Because of Physics

Clients ask for floating cars and reindeer transfers, and the producer's job is to find what they really want and decline the rest.

Clients ask for floating cars and reindeer rides, and a producer's job is to find what they really want. This piece argues for an answer that separates the wish from the request and rules out the literal version in one line. It then offers two versions that give the same feeling and writes the decision down, so it does not come back.

Impossible client requests are rarely about the object. A client who wants a car to float wants a moment of wonder.

The producer's job is to find that wish and decline the literal version in one line. Then offer two versions that give the same feeling. Write the decision down, so it does not come back next week.

The answer that loses the client

Every producer meets a request like this sooner or later. Picture a client who asks why the car cannot just hover above the stage. The short answer is because of physics, and it is true.

It is a good line among producers. In a meeting, it loses the client. The request deserves a better answer, because there is a real wish inside it.

The request names a feeling

Clients describe what they want with things they have seen. When a client says make the car float, they mean make people gasp. When they ask for reindeer to carry guests to the party, they mean make the night feel like a winter story. The object is a guess at how to reach the feeling.

So the first question is not how. It is what a guest should feel at that moment. Ask the client that directly, then ask what they hope guests will tell people the next day. The answers give you something you can design.

Decline the literal version in one line

Most impossible requests fail on one of four grounds. They are physics, budget, law and time. Say which one, once, and skip the lecture.

• Physics. Example request: A car that floats with nothing under it. One line that turns to an option: "Nothing holds a car up unseen, so let's hide what holds it.".
• Budget. Example request: A full-size copy of a famous landmark. One line that turns to an option: "That build costs more than the whole event, so here is what gives the same scale.".
• Law. Example request: Lasers swept across the crowd's eyes. One line that turns to an option: "Safety rules limit where lasers can point, so we'll aim them above the crowd.".
• Time. Example request: A custom robot in three weeks. One line that turns to an option: "It can't be built and tested by then, so here is what can.".

Each line names the limit and turns to the option in the same breath. With enough money, a great deal can be built, even if it is slow. Most events have a fixed budget, so cost decides long before engineering does.

Often budget and physics are the same answer.

Two versions, not one and not five

Then offer two versions that deliver the feeling. One option feels like take it or leave it. Five turn the meeting into a menu. Two give the client a real choice and a sense of control.

For the floating car, one version is engineering. A car can be hung from a venue's roof if the rigging points are rated for the weight and an engineer signs off. It is costly and slow, but real.

The other version is illusion. Set the car on a slim black base, light it from above, and drape everything around the base in black. From the seats, it seems to hover.

Each option needs a price, a lead time and a picture. A client cannot choose well between two paragraphs. They can choose between two images.

Write the decision down

Impossible requests come back. The CEO raises it again at the next meeting, or a new stakeholder asks why the car is not floating. A written record ends the loop.

Record five things. Note the request, the feeling behind it and why the literal version is out. Add the two options with their prices, then the choice and the name of the person who made it. Keep it with the decision record that closes a design presentation, so it lives where the other approvals live.

Keep the client

Requests like this make good stories after the event. The client should never hear the joke.

A client who asks for the impossible is telling you how big they want the moment to be. That ambition is useful. Your job is to point it at something you can build.

Some gaps are about money, not physics. A client whose photos call for a bigger budget is a different problem, covered in your moodboard has a budget.

Say yes to the feeling

Say no to the object and yes to the feeling, in that order and in the same breath. The client keeps the moment, and you keep the client.

Options are easier to choose when the client can see the room they will happen in. Monet turns a venue plan into a to-scale layout with 3D renders and walkthrough videos of the real room, so each option is weighed against the space it must fit.