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OP
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Being a movie producer must be the most lucrative easy job you can have in life.
- Thread starter BladeoftheImmortal
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OP working in entertainment and doesn't like the producer they're working with. Its cool. Not everyone is cool is work with. If they do the job well though, gotta respect that hustle.
It depends, some producers do put in work.
But a lot of times, just from reading various insider bits about how movies are made, producer credits are sometimes handed out to people as an extra way to compensate them.
So you may have actors getting a producer credit, or I believe DeForest Kelly (McCoy) got a Producer credit in STV as a way to pay him back as the cast of the OT Trek barely saw any profits from the show's run and they made their livelihood on convention appearance fees (so basically they were fan supported) for a long time.
But a lot of times, just from reading various insider bits about how movies are made, producer credits are sometimes handed out to people as an extra way to compensate them.
So you may have actors getting a producer credit, or I believe DeForest Kelly (McCoy) got a Producer credit in STV as a way to pay him back as the cast of the OT Trek barely saw any profits from the show's run and they made their livelihood on convention appearance fees (so basically they were fan supported) for a long time.
EP is the top level Producer position and AP is the starting level one. APs are generally young people working their way up and may be recently promoted assistants or writers. EP is a very broad category and can include people who get the title without doing much on that particular project (because they hold the rights, for example -- although that process of acquiring rights in the first place can be difficult and personally risky), but it can also include Executives who developed the project as well as very hands on Producers from any phase of the project who are really shepherding it to exist.
Any evidence to support this? You are supposedly a teacher so shouldn't the lesson of this misfire of a thread be rather obvious to you?
I used to have to work with producers from time to time regarding high-end video equipment. Lot of the time, they were somewhat clueless. Would take up all your damn time asking about how everything works as they didn't want to look like fools in front of the video guys.
Gale Anne Hurd had an interesting discussion with Marc Maron on WTF-podcast about her role of being a producer, and what it means to her as an actual, practical experience. And to the extent that she's throwing shade on other producers in the industry, she came across as very fair, focused and generally decent.
A lot of the movies that she's worked on - and that she praises in the interview - are garbage, but her particular insight as an "active and unusually involved" producer was interesting to listen to.
The idea of a producer's job being "fluff-work" (if not an outright grift) is well-earned in the history of US-film-production (and other film-industries around the world as well).
But it was interesting to hear from someone who took the role of a producer in earnest; in no small part that she started out doing grunt-work on the lowest level of film-making.
This kind of merit-based upwards mobility-climbing isn't really viable right now, but it at least makes for a nice, optimistic story of self-actualization, when such a thing was possible.
You can listen to this episode through this link: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-954-gale-anne-hurd
A lot of the movies that she's worked on - and that she praises in the interview - are garbage, but her particular insight as an "active and unusually involved" producer was interesting to listen to.
The idea of a producer's job being "fluff-work" (if not an outright grift) is well-earned in the history of US-film-production (and other film-industries around the world as well).
But it was interesting to hear from someone who took the role of a producer in earnest; in no small part that she started out doing grunt-work on the lowest level of film-making.
This kind of merit-based upwards mobility-climbing isn't really viable right now, but it at least makes for a nice, optimistic story of self-actualization, when such a thing was possible.
You can listen to this episode through this link: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-954-gale-anne-hurd
Lol he teaches English to kids in China. I love Blade, but that's generally thought of as an "I don't want to get a real job so I'll move abroad and do this" kind of gig.
Also Blade, don't you work like 10 hours a week?
Executive Producers are basically investors.
Producers are people who do a lot of the behind the scenes business work of the movie. Hiring, managing budgets, seeking funding, reserving shooting locations, etc.
I can only imagine it is not a lot of work if the project is so huge that you have a assistants doing everything for you.
But for any moderate-sized production, a producer is just the person that has to do every business transaction, like it was any other industry. Buy, rent, sell, arrange, hire, schedule, etc.
But for any moderate-sized production, a producer is just the person that has to do every business transaction, like it was any other industry. Buy, rent, sell, arrange, hire, schedule, etc.
I worked at a tiny game studio on shitty games, and the producers there were busy as hell, too. Tons of OT.
Being a producer is also a job that requires some skill in dealing with people that most artists do not have, or not want to bother with.
In film school we would get kids from the school of business to produce for us because we didn't want to spend our energy arranging locations, actors, budgets (which in school means getting grants), schedules, transportation, and catering for weeks prior to shooting.
In film school the poor sod that ends up producing doesn't get to sleep.
In film school we would get kids from the school of business to produce for us because we didn't want to spend our energy arranging locations, actors, budgets (which in school means getting grants), schedules, transportation, and catering for weeks prior to shooting.
In film school the poor sod that ends up producing doesn't get to sleep.
