What Is a Movie Producer?

Want to know if you have what it takes to be a movie producer? Read on to find out.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many names at the end of movies during the credit scenes? Once the list of actors has scrolled by, there are still several minutes of names to read. In addition to producers, co-producers, executive producers, directors, and co-directors, there are gaffers, boom operators and sound technicians just to name a few. If you're interested in being part of the movie production world, you need to know more about the roles that each of these people plays. It's only natural and right to start with the producer.

Finding the Story

Heather Parry is a producer and director with films such as Pixels and A Star Is Born under her belt. As a producer, she is in charge for the development of the movie. This begins before pre-production starts. The producer must find a story that worth putting to film and then negotiating with the owner of the story to get rights to the source material.

Obtaining Rights and Finances

After getting those rights, the producer needs to secure financing from a studio or employer to pay for the movie. Of course, there are quite a few obstacles that are sure to crop up during the production, so the producer must also manage the money to make sure it covers all costs and lasts until the film is complete.

Gathering Personnel

Finances aren't the only thing the producer handles. Parry has often acted as executive producer, which means that there were line producers, supervising producers, coordinating, consulting, segment, field, edit, and post producers under her management. With so many people in charge of various parts of the film production, the executive producer must also manage personnel.

Basically, a movie producer is an experienced individual who understands the ins and outs of successfully seeing a film project to completion. She'll complete many of the crucial steps that are necessary, so the director can keep the actors and actresses on task.

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