6. Producer
Someone once told me a story about a producer. There was a film production that was filming in central Asia and needed a town square full of people. The production put up posters saying, "Be in a movie for free!" and expected many to reply. However, after a few days, they had only gotten a few confirmations. So with their heads down at failing to secure a little more than a handful of extras, the production went to set the next day to find it of full extras. The director asked the producer how he pulled this off. The producer replied, "I took down your posters and replaced them with 'Pay to be in a movie!'"If you think like this, then you will make a great producer. I alluded to this in my last article but allow me to reiterate as I think it is something many people misinterprete. Producers are the people who do much of the 'leg work' and are the gatekeepers for the director. The producer will understand a directors vision and they are responsible for making it a reality. However, because the director deals in concept and art, it is the producers job to deal with reality. If a producer can't get a full scale army of extras for a movie, the director can't have it, no matter how much he kicks and moans about it. In this way, a producer really acts as a boss to the director, telling him what he can and can't do. If you want to be a producer, you better be organised dogmatic, practical, creative, challenging, smart, a money handler etc. The list goes on and on and there is literally no bounds to what a producer should be able to do. There are special courses that are tailor made to teach you how to be a producer but you would do well to take on a short film of a (want to be) director friend of yours. It is a crash course. One that is tough, challenging but also incredibly rewarding.