Producers: Crash Course Film Production #6 Video Lecture | Know more about Hollywood Film Industry: History, Production, and Criticism - Art & Craft

No movie in the entire history of film has
been made without a producer, whether or not
they were credited as one.
But no one ever seems to know what they do.
To be fair, it’s a little confusing.
There are different kinds of producers, and
people earn the title of producer for different reasons.
But the job is really hard work.
They’re the driving force of a movie: getting
a film crew off the ground, keeping everything
running, and making sure it gets shared with
the world.
If a film doesn’t get finished... well,
chances are, it could’ve used a team of producers.
[Intro Music Plays]
Let’s start with a wide lens and then zoom in.
See what I did there? Film jokes!
An executive producer, or EP, oversees the
whole filmmaking process and other producers
involved in the project.
This person might be independent and run a
small studio, like with Crash Course.
Or they might work for a larger company, and
represent the studio or the money person – the financier.
An executive producer ensures a film has the
funding it requires, and usually sets the
budget and overall schedule.
They can be deeply influential on the style
of the film, too.
Think of movies that were executive produced
by Steven Spielberg.
Or Judd Apatow.
Or Tina Fey.
They’re all different from each other, but
distinct to their EP.
While the job can be highly demanding, sometimes
people are honored with the title because
they’re lending their well-known names to
a production they believe in.
These honorary executive producers might not
be involved in the daily grind, but they’re
very important in helping it get made.
If you have student loans, you’ll understand
when I say that an honorary EP can be like
a really wonderful co-signer.
They’re standing behind your project and
promising to the world that you’re going
to deliver a film that’s up to their standards.
Even when a film has honorary EPs, it’ll
still have an executive producer who’s keeping
things running on a macro scale and looking
towards the future: a movie they can sell
and get to an audience.
Now, an EP is one kind of producer, and
there are lots of different producer roles
that we’ll get to soon.
But the simple title of “producer” is
usually where the job description seems the
most... nebulous.
Like, “what-the-heck-do-they-do” kind
of nebulous.
Turns out, there’s no one thing that a producer
is or does.
Really, the title can be given to anyone
who was essential in making sure the film
got made.
This could mean they found funding and resources.
Or maybe they developed the idea, balancing
big picture stuff.
Or they might have brought the creative team
together, and hammered out the details that
make a film set run well.
So things can get a little confusing when
you’re reading the credits of a film.
But, not to worry, there’s a code that we
can decipher.
The person who we think of as THE producer will be listed in the credits after the phrase
“produced by”.
This is the person, or sometimes couple
of people, with the seemingly never-ending
list of responsibilities.
They’re the point of contact through every
stage of the film, and ultimately responsible
for the movie becoming a movie at all.
In pre-production, the producer finds a project
and develops it with a writer.
Then, they gather the resources and hire the
key crew members for production.
During production, they oversee filming, and
help run the shoot.
And in post-production, the producer works
with the director, editor, and composer to
finish the film.
They can even have the editor cut scenes or
schedule reshoots – if that’s what the
film needs to come together.
Their ultimate goal is to crystallize the
vision of the filmmaker and find a way to sell it.
To be clear... not in a skeezy way.
Filmmaking is really expensive.
So financiers will pay for a movie up front,
and you want to pay them back for their investment.
Plus, selling the film to distributors is
the only way to get all your hard work out
into the world.
And it’s not really a movie until an audience
sees it.
So, okay.
Now that we have a handle on producers, what
in the world is a co-producer?
This title is actually great, because it’s
descriptive!
A co-producer is part of a producing team.
Two or more co-producers will produce a film
as a unit.
Sometimes, a co-producer will have another
role in the film.
Like, maybe they’re also a writer or an
actor, so they’re not involved in all the
producing responsibilities.
An assistant or associate producer works under
the head honcho producer.
On a large production, the producer delegates
work to one or more of them.
Associate producer, like executive producer,
can also be an honorary title given to someone
who helped get the film made, like because
they lent their name to the project, or funded it.
Now, let’s talk about specific producer
titles and their duties.
The line producer reports to the producer.
And all the department heads report to the
line producer.
The line producer plans and orchestrates the
logistics of the entire production, including
scheduling, staffing, and managing how the
budget is used.
Does this sound kind of familiar?
On lower-budget films, the line producer and
the unit production manager might be the same person.
But if they’re not, the line producer plans
all the budgets and other minutia, while the
UPM carries out the line producer’s plans.
