By Rebecca Green
It can often feel as though there is little career support available to producers. Our directing and writing collaborators have endless labs, fellowships and shadowing programs to hone their skills and expand their network, but what about producers? How do we learn our craft and make industry connections that can further our ambitions?
I went on a search to find a comprehensive list of programs available to producers, but came up short. My first thought was, ‘Well, maybe there just aren’t enough opportunities to warrant making a list?’ However, after many hours of digging, I discovered that there actually are enough programs to create a list and so that is what I did.
I am excited to launch the Producer Support Guide, a one-stop shop to discover opportunities available to producers that advance career aspirations and expand community.
What is INCLUDED in the Guide:
- Producing specific labs and fellowships;
- Career development programs which include producers;
- Grants and awards given to individual producers (not projects);
- Curated project markets which include producer participation;
- Member organizations with producer-centric missions.
What is EXCLUDED from the Guide:
- Labs in which producers have to pay a fee to participate;
- Classes and workshops;
- Grants given for project specific support;
- One-off programs or events;
- College and high school programs.
Given Dear Producer has an international audience, I’ve decided to include international programs (that I am aware of) so that this can be an all encompassing list.
While I have spent a lot of time putting this Guide together, and had help from producer friends, I’m sure I have missed some programs, especially international ones. To make sure this list is exhaustive, I’ve created this Google Form so you can include your program if it is missing from the Guide. When filling it out, please consider the above “qualifications” of being included in the Guide. Please only fill out the form if you work for the organization that runs the program.
If your program is already included in the Guide and the information is incorrect or you would like to update the language, please fill out the Google Form or email the changes to hello@dearproducer.com and I will update.
The Guide is minimalistic on purpose, built efficiently so that I can manage keeping it up to date (e.g. application deadlines specifically excluded). A simple idea that I hope will open more doors for producers. While this Guide doesn’t measure up to the amount of resources our creative counterparts have access to, it was encouraging to uncover more than I had expected. Thank you to those of you who run these amazing programs!