I think TC has seen one too many movies of a producer sitting by a pool getting pitched a movie idea where slaps a womans ass and says "Get us a couple of drinks doll."
I work in the software industry and the 3-4 CEOs I know personally are narcissist assholes who have been working 80+ hrs a week their entire lives. Sure once they get to CEO you have instances of people basically just raking in money, but in my experience most of them don't have the personality for it...they need to constantly be grinding.
Also all the jobs you describe are what I think of as easy. Anything you can do mostly by yourself is "easy" because it's in your control if you're motivated.
Managing adults in a project is one of the most frustrating things ever and therefore "hard" to me. Maybe you should try it OP. You might even be good at it, but I can guarantee the one thing you won't say is that it's easy.
You factually have no idea whatsoever what a producer does, and actually picked one of the hardest positions possible.
You'll never be above the line, that's for sure.
You'll never be above the line, that's for sure.
An observer's ignorant and misinformed opinion about the nature of production.
OP
OP
You're clown shoes, kid. Flush that 10-2 out your mouth you been spewing.
OP
OP
User Banned (3 Days) - Arguing in Bad Faith and Continued trolling in topic
Still better than you, buddy. 😙
You're clown shoes, kid. Flush that 10-2 out your mouth you been spewing.
There is NOTHING easy about being a producer.
My dad met with Kathleen Kennedy on a couple of occasions, (he managed one of the race tracks used in Seabiscuit, which KK helped produce) and let me tell you, she was NONSTOP working her ass off to make sure that everything on that movie was going according to schedule.
If ANYTHING went wrong, whether it was bad weather or something was up with the race track they were shooting on, it was her job to fix it.
It's a job filled with constant 24/7 management of the whole production of the movie.
And it might not just be one movie they're dealing with at one time either. Around that time, she was also dealing with Jurassic Park 4 (which would eventually become Jurassic World years later of course, this was back during the really EARLY years of production).
And KK was damn good at it. She's a really fascinating person.
There's a reason she was Steven Spielberg's go to producer and was picked by George Lucas to run Lucasfilm.
I don't even want to think about the shit she has to deal with over there.
My dad met with Kathleen Kennedy on a couple of occasions, (he managed one of the race tracks used in Seabiscuit, which KK helped produce) and let me tell you, she was NONSTOP working her ass off to make sure that everything on that movie was going according to schedule.
If ANYTHING went wrong, whether it was bad weather or something was up with the race track they were shooting on, it was her job to fix it.
It's a job filled with constant 24/7 management of the whole production of the movie.
And it might not just be one movie they're dealing with at one time either. Around that time, she was also dealing with Jurassic Park 4 (which would eventually become Jurassic World years later of course, this was back during the really EARLY years of production).
And KK was damn good at it. She's a really fascinating person.
There's a reason she was Steven Spielberg's go to producer and was picked by George Lucas to run Lucasfilm.
I don't even want to think about the shit she has to deal with over there.
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There's some of that asshole flair it takes. You've got gumption kid. Keep that fire in your belly and you might eventually executive produce a thread that isn't an ignorant bitch fest judging other people's careers.
There's a new podcast called without fail and the first episode is an interview with a producer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Remember the Titans, Life Aquatic). Nothing about that shit sounded easy.
Give it a listen.
Give it a listen.
I know you are, but what am I!?
I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks on to you!
...low effort OP.
Regarding Executive Producers ...
I work in the industry, directly beneath a (mostly) EP with legit credits. It is not an easy gig. Sure there are made men with the job description who have it pretty easy (although this industry is overly eager to decide someone is a has-been and therefore the pressure remains to be involved in successful projects) but 97% of the EPs out there have to bust their ass to see something made, especially within the indie or pseudo-indie film world. And the duties that fall on producers generally--not only rainmaking but development, editorial insight, talent maintenance, etc--bleed into all of the more specific categories of producer. It is lucrative if you truly establish yourself but even then you have to work to stay relevant and respected.
I work in the industry, directly beneath a (mostly) EP with legit credits. It is not an easy gig. Sure there are made men with the job description who have it pretty easy (although this industry is overly eager to decide someone is a has-been and therefore the pressure remains to be involved in successful projects) but 97% of the EPs out there have to bust their ass to see something made, especially within the indie or pseudo-indie film world. And the duties that fall on producers generally--not only rainmaking but development, editorial insight, talent maintenance, etc--bleed into all of the more specific categories of producer. It is lucrative if you truly establish yourself but even then you have to work to stay relevant and respected.
I think the key thing to remember is that more often than not you spend years working on setting up a project that goes nowhere and pays you nothing. Often at great personal expense. The % of movies that end up being a no-go versus those that go is astronomical.
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