It’s always
strange to see the same and usual
names on the front of the DVD, in trailers or even when simply recommending a
friend to go see a certain movie because it was directed by or this actor is in
it… I mean most do tend to do so, even me. However, we occasionally come
across “from the producers of” and I notice many tend to stop and think about
it for a second: who is that producer? What do they do?
I myself
have reflected upon such notion once or twice, even though I knew of their
existence but was unsure of how important they actually are during the
production of a feature. As usual, I collected some information from various
internet sources and will now try to
summarize who and what a [good] producer does and most importantly when!
To not
confuse anyone (and me ahah), I’ll highlight the main points and write
everything as a unique article; the
sources from which I gathered my information will all be listed below
under Links.
Producers
are the main focus of the production, it all starts from their
approach to beginning a project! The road towards becoming a film producer is
not that easy and it requires a certain knowledge in a wide range of “subjects”;
I mainly associated words like budget, marketing, profit and so on to
producers, which per se is actually right. They need to know how to market a
film and keep within the given budget, they need to keep the team on track and manage time, turning “story ideas into profitable
cinematic entertainment”. The producer is a team leader, a motivated individual
who has knowledge regarding business and also creative aspects. He or she is
the start!
It’s a long
and hard road to walk down but, as for every job, it is always rewarding when
you manage to carry out a great project. Who remembers the famous 6 thinking
hats? Not all of you? That’s fine, it’s just to given an example of how
producers work during the production of a film.
Preproduction.
Even before pulling out cameras and calling
the actors, you need an idea/script [obviously] and usually this is provided by
the producer! They either use a book or
simply an idea they have in mind to present to a screenwriter or a director/studio; once
the final script is completed and ready to be produced, it's then time to find
the funding for your film and secure it (I would probably not enjoy this part
ahahah). Then he/she brings together a great team! Yeah, they pick ‘the big
names’ and along them mainly the whole production crew [again, not saying they
are least important than “the big names”].
Then the
producers need to find the right locations, secure the budget, schedule the
production plan, take care of the legal responsibilities, then the shopping
list… just joking on the last one ahah but seriously I think it’s the only
thing left that they do not do (but you never know).
It’s pretty
much the whole set up!
Production.
The
producer will always be lurking behind you! He/she needs to make sure
everything goes as plan and help wherever needed, suggestions for the director,
handling any problems (remember, you need to know how to work under pressure).
He/she sounds like the big boss, “primary point of contact”!
Postproduction.
It’s like a
never ending job for the producer once they start a project, they have the last
say on the film and if necessary they can polish it. Even when the feature is
finished and ready to hit the big screens, there is still so much work to do!
Can’t have a finished film and not be able to show your audience, so the
producer takes care of the marketing and distribution; he/she is
like the living advertisement of a movie. “The producer gives an input […]
making sure audiences know about the film and want to go see it”.
I know this
is very schematic, but it’s essentially what a produce does (everything) and obviously
depends what film you are producing that the work changes but let’s think about
; do producers really take care of (practically) everything? In many chases yes
but have you ever noticed that there can be more than one producer? Such as
executive, associate, co-producers and so on. In fact that will be the next
post!
So hope
this is useful and interesting and will see you next time with what makes a
good and/or bad producer – part 2!
AG
Links
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-producer2.htm
http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/jobs/production/article_3876_1.asp
http://www.creativeskillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_16992.pdf?1
http://www.tomcruise.com/blog/2010/11/05/how-to-become-movie-producer-guide/
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knk3g-mOXAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvljM7_c37w
