You’ve touched on one of the great mysteries of Hollywood, to wit, What does a producer do? Or, more specifically, what’s the difference between a producer, an executive producer, an associate producer, a line producer, etc., etc., etc.
An executive producer can fulfill any number of functions, but generally they oversee the financial end, and approve front-end creative decisions (casting, artistic crew hiring, and so on). They may be someone like Arnon Milchan, who runs his own independent production company, or Harvey Weinstein, who as co-head of Miramax exercises his right to stick himself in as executive producer of everything they do. Generally, they don’t get involved in the day-to-day work on the film, but they are the ultimate authority (with the minor exception of directors who have wangled final cut and other small creative concessions). It’s also the executive producer who provides the voucher to the bank or other financial authority when negotiating completion bonds and other monetary arrangements.
The producer, on the other hand, is usually directly involved with the work on the film. For example, Julia Phillips, in her trashy tell-all You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, talks about being on-set in India for Spielberg’s Close Encounters. When Steve decided he wanted a fancy overhead shot, it fell to Julia to run around looking for a cherrypicker. Also, she had to arrange security for Richard Dreyfuss, who had received death threats.
Sometimes the producer is more intimately involved with the creative decision-making on the film, and, as you rightly point out, should get more credit or blame for the ultimate result. One producer who does get mentioned in reviews is Jerry Bruckheimer, who has given us Con Air, Armageddon, and Coyote Ugly, among others; he’s also the exec on the new police series “C.S.I.” His movies all look exactly the same, regardless of who’s directing, and it’s due to his influence.
So, to summarize, some producers hang back and let the director run the show, taking care of the day-to-day details (as with Phillips above) the director doesn’t have time to worry about; some, like Bruckheimer, have a major hand in the look and feel of the movie.
By the way, “associate producer” is kind of a joke. This is mentioned in the new David Mamet film State and Main, which I highly recommend. The writer of the movie-in-the-movie is unhappy about something, so the producer offers to buy him off with an associate producer credit, even though he isn’t really doing anything. Another common instance: One guy buys the rights to a book. Hollywood decides to make it, and comes to the guy with checkbook in hand. The guy may know nothing about movies; he happened to be in the right place with the cash when the book came available. His deal to Hollywood: Pay me, and call me an associate producer, even though all I am, really, is a middleman.
Lately the industry has been cracking down on the proliferation of the producer credit. The motion picture academy, for example, won’t give a Best Picture Oscar to more than three recipients, which may account for all the extra “executives” you saw, as several people got artifically promoted to keep their names in the credits.
Hollywood’s a weird place, kids…