# Tom Clancy: Exec Producer five years after he died? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441 "2020-01-15T03:51:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/1 "2020-01-15T03:51:13Z")
We watched _Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan_ (2018-2019). Tom Clancy is credited as Executive Producer… but he died in 2013. How’s that work? ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/2 "2020-01-15T03:56:46Z")
Executive producers don’t necessarily do anything directly in the production. Some will be hip deep in it…some might just have been important in the initial pitch or something else pretty peripheral. It could be as simple as it having been specified that he got an executive producer credit in the contract to buy the rights to his intellectual property. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/3 "2020-01-15T04:12:11Z")
Im guessing his estate own the name. He is amazing. He keeps writing books from beyond the grave too. > **[Amazon.com: Tom Clancy Oath of Office (A Jack Ryan Novel Book 18) eBook :...](https://www.amazon.com/Clancy-Oath-Office-Jack-Novel-ebook/dp/B07BJM9FW4)** > > Amazon.com: Tom Clancy Oath of Office (A Jack Ryan Novel Book 18) eBook : Cameron, Marc: Books ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/4 "2020-01-15T05:03:27Z")
Movies often take a long time to go from script to release, so he might well have been involved in the early stages of whatever fairly minor roles exec producers do, like getting a screenwriter to sign up or get some funding in place or… well, I don’t think it’s really clear what executive producers do, but it’s certainly possible for him to have done some of it before he died. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/5 "2020-01-15T05:07:56Z")
I’ll bet you Stan Lee will still be credited on Marvel films released a decade from now. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/6 "2020-01-15T13:41:43Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > It could be as simple as it having been specified that he got an executive producer credit in the contract to buy the rights to his intellectual property. Probably this. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’ll bet you Stan Lee will still be credited on Marvel films released a decade from now. Probably this too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/7 "2020-01-15T14:53:31Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Movies often take a long time to go from script to release… It went into development two years after Clancy died. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/8 "2020-01-15T22:43:14Z")
But the original TV rights were probably optioned decades ago. Part of that license probably stipulates an executive producer credit. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-clancy-exec-producer-five-years-after-he-died/846441/9 "2020-01-15T22:59:36Z")
And the executive producer check being made out to “The estate of …”