FilmCraft: Producing

Introduction

A producer’s role isn’t easy to define. It’s a multifaceted job that requires the wearing of many hats, and can vary dramatically depending on the film, and where and how it is being made. Over the years, perhaps one of the few things that has been clear is that those who carry the full credit of “producer” are the only ones eligible to receive the Academy Award for Best Picture. But even that’s been challenged recently. The old caricatures of cigar-chomping magnates of the Darryl F. Zanuck variety persist in the public imagination. As do the myths of the original über-producers: the penniless immigrants from Eastern Europe who eventually made it big in Hollywood, such as Adolph Zukor and Samuel Goldwyn. Watch Michel Hazanavicius’ ...