Producing Feature Films:  The Many Hats of the Producer

In the motion picture industry most jobs are clearly defined. A writer writes. The actor acts. And then there is the producer. Who produces…. What exactly? Perhaps the most important of all positions in film, and yet the most difficult for most people to understand. What exactly does a producer do?

In this seminar, veteran Producer Penney Finkelman Cox will cover the various roles of the producer, and introduce you to their world. Penney will cover the Producers Guild Guidelines and Definitions. She’ll discuss the different kinds of producers and who are the major players in today’s market. She will discuss various duties of a producer, such as:

• Developing Material: Evaluating; Improving Material
• Budgeting/Financial Analysis/P&L Estimates
• Hiring the Writer
• Selecting the Director
• Casting for Features and TV
• Music for Films
• Post Production: Editing, Sound Editing, Dialogue Re-Recording, and the Dub
• The role music plays in a feature film
• Special Effects in Film Production and the impact of Stereoscopic delivery.
• Distribution of Feature Films
• Studio vs. Independent
• Television: One Hour vs. ½ Hour; Network vs. Cable; Reality
• Producing Documentaries
• Pre-Production
• Hiring the Rest of the Below the Line Crew
• Production: A Producer’s Responsibilities
• Business Affairs for Feature Films
• Negotiations: Understanding the Contracts for Both Above and Below the Line Deals
• Union and Guild Rules and Requirements
• Marketing and Merchandising
• Packaging and Foreign Sales

• Animation: All Aspects of the Creative Process

This in-depth program explores every aspect of producing a feature film, and can be customized to include any and all of the above topics, and even can be custom tailored to a specialized program based on your specific interest and needs, to provide you the tools to bring your feature film to completion in the most efficient and creative ways possible.