PRODUCERS AND THE PRODUCTION OFFICE

Job Overview

Answering to the production's producer, the line producer is responsible for supervising the budget; hiring the below-the-line crew; overseeing the production, from the daily operations on set through postproduction; and working with the director to execute his vision for the production.

Special Skills

A line producer must be able to manage a budget, and possess the people skills to work with and motivate a variety of personalities. Line producers also must be good listeners and be flexible.

While scouting locations for Avalon, the director and producer determined that a particular scene needed to be shot on a sunny day. The day the company arrived at that location, it was pouring down rain. So line producer Peter Giuliano packed up the company, equipment, and trucks and got everyone moving to another location. He and the DP were in a car preparing to leave, when they received a call on the walkie-talkie from the producer and director, saying they had decided to shoot the scene in winter, meaning they would shoot in the rain and make it appear it was winter. Giuliano needed to bring the whole company back.

“I did a U-turn in the car. The DP [Allen Daviau] turned to me and said, ‘Today you'll earn your entire salary from the movie.’ I brought the company back. People were pissed off … You can either be really rigid and say, ‘The company has moved,’ or you can go with it and understand that it's part of the creative process. You have to remain flexible at all times to accomplish things that are not planned for.”

Advice for Someone Seeking This Job

“Work for free,” says Giuliano. “Understand that it's going to be long hours. You have to really want it, because it's very difficult. Most jobs work a 40-hour week—we work an 80- or 90- or 100-hour week. It's a shock to a lot of young people.”

Professional Profile: Peter Giuliano, Line Producer

Peter Giuliano did not plan on a career in filmmaking. The opportunity presented itself because he owned a van. He was living in Manhattan, working odd jobs, when he was approached to pick up film equipment for a small independent film company. The catch was he had to arrive after hours to avoid trouble with the teamsters. Soon he was working with the company on numerous industrials, documentaries, and commercials, eventually creating commercial parodies for the first two seasons of Saturday Night Live. “It was just a director and me, so I did everything: I was the camera assistant, the production manager, production assistant, sometimes the sound person, whatever was needed.”

Giuliano produced commercials for a time, but realized he preferred the assistant director role. His first break into television series work came when producer Kenneth Utt hired him as first AD on the one-hour police drama Baker's Dozen. Utt became a mentor, and the two remained close throughout Giuliano's career.

His first small feature as an AD was The Prowler. “It was a spin-off of a Friday the 13th type film. I also ended up being the killer … Farley Granger was supposed to be the killer, but he couldn't be there all the time. I fit his wardrobe, so they just had him there for the parts where his face showed. When his face was covered, when he was doing all the killing, I did the work.”

Ghostbusters provided the lucky break that changed Giuliano's career. “I was working on a movie of the week and the producer got sick. The guy who took over refused to hire me because he didn't know me, even though I was already on the job. I was really depressed, sitting at home. The AD on Ghostbusters was fired and they needed somebody right away, somebody in New York. I was literally the only first AD not working in New York at the time. It was just luck that I got the job. And, it changed everything.” At the time, Ghostbusters was the biggest film ever to shoot in New York, both logistically and in terms of crew size. The film's success changed people's perception of Giuliano, and brought him many more opportunities.

Having successfully worked with director Ivan Reitman on Ghostbusters, Giuliano was hired back to first AD other Reitman pictures, including Legal Eagles, Twins, Ghostbusters II, Kindergarten Cop, and Dave.

Giuliano moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, where another important break came when he landed the first AD job on Avalon, directed by Barry Levinson. Hitting it off with Levinson, he served as first AD on Bugsy, was upped to first AD/co-producer on Toys, and was then promoted to line producer on Jimmy Hollywood, Disclosure, Sleepers, and Sphere.

In 1994, Giuliano relocated to Missouri, and spent his time off between productions there. Looking for a new creative challenge, he accepted an offer from a friend to produce a television pilot called The Force. Discovering that he enjoyed the format's ever-changing opportunities to solve problems, he went on to work on the series Bull, and then Thieves.

While working on Thieves, Giuliano had a premonition that he should be working on a production about three different crime fighters with different powers. After Thieves was cancelled, he was offered another pilot. “It was a really good script, but something bugged me about it. A week later, I got a call about another show, called Birds of Prey. It's about three women: one who has psychic powers, one who has physical powers, and one who has all the brain power. It was like my premonition.” Giuliano called the studio and made arrangements to switch projects. After Birds of Prey was picked up, he remained on as producer of the series.