system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Hunger Games] What qualifications do you need to be head game maker? What kind of planning goes into the games?

I'm asking for a friend...
gpt
It's a political appointment, so getting in good with the President is helpful. However because of the propagandistic and cultural importance of the Hunger Games there's a necessary level of merit. Your best bet is to get involved with the Games at a lower level first, as a technician or part of the broadcast or prep teams. If you consistently produce victors (or at least popular losing tributes), come up with impressive gimmicks or dangers for the arena, or otherwise make the show better than it would be without you, then it'll help you rise through the ranks to become a gamemaker and eventually Head Gamemaker.

The Games Committee are working on the next Hunger Games almost from the moment the last victor is crowned. Usually construction is started on the arenas three to five years in advance of them actually being used, although there are occasional exceptions, when the need arises. An environment is decided on, any special gimmicks are engineered, screens and force fields are put up. Don't let this get out, but the official claim that the special circumstances for Quarter Quells were determined for centuries' worth of games is a crock. If it's a Quarter Quell, special circumstances are devised by the head gamemaker and the president about six months before the reaping. If muttations are needed, they'll be engineered and grown in the wombs of... ahem... *volunteers* from District 5. If new stylists or presenters are needed, then pageants are organized and televised in the capitol to determine the most in-demand candidates. It's as much logistical planning and construction as once, long ago, went into the Olympics, the construction of a theme park, and the Miss Universe contest combined.