Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to the film studio or other financing entity, while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed. Many film producers also obtain competency in other fields (directors, screenwriters, actors) but that is not always the case.

The producer is often actively involved throughout all major phases of the filmmaking process, from inception and development to completion and delivery of a film project. However, an idea or concept for a film can originate with any individual, including a screenwriter, a director or a producer.

Role

A producer begins by obtaining the rights to create or co-create a feature-length screenplay. The producer oversees the process, which includes coordinating, supervising and controlling major aspects of the project. This includes fundraising and hiring key roles such as the casting director or film director. They'll also influence the hiring of other personnel such as the UPM or line producer and accountant.

From the first draft script, through all stages of production, to the final dub, success or failure rests largely in the hands of the producer. Experience in this field does not come overnight. Rather it is born out of long years of creative and technical know-how, and above all a love for the job and all that goes with it, together with the ability to choose the right talent with which to surround himself.

— Julian Wintle,

Comparison to other producer roles

An executive producer may be a person representing a financial investor in a film project, such as a movie studio or a distributor, but who is not directly involved in the day-to-day production. But on many films today the functioning line producer will receive this credit. It can also be someone with other special interests in the project, such as the author of the book that the film is based on, or one of the movie's key actors who has been instrumental in persuading the studio to do the movie. In such cases, the executive producer credit is mainly honorary.

The role of associate producers and co-producers vary from film to film. They may be part of the producer's support team. The person who found the property but passed it on to a better established producer often gets this credit. The writer often gets some type of producer credit, even if uninvolved in the production.

A line producer is a hands-on role which controls the day-to-day financial and production concerns and is there to support the vision of the director during production. In the 1970s, it was common for line producers to be credited as associate producers. Since the 1980s, however, it has become increasingly common for the line producer to be given the title of executive producer, while the initiating producer takes the "produced by" credit. On other projects, the reverse happens, with the line producer taking the "produced by" credit. So the two credits have become effectively interchangeable, with no precise definition.

In November 2012, three studios: Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures plus Screen Gems joined DreamWorks Animation and the Weinstein Company in Producers Guild of America certification program which designates those producers that request it "p.g.a." after their name if a genuine producer.

References

Notes

Further reading

• The Producer's Business Handbook by John J. Lee, Jr., Focal Press (2000)
• From Reel to Deal by Dov S-S Simens, Warner Books (2003)
• Preston Sturges: American Phenomenon by Stephen J. Dobi. Masters Thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 1971.