and my family. It was an Insecure love-fest,” said Mercy.

A few days later, Mercy and Rueben scheduled a call and they chatted for about an hour. She sent over her references and was interviewed by the Associate Producer the next day. She was hired as a Post Coordinator for Season 5 of Insecure, which wraps October 2021, initially working remotely. Mercy credits success on the show to the experience she brought from her previous jobs and her time in the training program. 

“Without that knowledge base I wouldn’t be [working] on this show. This show is hard. We hit the ground running the first week when I got started. My first week I was nervous. Now, it’s second nature,” said Mercy.