Image by Cheyne Gateley (Variety)
Here is the state of Producing credits today: "Gus Van Sant’s latest film, 'Dead Man’s Wire,' has 93 credited producers, 13 of whom are listed as capital-P Producers."
But the truth is, everyone involved with the film knows who the real producers are— or "Producer Producers" as they are often referred to: they are the ones who likely developed the film for years or decades without pay, they put all the pieces together that got that green light including the budget, they were on the set in prep and production, and they saw it through til the bitter or glorious release. But too often the "Producer Producers" or "Career Producers" are being asked to split that producing fee with people who aren't doing the job of producing the film or show.
This credit proliferation has pushed Career Producers into a crisis— and a group of just under 300 of them have gotten together to try to stop the credit grabs (Executive Producer is a meaningful credit!), strengthen the sustainability of the profession— and to stave off the hit to the industry if we stay on this course. This group is called Producers United and this fantastic article by Variety's Matt Donnelly breaks down the issue of what a Producer does, why the producer credits get longer every year, and what we should do about it for the health of the film business.
And check out the accompanying podcast featuring Career Producers, Jonathan Wang and Laura Lewis.
