... does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Answer: Does it have to be a lightbulb?
Jokes aside, the topic of producer credits -- who deserves them, who doesn't, and whether or not they should be regulated -- has been in the news this year due to producer and financier Bob Yari's lawsuit against the Producers Guild of America and AMPAS regarding his credit on
Crash. In the new
Filmmaker, producer Kendall Morgan (
Southland Tales) uses the Yari case as the jumping off point for a discussion of these issues, and her piece -- which is not posted on the web -- has already elicited much feedback from fellow producers thankful that this subject is getting a proper examination.
A tiny excerpt:
Still, the question remains: what defines a producer and what secures his or her credit? Does bringing financing to a picture truly make someone a producer? How about the person who works for a long time on a project for free in return for an eventual credit? Does a person with the ability to access name cast deserve a producer credit? Where do you draw the line especially if giving that credit helps you get your movie financed, bought, or made? Would Phillip Seymour Hoffman have acted in Capoteif he didn’t have executive producer credit? Would he not take a pay cut without being rewarded with a credit?
Check out Morgan's piece on the newsstands this month.
# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 8/10/2006 10:04:00 AM
Comments (5)
I think most independent filmmakers will give anyone a credit who offers up some money or an important location. If the film doesn't get made without a specific location, I'd give a producer credit to a property owner who offered a key location. Of course, in the ultra low budget world, no one is getting paid (or paid very little) so everyone is working for credit. It's a different world on a studio film.
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posted by Josh Boelter @ 8/10/2006 10:59 AM
It seems a very strange to give producer credit to someone who lets you use a location, especially when you have the producer who is with the film from beginning to end, the one who shepards it from idea to final cut and gets the film made. If they are the producer, then these other people might be important to getting the film made, but they aren't producers.
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posted by @ 8/15/2006 9:59 AM
Well, you're right, Anonymous, that they're not really producers. But I'm talking about the ultra low-budget indie world where there aren't necessarily producers who are there shepherding a project every step of the way. And is it any different than the Bob Yari "money guy" producer credit? On projects this small, usually the director is the default producer because there's no money to hire a producer. In that case, filmmakers will break all sorts of rules and laws to get a film made. Anyway, I wasn't really thinking of a "produced by" credit; but I would definitely give some sort of opening credit if it meant getting the film made. I understand your point though.
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posted by Josh Boelter @ 8/16/2006 12:09 PM
I think that's why this article is important. There are a lot of indie producers who shepard projects through production. Any producer who wants to get a film made will give credit if it helps get the film made but not without a sick feeling about it. We don't ask this of the dp or the director. I think it's time to give producers the credit they are due, I don't like the idea of having my hard earned producer credit thought of as a glamour credit.
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posted by @ 8/22/2006 5:09 PM
PRODUCER TEST:
ONLY GETS FINANCING : EXEC PRODUCER
ONLY GETS CAST : EXEC PRODUCER
GETS FINANCING AND SECURES CAST: PRODUCER
PRODUCES FILM" TAKING FILM FROM A-Z . CONCEPTION TO DELIVERY: PRODUCER
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posted by marc @ 12/20/2008 7:03 PM
