Whenever I bother to watch the credits to a movie or t.v. show, there is usually an “executive producer”, several general “produced by” credits and then, invariably, there is a “line producer.” As I understand it, producers come up with financing for movies and oversee how money is spent and give the final ok on what money is spent on. Executive Producers are the head honchos of the whole team of producers. So what does a Line Producer do?
Hey, in every creative endeavor, somebody has to “draw the line.” Hence, we get the Line Producer.
ONLY KIDDING, ONLY KIDDING!
In TV, a line producer is the in-the-trenches, get-it-done, do-the-work right-hand-man/woman of the producer or exec producer.
But Fat, don’t mix your movie and TV producers. In general:
Movie “producers” (I think) tend to be the behind-the-scenes power-broker/finance types you describe.
TV “producers” tend to be more hands-on and have more creative control over the on-screen production.
Another thing I meant to ask but forgot was what distinguishes a “producer” from a “co-producer”? Occasionally I also see a “Co-ordinating Producer” credit. What does he/she do? In fact, how many damn producers does a movie or t.v. show need? I would imagine movies (being mega-million dollar ventures) need more producers. And if producers for movies and t.v. shows do different types of work, then why do the same titles seem to show up in both types of productions?
Greatly simplified, in TV land, a producer puts the show together and a director gets it on the air.
An executive producer is responsible for the overall look and content of show. The EP hires the talent, negotiates with the network and does all the behind the scenes work.
The producer takes care of the individual program, for example, deciding which segment will air that night, and making sure everything is ready.
The line producer is especially important in live TV, like news or sports. Basically, the LP makes sure that each segment is ready to go, that it times out right, that when the director is ready to call for the tape, that there’s actually a tape to run.
The coordinating producer is the line producer’s capable right arm, handling arrangements, etc.
Associate producers, assistant producers, segment producers, etc., are responsible for individual elements within a program, research, etc.