Transitions 'EXLORE'
Transitions
‘EXPLORE’ THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITY AS A PRODUCER
What do TV producers do?
- A Television producer assists the executive producer(s)
- Pick scripts and introduces new concepts and idea’s
- Supervise other producers to ensure them, and the production, work within union regulations
- Assist with hiring talent and other crew
- Supervise the post-production.
- Maintain the budget and approve schedules.
- Secure the right to books or other works.
Skills and responsibilities for our proposed production.
I wrote a script 4 years ago having been inspired by my favorite sitcom ‘only fools and horses’ it wasn’t so much the show itself just aspects about a brother relationship and trying to make ends meet.
Most producers can pick up a book, screenplay, or concept that they can relate to, and my screenplay ‘BrotherLidge’ is defiantly relatable to my life in some ways.
For this unit, I want to re-create a scene that the audience could get a sense of who the characters are without having to shoot the whole script.
Other than writing the screenplay my role was to get together a team that I knew that their work ethics fitted my show.
It is a producer's responsibility to hire the director but they also have the authority to fire the director.
During this process on this unit, I have hired the crew, got the actors, wrote the script, and sourced a location.
The process for me, in general, was not a difficult challenge as I already had people in mind for the parts of the Two-man characters within my script.
As far as the budget, we are working on a low budget.
How to get funding for a film or television series.
The BFI - British Film Institution-
The BFI is the lead agency for film in the UK. The BFI Film Fund has a number of funding strands, investing over £26m of Lottery funds per year to support film development, production (incl. majority and minority co-productions), and distribution activity in the UK.
Crowd Funding - Social Media Platform.
Although this is a good source of funding it isn’t by far the most reliable source, as causes far more important than film come as a priority.
There are other forms of funding that are available when I started some 15 years ago the British arts council was available, however that ended around 8 years ago.
After researching and being in development with some of my own work in the industry at present and looking at Wendy Finerman's information the best way to get funding is to attach a big name to the script, then they hold credibility for the production.
What does it mean to be a ‘producer’ in the industry?
Creative producers are the people who either come up with the concept and write the script or hire a writer to create a script based on a book.
For my case study into how and what producers have to do to get funding and what it takes to become a producer, I want to explore the difference between being a female producer and male producer in the industry and also explore about how famous directors can become executive producers by putting their own money in and having there name attached to a tv show or film so it will and can get made.
Wendy Finerman
I watched a YouTube Video of Wendy Finerman about the challenges of being a female producer in Hollywood. (The challenges of Being a Female Hollywood Producer, 2016)
Wendy Finerman is an Academy Award-winning Hollywood producer, her biggest hits to date are ‘Forrest Gump’ and the ‘The Devil wears Prada’.
It took Wendy 9 years to get Forrest Gump to the big screen, Wendy was rejected by actors, director, agents, and studios (Alumni magazine 2007).
Wendy found a screenwriter eventually to write the film script, which caught the eye of Tom Hanks, and with his name attached to it, more people had become interested.
Wendy explains:
“Less than 4% of feature films are directed by women and less than 20% of television are directed by women. I was the first businesswomen to be hired at universal, everyone in the office was a man and the secretary was in the front, this was old Hollywood’
Wendy went on to produce many films and was taken seriously after she had won her academy award, she opened up the doors to other female talent and focused her time on getting female productions off the ground.
It was because of Tom Hanks that she was able to raise the funds to get the Forrest Gump made, the production cost £33m to make and profited £330m.
As a woman myself attempting to break into the Television and Film industry as a Director and Producer, I have come to understand the importance of networking and researching what it is like to become either.
From my experiences within the industry already over the past 15 years, I have been to many pitch meetings and investment meetings, it was mostly men who I had to have a dialogue with to help them understand my creative idea’s, I always remember feeling like I did not have enough knowledge or I was being looked down on about I didn’t have a clue, but in some respect, they may have had a point, as I was just a beginner and a writer, I had no information about costings of production or the time frame.
After looking at Wendys Journey she had a great starting point at universal as a businesswoman as she got to learn the trade from the inside, yet she still wasn’t taken seriously, and in regards of the time frame it took for her movie to make it to the screen, I have learned that the industry is a waiting game.
