Everyone is a Producer PART 2

By Rebecca Green

In Everyone is a Producer, published on April 30, 2024, I wrote about how Kim Kardashian had announced three projects since the start of the year that she’s producing. Yesterday it was announced that she has now inked a first look deal with 20th Century TV. 

Yesterday, it was also announced that Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare care system which operates 21 hospitals and 900 outpatient facilities, is launching a studios division that is developing scripted and unscripted content. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Northwell Studios has signed a development deal with the production company CreativeChaos, and has five projects already in the works.” And in June it was announced that Starbuck launched its own production company, Starbucks Studios. 

Everyone is a Producer. 

Apologies for sitting on the results of the survey that asked you for your opinion on whether or not we should consider changing the Producer credit and thank you to those who participated. I’ve been trying to come up with meaningful commentary on the findings, a next step to take. I don’t yet have the answer, but I didn’t want to withhold the findings from you any longer…

335 producers who have produced at least one feature-length film completed the survey. Of those producers, 63% said they primarily work in the fiction space, 15.8% primarily in the documentary space, and 21.2% said they work equally in fiction and documentary. The results are as follows:

Are you open to a new title for the role of the producer?

If you are open to a new title for the role of the producer, which credit idea below do you think is best suited for the role? Check all that apply.

If you don’t like any of the ideas listed above, do you have any alternative suggestions?

Chief Executive Producer
Chief Film Producer
Chief Operations Producer
Creative Producer
Director of Producing
Director of Production
Feature Producer
Governing Producer
Head Producer
Key Producer

Lead Creative Producer
Lead Film Producer
Managing Producer
Official Producer
Primary Producer
Producing Captain
Producing Chair
Producing Director
Showrunner

Of the above, “Creative Producer” had the most mentions at 13. However, I find this title complicates the issue even more, which is why I didn’t originally put it on the list. People like to do the creative part of producing, it’s the fun part. What people don’t want to do is take on the responsibilities of owning and managing the LLC, guaranteeing guild obligations, applying for incentives, negotiating ATL and BTL deals, managing talent, overseeing safety protocols, acting as human resources, supervising post production, delivering a film to a distributor, setting up the collection account, and the many other non-creative things producers do. To this point, one producer wrote in:

No alternative, but just want to say that the trick here is to make the credit as “unsexy” as possible. The issue with our jobs is that we made it too nebulous and exciting because we like the more creative parts of the job. But the reality is that the job is a project management position in a creative field. No one is fighting for a Line Producer credit. Let’s make a Producing credit that implies physical labor – not just “I get to make people do my great ideas!”

Two people suggested the idea to give Producers who take on the responsibility of the film the “Produced by” credit in first position and then have the title “Additional Producers” which would come after. Another suggested more specific titles like “Originating Producer” or “Talent Producer” or “Packaging Producer” in the same way we have Post Producer and VFX Producer titles. I think these are ideas with some promise, but once I started thinking through them more deeply, I found that they come with their own complications. 

There were many who commented that they strongly feel we need to fight to protect the “Produced by” credit for those who actually do the work. As much as I want to see the credit problem solved, I don’t feel we can’t put the “Produced by” credit back in the bottle (as argued in Part 1 of this piece) without a union. In order to get control of the title, producers would need to walk away from financiers, directors, and actors who demand a Producer credit, but who don’t take on any of the producing responsibilities, and I don’t see that ever happening. And should we even be asking that of each other when it’s a miracle to get a film made right now?

If organizations with leverage stand with us, maybe it’s possible? For example, the Producers Guild of America recently fine-tuned the Producers Mark eligibility language to make it harder for hyphenates to be awarded the Mark. The revised eligibility has more requirements for a Producer-Writer to qualify for the Mark and an entirely new section for Producer-Actor eligibility has been added. I’m not sure why this wasn’t publicly announced with fanfare as they did with their lackluster Healthcare initiative. Perhaps the PGA doesn’t want to upset hyphenates, many who are PGA members, but this is a big step in supporting producers who are doing the heavy-lifting. The PGA should be proud of the change, as I know it couldn’t have been easy to draft this new language and find consensus amongst leadership. You can read the new language HERE under “C. PRODUCERS MARK CERTIFICATION STANDARD: Additional Criteria for Produced Bys with a Non-Producing Role.” 

And the Academy’s Producer Branch has taken recent steps to help protect the Producer credit as well. When it comes to who takes home an Oscar statuette for Best Picture, the rules have been that the producers listed on the official nomination each receive a statuette (the producers must have either received the PGA Mark or a successful Awards Eligibility determination from the PGA) and the releasing studio listed on the official submission form is eligible to request a replica statuette for display purposes only. Now, to help curb financiers who ask for a Producer credit for the sake of wanting an Oscar statuette without performing the full functions of a Producer, the Academy has added language that says, “the financing company may request a replica statuette for display purposes if they have financed over 50% of the equity for the movie and any owner or employee of the company does not take a “Producer” or “Produced by” credit (unless that individual has received the PGA Mark).” You can read the guidelines HERE in the Academy’s Rules and Eligibility Best Picture FAQs point #9. 

These changes are moving us in the right direction, but I feel there is one more aspect to the downfall of the producer credit that we don’t talk about enough, which is how the producing community itself doesn’t always do what’s right. Before we shake our finger at others, we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we’ve ever taken a credit that wasn’t earned or if we’ve put our credit position in front of someone who carried the majority of producing responsibilities of a film. You negotiate your credit before the film goes into production, having faith that your producing partners will work arm-in-arm with you, but that’s not how it always turns out. It’s not until you get into the weeds that you really see who shows up to work and by then, credits are already agreed to. Perhaps we need a new process where we wait to negotiate Producer credits until after production wraps or maybe when you get to picture lock when it’s more clear who the “lead producer” is? Though wouldn’t it be easier if we all held ourselves accountable? 

So we end where we started. Producers need to be properly recognized for our work, but there is no easy way to make this happen. In lieu of not having the answer, my advice is to do what is best for you and give yourself the credit that represents your work on a film. On one hand, it’s unfortunate that we do not yet have union protections over our credit, but on the other hand, we don’t have anyone dictating our credit (unless you’re gunning for an Oscar and need to follow those rules). 

One of the things I hate the most is when someone tells me, ‘this is just how it’s done Rebecca.’ If we want to see change, we need to act in bold and innovative ways. So if you want to try out one of the above suggested new credits on your next film, go for it, nothing is stopping you!