What does a film producer actually do?
A producer is the person responsible for a film from the moment it exists as an idea until the moment it is delivered to the people who paid for it. That covers acquiring the rights, developing the script, attaching a director and cast, raising the money, hiring the crew, running the production, supervising the edit and handing the finished film and its paperwork to the distributors.
Most of that work happens out of sight, and much of it happens years before anyone is paid. Producers spend more time on most films than anyone else on the call sheet, including the director, who usually arrives after the rights are secured and leaves before the last delivery item is cleared.
The credit that signals all of this is "produced by." When the Academy, the Producers Guild or a sophisticated buyer looks at a film, that is the credit they read first. Everything else on the producer cards is a variation, and some of those variations have very little to do with producing.
What does an executive producer do?
On a feature film, an usually does not run the production day to day. The credit tends to go to people whose contribution was essential but happened above the set: the financier who wrote the biggest check, the company that brought in the rights, the star whose attachment made the money possible, or the manager who packaged the deal.
Television flips the hierarchy. In TV, executive producer is the senior credit, and the who actually runs the series carries it, often alongside the studio and network executives above them. A feature producer moving to television has to learn that "producer" on a TV show can be a mid-level writing title.
This is why the same credit can mean opposite things depending on the screen. In television the executive producer runs the show. In film the executive producer may have met the director twice, once at the financing close and once at the premiere, where the executive producer was easy to spot because of the better seat.
Why do movies have so many producers?
Because credit costs nothing to print and is worth a great deal to the person receiving it. On an independent film, credit is one of the few things a producer can give away that doesn't come out of the budget, so it becomes part of the deal at every level of financing.
An equity investor wants an executive producer credit to show the next investor. A company that supplied the gap loan's guarantee wants its logo before the title. A star's production company wants a producer card to build its own slate. Stack enough financing layers and the opening of an independent film can run longer than its first scene.
When a deal includes credits, it often includes a clause too, which promises one party that nobody else will get a better credit or better terms. I wrote about how most favored nations clauses work in film finance, and credits are where they cause the most arguments.
From the buying side, a crowded producer block tells you something useful. It shows how hard the money was to raise. When I see eleven producer cards on an independent film, I assume eleven separate conversations about recoupment order, and I am rarely wrong.
Who actually wins the Oscar for Best Picture?
The Best Picture Oscar goes to producers, and the Academy is strict about which ones. Only people credited as "producer" or "produced by" qualify, and no more than three of them, chosen as the people who did most of the producing work. Executive producers, co-producers, associate producers and line producers are not eligible. A team of up to two people can count as a single producer if the Producers Guild's partnership panel recognizes them as an established partnership.1
The three-producer cap has an origin story. After Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture, all five of its producers gave acceptance speeches, and the Academy set the limit in 1999.1 The Oscars had discovered that five producers at one microphone is a good way to make an awards show run longer than the movie.
The cap has made headlines since. Brad Pitt was a producer on The Departed, and the Academy denied his bid to be included among its nominees.2 Ryan Kavanaugh lost his appeal to be named a nominee for The Fighter.3 Exceptions exist but are rare, reserved for what the Academy calls extraordinary circumstances. Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were included posthumously among four nominees for The Reader,1 and the Academy credited four producers on The Tree of Life.4
The lesson for anyone negotiating a credit: an executive producer credit can sit on the poster of a Best Picture winner and still leave its holder in the audience on Oscar night.
What does "p.g.a." after a producer's name mean?
The lowercase that appears after some producers' names in a film's credits is a certification mark from the Producers Guild. It signals that the guild reviewed the production and concluded that the person performed a major share of the producing duties, as opposed to receiving the credit as part of a deal.
The Academy has long leaned on the guild's judgment here. Until 1998 it used the Producers Guild's producer credits to identify who received the Best Picture award, and the guild's partnership panel still decides when two people count as one.1
I've written a full piece on what the p.g.a. mark is and how producers earn it. I think the guild's certification process is the most important thing the organization does, because it is the only place in the business where somebody is paid to ask who actually did the work.
What do co-producers, line producers and associate producers do?
The rest of the producer block is a mix of real jobs and negotiated titles. Here is how the credits usually break down on a feature film, with the caveat that practice varies and a contract can attach any title to any contribution.
The deserves special mention, because the title undersells the job. The line producer builds and manages the budget, makes the schedule work and is often the reason the film finishes at all. When people say a producer "made the day," they usually mean the line producer did.
Which producer credit should you ask for?
If you developed the project, brought the rights, attached the director and stayed through delivery, ask for "produced by" and put your position in the contract. Credit placement, the size of the card relative to the other producers and whether your name appears in paid advertising are all negotiable, and none of them gets easier to fix after the poster is printed.
If your contribution was money or access, an executive producer credit is the honest title, and it carries real weight in the financing world. Investors use it to show other investors that they get deals closed.
Whatever the title, credit is how the business keeps score in the absence of residuals, which producers don't receive. I explain why in do film producers get residuals, the companion piece to this one.
Questions people search
What is the difference between a producer and an executive producer?
On a feature film, the producer runs the project from rights to delivery, while an executive producer is usually a financier, rights holder or packager whose contribution made the film possible. In television, executive producer is the top credit and the showrunner holds it.
Does an executive producer win the Oscar for Best Picture?
No. Only producers credited as "producer" or "produced by" are eligible, up to three people, chosen as those who did most of the producing work.
How many producers can win Best Picture?
Three, under a limit the Academy set in 1999. Exceptions are rare and reserved for extraordinary circumstances.
What does p.g.a. mean in movie credits?
A certification mark from the Producers Guild of America, showing the guild reviewed the production and found the person performed a major share of the producing duties.
Do executive producers get paid?
Sometimes with a fee, sometimes only with a share of profits, and sometimes the credit itself is the compensation, especially for investors.
Can investors get an executive producer credit?
Yes. On independent films, an executive producer credit is a common part of an equity investment.
What does a line producer do?
A line producer builds and manages the budget and runs the physical production day to day.
- Wikipedia, "Academy Award for Best Picture," eligibility and nomination rules. en.wikipedia.org
- Access Hollywood, "Brad Pitt Denied 'Departed' Oscar Bid." accessonline.com
- TheWrap, "Ryan Kavanaugh Loses Academy Appeal on 'The Fighter'." thewrap.com
- TheWrap, "Academy Makes Exception for 'The Tree of Life', Credits 4 Producers." thewrap.com
I'm a producer and a former film acquisitions executive, not a lawyer or an accountant. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Before you sign anything, talk to an entertainment attorney.