What does a video-film producer do?

by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Video Production

Let me start off addressing those of you who are reading this blog for the first time. My name is Jon Ray and over the last few years, I have written extensively about how social media can be used to help you create an online presence and community around you, your company, your band, your film, etc. Over the past nine months I have talked about social media and marketing at several conferences, colleges and seminars. All of these opportunities came solely from readers of my blog. It is my hope that I will have the same amount of success blogging about my experience as an independent HD video producer.

What does a video/film producer do?
A while back I started a social media, marketing and HD video production company called Suited Productions (now Papertank). Since then, I have produced over 75 commercials, 40 music videos, 20 short films and a handful of mini-documentary projects on a local, regional and national level.

So, what does a video producer do? In my experience the producer’s job is to breathe life into a project. The producer is the one who goes out into the wild and finds the projects. Once the producer has found a project, it is his job to find the money to fund the project. Sometimes, especially with creative projects, this means attaching talent to a project that investors will find attractive. Other times, it just means that the producer negotiates a project budget with a client. Once funding is in place, the producer now attaches talent to the project. A producer will typically select a writer, director, director of photography, production designer, unit production manager and editor. Ideally, you hope that you have enough money to hire all of these people and more. But, often times, there just isn’t the budget to hire everyone you’d like to hire. I’ve worked on quite a few low budget projects where we just couldn’t afford all of the production talent we wanted. In cases like this, I like to find production talent that can multi-task several jobs. In the past, I’ve used a director that was also my DP and editor. I, often times, act as my own unit production manager and as a production assistant. Working low budget means that everyone is playing multiple roles. The key is finding a group of people (no matter how big or small) that are 120% devoted to making the project the best it can be.

You have your production team, now what?
Once you have the perfect team in place, it’s important to get everyone in a room and make sure they are all on the same page. Or, better yet, that they are all on your page. As the producer, this is your project. Yes, the director and writer are going to have a lot of say in things, but the producer is the one who gave birth to the project and it is the producer that has the final say so on how the project turns out. Of course, there is always a certain amount of give and pull and the idea is that the team you hired is on board for your vision. But, in the end, this is the producer’s project, so it’s important that you make sure the initial vision for the project is being met. If you are working on a creative project, then you’ll want to finish developing your story or concept with your key production staff. If you are shooting a client project, then there are probably already guidelines that the client has set forth for the project. It is important that you, as the producer, make sure that those guidelines are being met. You should always check in with your client and give regular status reports. Nothing makes a client squirm more than a producer that does not communicate with them. Clients want to know that their money is being well spent and a constant stream of communication between the producer and the client is a great way to keep the client from getting cold feet or wanting to send in their own people. If you show the client, right off the bat, that you are in control and there is nothing to worry about, then your shoot will go much smoother. Constant communication will assure that the client uses you for future projects, as well. Remember, the client like the investor on a creative project is the money man. Make sure the money man is in the loop and comfortable and things will run much smoother on your set.

The producer should be omnicient.
As a producer, you should always know what is going on with a project. Your job is to hire the best people to get a job done. Once you have good creative talent on board, your job is to manage and supervise that talent. The producer will supervise the development of the project concept or story. The producer will help set a budget based on that concept. The producer will help find key cast members and then develop a shooting schedule. The producer will view daily footage and make suggestions if deemed necessary. Once shooting is completed, the producer will sit-in with the director and editor while the project is cut together. The producer will help find a composer or any music needed for the project and negotiate those contracts. The producer will be the main contact for clients involved with the project. But, most of all, the producer is the ultimate problem solver. No matter what kind of project you are working on, there will always be unexpected problems that arise. As a producer, it is your job to calmly, quickly and efficiently solve any problems that come up. If you’re good at thinking on your feet and finding creative solutions to problems, then you’ll be a great producer!

So, there is a brief look into how I’ve operated as a producer over the past few years. Of course, there is no right or wrong way to approach becoming a producer. But, the above is what has been working for me. You’ll find that you may prefer to approach projects in a different way. If so, I’d love to hear how you like to attack creative and client projects. I am in no way an expert, but I do have a little bit of experience in putting together smaller music video and commercial projects. Are you a feature film producer? How does producing a feature film differ from putting together smaller projects? What advice would you give to young film producers who are looking to raise money and produce their first feature film? Where did you get your experience as a producer? Was it a trial and error process, did you go to a producer mentor program or work underneath another producer? I’d love to hear from anyone that would like to add to this post. And if you have questions, leave them as a comment. If I can’t answer them, I promise I’ll find someone that can.