What Does a Producer Do?

In short…they manage people outside of the filming, and get the money.

You have to have the wisdom to ask for professional help. We all start that way. What muddies up the whole producer thing is this whole crediting thing. Back in the day you had “produced by…written by…directed by…” Today financiers, managers, and others all want their name in there. As a producer you want to knock them out.

Producers need to earn that title. George Lucas spearheaded this thing where if you aren’t involved in a certain percentage of the film on every stage of the film, then you aren’t a producer.

Producer is responsible for every element of the film from pre, pro, post, dist, etc. He’s responsible for finding the money or getting people to find it. Good producers never put their own money into their work. Being totally independent is rare. One the whole, raise the money.

Producer is responsible for the shared vision. As a producer you may have a film in your head. The writer will have a different film in their head. The director will have another film in the head. What you need to do is get the three together and share the vision and get on the same track.

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The Stages of Production we will Cover:

• Development: This is the longest and hardest part. finding the material, going after the financing, identifying the key staff and crew (talents) that we want.
• Pre-Production: Not as long as the development stage, but can be long. You secure the material (especially if its written by someone). You need to get a revised script and screenplay. Then you hire the staff, crew, and talent. You then assemble the materials, sites, locations, etc. Everything needs to be ready.
• Production: The shoot itself, when compared to the development and pre is like a moment.
• Post-Production: It’s the assemble of the footage from rough cut, final cut. Then the artwork, sound effects, etc.
• Delivery: When you deliver the final product, there is a lot of paperwork involved. Contracts, law, legal thing, trailer, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
• Promotion/Marketing/Distribution: Festivals, getting into them and other things.

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Qualifications of the Producer

• Love to read
• Business knowledge
• Likeness to travel
• Organizational building
• Able to deal with people and being a good diplomat
• Sense of humor (the job is stressful)
• Passion and Persistance – Unless you really believe in the project you want to do, It will be difficult to stick to some of the things.

The producer is the only one that has the overall picture. You can see the crew, cameras, shoot, people, etc. Your job is to make things as comfortable and smooth for the director as possible for him to do his job.

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