Do producers need an agent?
It is not necessary for producers to have an agent if they are producing their own work, however, they should seek an agent if they are re-creating someone else's work because they will be able to help get work promoted through the media.
I read on Filmakers.com:
"For any producer attempting to get their project off the ground, the enthusiasm of an agent can be of great assistance. If the agent feels good about the project they are more apt to suggest it to their clients. The problem is, sometimes just getting an agent to listen to you is difficult. For the new producer or someone whose name is unknown in the industry, an agent may not even take the time to answer your phone call. The key to this problem is persistence." (Filmmakers.com, 2011)
As I will be producing my own work (in the real world) I would not need an agent but for my own security, I would definitely seek a business professional to assist my production getting off the ground.
How would I get an agent?
Every year I buy a book called 'Contacts' there is a list of names for everything you could possibly want in the TV and Film industry.
Getting an agent is not as simple as it seems as most agents will only take you on if you already have credibility.
To get a credit you must have been working in the industry for a certain amount of time and be known as a professional within that field of work.
However, as a writer it would be important to get a literacy agent: to further my knowledge on this I researched about it:
'...Once you've decided what type of writing you wish to specialize in, now you can start the process of getting an agent.
The first thing you need to have is some sort of written material. After all, you can't really call yourself a writer if you don't have a body of work that represents what you're capable of. So, be sure to have either a spec script (or two) if you wish to be a TV writer or a feature spec if you wish to write for film.' (Breman, 2019)
Therefore having credit is not as important when it comes to writing as it is the agent who decides whether the writing is good enough to have an agent, this I found very interesting as I was unaware of this information before.
Once you have these materials in hand, you can't just blindly submit them to agencies and then hope that they'll read your script. This is when your networking skills become key.
Do I need to own the writes to my material?
This has been a topic that I have been hearing different over the years of writing.
Many sources have advised me that if I write a script I was to send it to myself via the royal mail and not open it because it has a date stamp, I have been talking to various writers throughout the years and this is something that they have done, however, this pre-dates emails and sharing platforms, as work that is sent via emails are encrypted and date stamped, it has also been advised that NOTHING gets sent in a word document or any form of document that can be edited, always send PDF format.
If a producer is adapting a book they must have the right to do that even if its non-profitable, Zeke from the New York students resources states:
"Do I Need To Obtain Rights if the Film is Not For Profit?
Yes. A thousand times, yes.
Even if you’re making your film solely ‘for the love’—and really, there’s no better reason! – you’ll still be on the wrong side of copyright law regardless of whether or not you make a single dime off your work, or don’t even sell it in the first place. Consider buying a novel, scanning it page by page, and uploading it to a publicly-viewable blog: even if you gain no revenue from doing so, it’s still damaging to the original writer and a poor idea all round.
This all said, you’re extremely unlikely to receive letters from a lawyer if it’s a very low-key film to be seen only by your close circle of friends or peers at filmmaking school, but the risk is still there nonetheless – nine times out of ten, if you politely explain the nature of the project to the rights holder, given that they’re content creators themselves they are likely to freely give you the green light (and peace of mind!)" (Zeke 2015)
So any producer needs to be aware that any material that is being adapted needs to be negotiated with the author or agent to enable any re-writes or screenplays to be written.
What Is changing?
As online platforms such as ‘YouTube’ and ‘TikTok’ are becoming increasingly popular, people are becoming their own producers and directors.
Films are being picked up and used for commercial and professional purposes.
Bibliography.
The challenges of being a female Hollywood producer (2016) [user-generated content online] creat. Atlantic, The. 2 November 16 At: https://youtu.be/iwAZZMeZLBo (Accessed on 20 March 2020)
Filmmakers.com. (2011) The Film producer. At: https://filmmakers.com/stories/Producer2.htm
(Accessed on 21 March 2020)
Breman, P. (2019) How to get an agent as an actor, writer, or director At: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-get-an-agent-1283525 (Accessed 21 March 2020)
Zeke. (2015) How to option the film rights for a book At: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-option-the-film-rights-for-a-book/ (Accessed on 21 March 2020)
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