The Producer: Defined and Revered

The Producer…It’s one of the most overused and abused job titles in the history of abused and overused job titles. But, do you know what a Producer is and what they really do? This is an attempt to define the role and attributes of The Producer for the confused, uninitiated and curious.

 

PRODUCER (noun)

a person who produces.

Economics. a person who creates economic value, or produces goods and services.

a person responsible for the financial and administrative aspects of a stage, film, television, or radio production; the person who exercises general supervision of a production and is responsible chiefly for raising money, hiring technicians and artists, etc., required to stage a play, make a motion picture, or the like.Compare director (def. 3).

 

To begin, a good producer is revered, loved, trusted, respected and incredibly savvy. It is in the unspoken code of the producer that all problems will be solved by involving as few people as possible and keeping all solutions behind the curtain and behind the lens –  away from the audience and the client. 

Producers are often both creative and methodical. Their days are spent revolving ideas between both the left and right sides of their brains to work out solutions. The Producer can be responsible for script consulting, script writing, pitching creative concepts. They find and hire: freelance crews, Directors, actors, designers and composers. They facilitate: casting, location scouting, location permitting, legal permits, release forms and talent usage. They integrate production strategy and client relationships and connect all stakeholders to ensure there is no ambiguity in the process or the final product. And, perhaps most importantly, the Producer builds and maintains the budget. They manage the money.

This is a small excerpt I recently read in the job posting for an open Video Producer job posting: 

“Do you produce? Are you a video problem solver? Can you tell a good story? Can you make a mean client smile? Can you make a stranger care? Can you get more Likes? Do you see the full campaign and strategy from the ground up?

How long have you been budgeting? Who’s the best, local DP for exterior interviews? Is 8K for real?

Where do we go from here? How many C-stands can you carry in one trip? What’s your Sunday morning jam? How do you create the SOW from pitch decks? What was your best pitch? Do you speak TikTokenese?

We’re looking for a full-time, bang-up, kickass, one-of-a-kind producer extraordinaire that plays well with others and looks boldly at the future.” 

This is a fun and flirtatious list of statements and questions, but it’s not without a true basis in what makes up a Producer’s job: everything (sometimes all at once).

 

When they say “The show must go on”, they are the Producer. 

 

They make it happen in the face of acts of god, egos, pandemics, actors that think they’re god (see previous egos reference) and all other shifting paradigms for both content production and distribution. 

In spring of 2021 Postmodern Company was hired to conduct some interviews with CVS leadership and Johns Hopkins University to discuss their synergies through the first year of the pandemic. The first examples they discussed of ingenuity and adaptability to creative protocols for working safely with groups of disparate participants were producers working on feature films and commercials. The CVS and Johns Hopkins panels were quick to note that the producers for those productions were best suited to problem solve and quickly author proper rules and guidance on how to make sure the show would go on – safely. Film and video producers were creating health and safety protocols at a level of efficacy that Johns Hopkins and CVS were not only taking notice of, but learning from. That’s a whole new definition for show business.

Most people know who these people are and what they do: Black Panther, Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Iron Man, Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Spielberg, Seinfeld.

Behind each of those names – in all their most successful endeavors are these names:  Kathleen Kennedy, Kevin Feige, Avi Arad, Louis D’Esposito, James Burrows, Jai Stefan. These are some of the most influential and prolific producers in the history of video content production/ movie making/content creation/entertainment. They’re behind or in front of all the success that fell to the names in the first list.

So, what is a producer? They are the revered, overworked, and multi-talented leaders that make sure: budgets are maintained, schedules are adhered to, egos are stroked, expectations are exceeded, bellies are full, needs are met, laws are obeyed, and audiences are delighted. No big deal, right?