THE PRODUCER CREDIT

There has been a proliferation of producing credits in the opening titles of any TV show or movie. They seem to invent new interpolations all the time. It must be very confusing to an outside observer because if you look at an old studio picture from the 1920’s to 60’s, you’ll see one or two credits with the title “Producer”. Where did all these other people come from in the last twenty years and what do they really do?  

There actually is an explanation for the cornucopia of producer titles. A few are earned but most are awarded or rewarded for being in the right place at the right time. You chatted up the right person at the right cocktail party and made a critical connection that helped get this or that project off the ground and suddenly you’re an Associate Producer. As they say, “Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan.” Just in case something really works, everybody and their mother wants their name affiliated with it. It gives them cache as they look for their next job because almost everyone in Hollywood is always looking for their next job.  

Because it differs slightly on every show, unless you’re inside the bowels of a production, it is difficult to know who is really responsible for what but in general:

• Executive Producer – usually finds the money and is the deal closer. They are silver-tongued devils that are already rich or have rich, famous, powerful friends.
• Co-Executive Producer- often a great “opener” or a person who is very friendly with the money but can’t close the deal or they’d get the aforementioned credit.
• Producer – A consummate salesman who is usually pals with the Executive Producer who has access to the funding. Most of the time, the producer finds the project, creates a package that attracts the prerequisite talent that makes it a safer bet.
• “Producer” (in name only) Nowadays these are often business managers or important people’s representatives who negotiate for the credit and demand compensation for not really doing much of anything other than chaperoning their client to the party. It’s a little mystifying to the outside world but the people working on the show know who the real producer is and who the “Producer(s)” are.
• Co Producer – the glue that often holds the show together and does a lot of the crap work that the producer doesn’t want to. Sometimes it’s just a fancy title for a friend of somebody important.
• Supervising Producer – a TV credit meaning “Head Writer”.
• Line Producer- responsible for the budget, schedule, crew, equipment and generally making things work. Think smart master sergeant that translates the dream into a bottom line, provides a viable game plan and knows how to reach the finish line.
• Associate Producer – a reward for detail-oriented people training to be a producer. As often as not, it’s a gift title for a friend of somebody important in any of the above titles.
• Assistant Producer – sometimes a glorified secretary, often the Producer’s right hand that keeps communication channels open and solves smaller problems before they become big problems between warring factions helping to quell the myriad of little fires that break out along the way.
• Executive in charge of Production – the go-between the Producer and the production company that is funding the project. A watchdog that rings the alarm bells when things are going south.

A couple of new Producer credits have probably been invented since this was written but these are the important ones. Once again, only those inside each production really know who deserved what credit. The proliferation of titles is terribly confusing and it only took a couple of years to sort out who was doing what to whom.