Speaker 1: Hey what's up guys, Jordan Anderson here from Valley Films and on this episode we're talking about being a producer. So let's take on the topic of this very underrated position in the filmmaking world and that is the role of the producer. What is a producer? What does a producer do? And then what makes a good producer? I want to preface this that this is for low end production filmmaking and not for Hollywood production. These two definitions of producer are very different and the, actually the title of producer in the Hollywood world has gotten really convoluted so I just want to focus on the low end production. So what is a producer? I took on the role of producer for The Sunshine Girl for the first time ever. I had never been a producer before and I was offered the position and I happily accepted. But I had a few misconceptions at first and I had a few realizations in the end what a producer actually does and then it sort of all just kind of clicked as the journey went along with the filmmaking process. So the producer in a sense is the planner and the coordinator of the entire film production. From script to screen, they're in charge of everything in between. So they work from the very beginning either finding the script, finding the writer, finding the director, essentially just finding the initial story for the film, developing it, making it a more powerful story and then during production they're more focused on the day to day operations and then in post productions they oversee the editing with the director and then eventually they handle the distribution, finances and all that stuff. So producer can be a very broad term. You can be a producer in a lot of realms. On a film production you can have multiple producers, each one of them sort of specializing in certain aspects. So you could have one that is really good at distribution, maybe they have a few connections here or there. Another producer could specialize in finances so they're really good at budgeting, they know how to handle thousands of dollars in and out. And then you can have another producer who is good at production, more like a line producer where they're good at handling day to day operations, they're very good at production management. They can get the crew together, call sheets, location coordination, shooting schedules, things like that. But in most cases you're just sort of the overall producer where you're handling all of those aspects. So you're handling the story development, the script, the crew, the finances, the production and all the way until distribution. So with the script the producer will either find the writer, find the director, or find the story overall. Help develop it, help it make it a little bit more marketable, maybe it's a little too niche and they need to sort of broaden the audience that the script is for. They may even hire some outside help, whether it's like a script doctor, just to give sort of fresh eyes on the script to make sure that it's not getting too carried away in one direction and that the core story is solid. So when it comes to budgeting and financing, the producer is probably the main guy for that production. You usually don't have the director or the cinematographer, anybody else sort of managing the money. It's the producer's job mostly, especially in these low budget settings, to sort of handle the money, make sure that, because I mean you gotta think, they're handling thousands of dollars in and out going to, either they're raising the funds, they're allocating funds, they're making sure that everything stays within the budget. Think about it, if a film goes over budget and then they don't have enough money, then it could stop production. So you really have to kind of understand how to make the journey last, make all the money last and then understand kind of how to stay within the budget. I wouldn't give this job to like a director or a cinematographer, they're more sort of intertwined with the story or more focused on kind of the camera angles. They either don't have time to worry about the budget or that they don't, they aren't given the skill set. So then finally when you're in production, that's when the producer is going to start handling the crew hiring, the cast hiring, they're going to worry about the shooting schedule, location scouting with the directors and DPs, they're going to worry about the day-to-day operation, making sure the food's there, making sure that everyone is accommodated for, making sure that the actors are happy, kind of making sure that everything is going according to plan so that everybody else can focus on their job in making the story that much better and then making this an awesome film. Once production's over, the producer still takes the role into the editing process. Now they may not directly be editing the film, it could, in a low-budget setting, you could have the producer sort of editing as they go. Either they're overseeing the director or overseeing the editor, making sure everything is staying on schedule, making sure that everything's going according to plan. Then they're also in the meantime kind of preparing for the distribution stage. That's what I see as probably the most difficult area to work in because you need to either develop those contacts, you need to work on those networks, or you need to do a lot of convincing to someone to either take on your film or be convinced enough that your film is worthy of distribution and that the distributor's going to make a profit from your film or even that this film is even worthy enough to be shown in a theater. So why do you need a producer? I mean, when you're in a low-budget setting, I mean, I'm a, you know, all we need is just the director and the camera guy and the audio guy. That's all we need. We don't need a producer. Well, you kind of do. If you're trying to really focus on being a director, you're trying to focus on being the camera guy or being the sound guy, then it's really hard to add financing, pre-production and shooting schedules, budget, you know, it's hard to add all that into the mix when you're still trying to just focus on the story. So having a producer sort of, not necessarily outsources those jobs, but it gives everybody a chance to focus on their own job. So the producer is a little bit stepped back from the story and maybe the actors and camera angles, giving more opportunity for the directors to be invested in the actors and the story and the director of photography to be more focused on the camera angles, getting that shot and, you know, really focusing on telling a good story. When you're having to focus on all these other things, you sort of, you know, you sort of lose touch with the story maybe, your story may suffer, you may get too overwhelmed. The producer builds the canvas and then the directors and cinematographers go in and paint on the canvas. Too metaphorical? No? So finally, what makes a good producer? So a good producer, first off, is an overall problem solver. They're able to sort of look at these problems and think of a creative solution that either fits within the budget, fits within the timeline or fits within everybody's resources so that the production can carry on because in filmmaking, there are loads of problems that happen. I mean, Murphy's Law out the ass, everything is going to go wrong so it's good to have a producer who can be there, you know, either have the experience to have seen this issue before or can think on their feet of a creative solution that can keep the production going. A good producer needs to have a broad array of skills so they also need to be working in the movie production, they need to know how the film production works, they also need to know what makes a good story and how to tell a good story. With that broad array, they also need to specialize in certain things. So like I was saying, where they have producers who are financially savvy or distribution savvy or production savvy, you know, it's good to have, if they're able to, if they have a core strength then they need to really focus on that core strength while still kind of providing the overall skills that they have as a producer. So for me, I'm better at production as opposed to finance and distribution. So like in production, if there's ever an issue or they're not sure how a light works or a power outage goes out or a tripod is acting kind of weird, then I feel pretty comfortable that I'd be able to figure out those problems or solve those problems because I've either dealt with them before or I can kind of look at the situation objectively and say, you know, why don't we just try this instead? They need to have the ability to keep their cool under pressure. Being the producer, all those roles that I just mentioned, that's a lot to deal with. Having to move thousands of dollars back and forth, having to also manage everybody's ego on set, having to manage, you know, the stresses that comes with a director and a cinematographer, there's a lot of stress going on, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of tension that can happen. So you're trying to work under a finite amount of time, you're trying to reach your goal, you're trying to tell a good story at the same time. So everyone's kind of can be a little bit on edge. So it's good as a producer to kind of be able to either take on those stresses from everybody but also kind of remain positive, stay happy, stay chill because you're sort of keeping the ship afloat and you just need to just make sure everyone's cool, right? We're good. Hey, it's fine. We've done this before. I think after doing a lot of research and just in talking with some producers out there, what has really stuck with me as great advice is that a producer needs to be committed to the story. The story is the most important part. Without that really solid story for your film, your film's kind of pointless. Like, no one's going to see it, even if it has the best production value or you used a steadicam throughout the whole thing and it had a, you know, a 30-foot crane. It doesn't really matter if the story is crap. So being able as a producer to focus on the story, to realize at the end of the day it's about the story. With every question, with every decision you make, you need to ask how is this going to affect the story and also how as a team are we going to be able to tell a better story through this decision that we make. If we go this direction, is this going to help us tell a better story and is this going to help our story in general? My name is Jordan Anderson. I want to thank you guys for watching and I hope you enjoyed this vlog. Please share this vlog with your friends. If you have any questions for us, please send it to us at valley underscore film. I'd love to answer any questions you have about being a producer. How do you end the show?