What Does A Producer Do?

 First published December 10, 2012

Question: What does a producer do? Answer: 5 to 10 if he’s caught.

Putting bad jokes to one side, it ought to be a pretty simple question. After all, everybody knows that a director directs and a screenwriter writes. But credits for producers are often stretched out in various – and often confusing – ways.

For example, take my title (used occasionally) here at R&R Consulting. I am sometimes referred to as a Production Consultant. What does this mean? Got me. I have performed a very odd and varied list of functions and quite honestly, we were running out of ideas of how to describe it. The title is not so much a job reference as a loose string of associations. But it sounds good. Just like Corinthian leather.

The question becomes especially perplexing when a movie has a long list of producers, executive producers, associate producers and more. In the case of a Hollywood tent-pole flick, it is not unusual to see a list of 4 or more executive producers, 3 or more producers, a couple of co-producers, as well as an assortment of associate and line producers. But there are also increasing amount of low budget films that rival (or even surpass) the big boys in their string of credits. Heck, the movie A Dirty Shame had 7 executive producers, 2 co-executive producers, 2 producers, and 1 co-producer. It had more producers than viewers.

Which may explain why some people have gotten a tad cynical about how these titles work. At his web site, screenwriter John August gives a pretty straight forward description of these titles. A more cynical (though not unfair) presentation can be found by Rick Schwartz at Grantland.com. In each case, the articles strongly suggest the need for a major overhaul of the system.

Which is why the Producers Guild of America has been trying to create a better, more tightly defined list of what these credits should mean. Hence the slow but increasing use of the Producers’ Mark by major studios and continuing attempts to clearly define the different levels of production credit. The Producers’ Mark is designed to certify that the producer has met a precise system of job classifications and standards with the Guild. Of course, that also means that the producer is a member of the Guild. A lot of people involved in low budget indie movies will not yet be qualified to join the Guild. To be honest, the Producers’ Mark has a very limited effect in the business. But it sounds good. Just like Corinthian leather.

However, I would strongly recommend anyone currently looking to do a low budget movie to carefully read the Guild’s list of what job functions they should accept to be performed by any person seeking the Produced For credit. Over the past several years, I have received various questions from young first-time filmmakers about the role of the producer and the PGA does provide a solid guide for defining this role. For example, in the Development section,  they emphasis the producer’s role in securing the initial financing. Keep that in mind the next time you are talking with a so-called producer who offers to “produce” your movie if you can “produce” the money. As I keep telling people, that isn’t how it works. Don’t believe me, ask the PGA.

The PGA also provides a detailed breakdown of functions for most every other producer credit. It is a rational approach to the issue of production credits and makes the process pretty straight forward…until you hit one of the many gray zones. You know, like when you have an actor with the kind of name value that will help secure financing for your film but who is only willing to do the movie if they get a production credit but who you don’t want in a position of any real authority over the project because they are some kind of complete and infamous egotistical nimrod with no clue and you only want to give them the illusion of power but no real say in anything beyond ordering lunch.

Suddenly, you are calling this star a co-executive producer. With luck you only have to listen between takes to all of their hot ideas (while you zone out to your own favorite mental landscape). Unfortunately, they sometimes take the title seriously and think they have real say over the movie. If you are the director, this is when you fall back on the PGA list and make the real producer deal with it.

It also means that no matter how you try to define these various credits, there will always be exceptions. This is especially true in indie films where credits are often more available than financial rewards. Likewise, few people working on a low budget movie are going to belong to any of the guilds, and most of them are working on the movie in order to get the screen credits they desperately need for future projects. So the handing out of various producer credits becomes an essential enticement. Of course, the credits also start to become increasingly weird as the caterer becomes the co-executive associate producer.

Which is why it remains difficult to really maintain a tight control over these credits. In many movies the most significant titles will be the Produced By credit and Co-Producer/Line Producer. Half the time, the other titles are more honorary than significant. Even when they are significant, they don’t always mean much. There are a few cases where one of the executive producers got the title only because they agreed not to sue the filmmakers for some type of copyright violation. Likewise, if the movie is based on a book,  it is not uncommon to give the author an executive producer title. It briefly convinces them that you intend to faithfully pay attention to their artistic vision (until they get a look at the finished film).

So my advise is to use the PGA guidelines as the starting point for defining the various roles of producer. But if nobody involved in the movie is with the guild, you need not get too cracked up about it. Just don’t be too slap happy with the titles. They can – and will – have legal significance if and when somebody gets mad enough to sue.

Meanwhile, the attempt to make sense out of production credits will continue its curious rise and fall. The drive to abuse these credits is just too darn tempting to be easily regulated.