Sometimes, usually on a TV show or a series
like Crash Course, you’ll see the title
supervising producer, or senior producer.
They help guide the whole project both logistically
and creatively, and report directly to the
executive producer.
So, now that we’ve got the basic scoop on
what producers do, here’s a puzzle for you.
And, honestly, for the Academy of Arts and
Sciences too.
Who accepts the Oscar for best picture?
See, the director is often thought of as “the
filmmaker,” but they’ve got their own
category: best director.
So the winner of best picture is the producers!
They’re usually the ones who chose to make this particular movie and who hired all
the creative leads.
So, they deserve some recognition too.
Sometimes you’ll see a director or writer
run up on stage to accept the Oscar, because
they were also producer.
And there are a lot of reasons why someone
would want to wear so many hats, even though
it’s difficult work.
One is control.
What we think of as the creative roles – like
writer, director, or even actor – ultimately
answer to the producers.
So if you’re one of those producers, you
have more control over the film.
This can mean creative control, because you’re
helping move the film through production.
Or it might mean financial or marketing control,
because producers typically help decide what
festivals and audiences the film will reach.
Secondly, if someone has proven themselves
to be multi-talented, studios will sometimes
prefer to pay one person to do multiple jobs.
Because, remember, filmmaking is expensive!
A lot of the time, director/producers or writer/director/producers
are highly experienced auteurs who have the
best understanding of a project.
So if they wear multiple hats, it can really
help the movie’s success.
That said, it’s extremely rare for there
to be just one producer on a project.
There’s still THE producer with the “produced
by” credit, and the line producer organizing
the production, not to mention any other producers
and executive producers on the team.
That way, if the director-producer needs to
focus their whole attention on directing
at some point, they can!
And the production will go on.
Oddly enough though, the producing team
doesn’t really seem to scale like other departments.
Like, a couple episodes ago we had a note
comparing the scale of two movies starring
Felicity Jones, Rogue One and Like Crazy.
Across the board, there were a lot more people
and departments working on Rogue One.
For instance, the art department for Rogue
One included 174 credits, while Like Crazy’s
was just 4 people.
But that wasn’t true for producers.
Rogue One credited 10 producers, while Like
Crazy credited 13.
So, how does a movie with a much smaller crew
and budget justify having three more producers
than one with a massive team and 800 times
the budget?
Well, there are a couple possibilities.For
one, a filmmaker can need an army, but you
can also make a movie with a small group of
multi-talented people.
While anyone on a film set is most likely
going to be a hard worker, on a low-budget
film you end up relying on a few heroes who
really go above and beyond.
Often, those people are thanked with a producer
credit of some kind.
Another option is that sometimes people who
usually fill a different role on film projects,
like a makeup artist or sound mixer, want
to get into producing.
And they’d do that by starting out small,
and producing a low-budget film.
Third of all, independent films usually benefit
most from an honorary executive producer lending
their clout.
So, more producers might be credited for name
recognition reasons.
Fourthly, it’s a good way to stretch your
budget.
Like, if you can’t afford a lead actor’s
salary, you might ask them to be a producer
too, so the project will be worth their while.
They’ll have another credit on their resume,
a foot in the door to a new job in the industry,
plus more control over the film.
Any of these reasons could be why a small,
independent film such as Like Crazy would
have more producers than Rogue One.
But, after looking a little closer at their
credits, here’s a different guess.
You see, one of THE producers – one of the
people Rogue One was produced by –
was Kathleen Kennedy.
She’s a very, very experienced producer
and has led Lucasfilm since 2012.
Think of some of the biggest blockbusters from the last 35 years, chances are Kathleen Kennedy was
a producer on it.
Jurassic Park?
Yep.
Back to the Future?
Yep.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Sixth Sense?
Indiana Jones?
Yep, yep, yep.
And that goes to show how critical good producers
are to the success of a film.
Even though it might be a little confusing
what they do, because they do so many things,
it’s all incredibly important work.
Today we learned about lots of ways a person
can earn the title of producer.
We broke down some different roles, from executive
producers to line producers, and talked about
how they each help a film get made.
And next time we’ll talk about the person
who most influences what a film will be:
the director.
Crash Course Film Production is produced in
association with PBS Digital Studios.
You can head over to their channel to check
out a playlist of their latest amazing shows,
like Deep Look, Artrageous with Nate, and
PBS Space Time.
This episode of Crash Course was filmed in
the Doctor Cheryl C. Kinney Crash Course Studio
with the help of these nice people and our
amazing graphics team is Thought Cafe.