By Ted Hope
I believe strongly, that the producing credits should represent the people who have been there from the earliest stages through the entire life of the film, contributing in a major capacity on all issues.
When I first started in the business, I felt like I was there to make sure the director fully considered all of their options and recognized what came with their choices, the repercussions of those choices, helping the director get outside of their mind so they could focus on what was happening before the camera. I’d make sure that everything else that was needed would happen in the best possible way.
Along the way, it soon became clear that I also needed to actively package the project. Not just to be alongside the director, I had to bring the crew and the cast to the table.
After producing several movies, I started to bring financing to the table. Then I had to start to do it in a manner that justified the investment, contextualize why this investment made sense, both from a business point of view and a cultural point of view.
Then I started to have to be able to position how the movie would succeed, reach an audience. From there, it grew to taking even greater responsibility for bringing the audience to the movie.
So my role as producer went from being responsible for the film, the director’s vision, to being responsible for what the package was, and being responsible for the money, being responsible to the business plan, to the marketing plan, for the connection to the audience and delivering that audience and then also keeping that engagement active and live.
Beyond all that, I ultimately feel, since we are in the business of cultural production, a producer is also responsible to that culture and community, that we have to reach out beyond our individual projects and do what we can to help make all of that work better together. What is it that makes the culture we love resonate and spread to its fullest potential.
This is just a small part of a small part of long interview I did with Scott Meyers of GoIntoTheStory. Check out the rest of Part 1 of the interview on their blog.
