Getty Images. Bob Teitel on the set of the movie "Southside With You," which he produced. Lining up initial financing. When the script is ready, hiring the creative team — which includes the director, cast and crew department heads. Once filming begins, supervising the day-to-day operations on set. And when the film is in post-production, working with the creative team on that end editor, composer, visual effects supervisor , as well as people on the business side who are focused on marketing and distributing the movie.

Last year's Oscar winners, from left: director Guillermo del Toro and producer J. Miles Dale took home the best picture award for "The Shape of Water. This is so confusing. Frequent collaborators George Tillman Jr. There are people skills involved as well. Knowing when to push, when to charm. The 91st Academy Awards broadcast 7 p. Sunday on ABC. It's time Hollywood's male stars use their power to level playing field ».

Stunt coordinators manage safety on TV and film sets. Summer Camps. Camps for Teens Camps for Kids. Online Workshops. Youth Online Workshops. Study Abroad. Degree Programs at the Los Angeles Campus:. Degree Programs at the South Beach Campus:. The budget, script breakdown and shooting schedules are firmed up at this stage. And since nobody really keeps a Rolodex anymore, modern producers tend to organize contacts in the cloud with all-in-one production management software:.

Keeping contacts in your production hub makes for an easier process at every phase. You can divvy up people by department, project, and other custom considerations. Get in touch via messages within the software itself, or use cast and crew info to call and email.

Plus, when you move into production and generate call sheets , all you'll have to do is select your contacts to send and confirm receipt via your built-in tools. After wrapping a shoot, a lot of the key talent moves on to new projects. The cast and crew will likely have other jobs to jump right into. The director may also start prepping his or her next film. When everyone starts to disperse, he or she sticks with this project and sees it through post-production. Editorial teams assemble a rough cut, with the director around as much as he or she wishes to be or is allowed to be.

Then, there is a final cut, final VFX, color grading, the film score, and audio work. A producer stays on top of it all. The role of a producer will then turn towards test screenings and even making changes at this late date, if necessary. In an unusual request, Evans wanted the would-be classic recut to be longer. He wanted an "epic. When a film is finished, the producer s initiate marketing campaigns. Talent will come back into the fold now. Often times public relations firms get involved as well.

Promotional tie-ins. Producer George Lucas made a galaxy-altering decision during this phase. He negotiated to retain merchandising rights to his then-unheard-of space opera Star Wars. At the time, film merchandising was not seen as a moneymaker. This is where George Lucas donned his producer cap. He used the idea of manufacturing toys based on his film to build up anticipation for the film's release and beyond. There are many different kinds of producers. You've noticed on your movie poster that there are two to three different types of producers.

You've probably seen that film credits order hierarchy features many types of producer roles. To understand the difference between a producer and executive producer, let's start at the top: What do executive producers do? An executive producer EP is the head producer who supervises other producers in the creation of a film, television show, web series, commercial, or theater performance.

An executive producer may work independently or on behalf of the studio, financiers or the distributors. They will ensure the film is completed on time, within budget, and to agreed artistic and technical standards.

Bottom line: An executive producer is usually a financier of the project. Typically, this person may assemble the core team, but will not physically produce the project. An executive producer EP typically works only at the highest level. They may be a producer who has raised a significant proportion of a film's finance, or who has secured the underlying rights to the project.

In smaller production companies or independent projects, they may be the creator or writer. In other cases, they may own the source material, but have no hand in the writing of the script. Typically, executive producers are not involved in the technical aspects of the filmmaking process but play a crucial financial role in ensuring that the project is completed.

They may raise some money for the film, commercial or series. They may also put up the money and be looking for a return on their investment. These types of executive producers actually don't do much on the film itself. There may be several executive producers on a film who may take the lead role in many areas, such as development, financing or production.

In many instances, the executive producer oversees the project. There may be a few places where some executive producers will have a larger hand. Say in the cutting room. Attaching major stars. Some EP's may do this for multiple films at once, working for a studio or conglomerate. But it's best to think of the executive producer as someone working at the global level. A hand in everything.

Power over much of the process. A co-producer typically works right beneath the executive producer or producer. They'll assist with finances, casting, post-production and other high-level tasks. A co-producer is a producer who performs jointly with another producer on a production.

Additionally, a co-producer title may be awarded to any key player such as a DP, department chief, or talent who may not have a direct hand in producing the project, but is instrumental in funding the project through their involvement, equipment, or services rendered. In other words, above-the-line producers hire the line producer to oversee everything below the line. A line producer performs all producer functions involved in supervising the physical aspects of the making of a motion picture or television production.

Unit production managers UPMs , who perform no more than the standard services of a unit production manager, should be credited only as such. Producers of all kinds oversee. While they may take on the tasks of say, making a schedule or budget, they typically do so only once the big ticket items above-the-line talent is secured.

They may rough out the shooting schedule and script breakdowns, and hand it off to the first AD to finish and finalize. Then the above-the-line Producer will take a look. And perhaps run it by a higher up producer such as an executive producer.

So as you can see in the video above, the answer to what does a producer do could very well be "everything. If the project is huge, with a gargantuan budget to match, then there may be lots of producers running around. And in the case of a large project, the answer could be in some cases "nothing. It could be a friend of someone high up.

It could be someone the production owes a favor to. It could be someone who did some amount of work on the production, but that is more likely the outlier. An associate producer , often referred to as the 'AP," is a below-the-line producer that performs under the supervision of another producer. Associate producer job duties and responsibilities will vary from project to project and may include organizing production personnel, coordinating set construction, operating a teleprompter, supervising lighting or sound plans, editing scripts, or writing news items.

An associate producer is not necessarily a member of the Producer's Guild PGA and is often hired only to do tasks that other union positions don't have to do. Bottom line: An associate producer may have a hand in the process, but will not be physically producing it. It's often used as a token title to appease a writer, production executive, underlying rights holder, or someone that offers a vital favor in exchange for a credit.

Like many producer credits, associate producer is one that can be a part of a negotiation. Say on a film someone let you use a location they owned for free, or heavily discounted. You might throw in an associate producer credit. Why is it a credit worth getting?

Because a lot of people don't really understand what is a producer. Or what a producer does. There is little to no difference between an associate producer or co-producer for many.

But for much of the world, defining the role of a producer isn't straightforward. To them, all producers are the same, and no one is quite sure what it is they are up to. Now we know what the various movie producers do. But how is it different from their counterpart in TV? Now, what does a producer do on a TV show? In television, a producer is often a writer.