PRODUCERS AND THE PRODUCTION OFFICE

Job Overview

There are different types of producers, and responsibilities may vary from project to project. The producer oversees a project from beginning to end and may be involved in any or all of the following responsibilities: finding, acquiring, and developing material; securing financing; hiring the director, talent, and key crew members; supervising the project through postproduction and release.

Special Skills

In addition to knowledge of filmmaking and contacts within the industry, a producer must have the ability to work successfully with a variety of personalities, be highly organized, and be able to motivate others.

Advice for Someone Seeking This Job

Start out as a PA, secretary, or assistant for a production company or producer to learn the business and make contacts. In looking for a job, “Be persistent,” suggests producer Anne Grace. Don't just send in a resume and expect someone to call you—call them. “You have to keep calling. That's the one thing that impresses me. Whenever I hire somebody, I'm going to hire the person that has called for the last six months. You have to have a certain amount of eagerness to be a PA. If you're sincere and you can convey to people that you are serious, someone will give you a chance.”

Professional Profile: Anne Grace, Senior Producer, Scene Three Media Works

From an early age, Anne Grace knew that she wanted to be a producer. The best friend of a child actor whose father was a writer/director for Disney, Grace was raised around the film industry. “Our families were close—I pretty much grew up on the Disney lot.” After high school she attended University of San Diego for two years, then transferred to Cal State Northridge, where she earned a bachelor's degree in radio and television broadcasting.

During her last semester of college, Grace took an internship at Landsburg, working on That's Incredible. “They had this huge library that two women ran. They needed interns to come in and find stories for them. I would stay late, above and beyond, and they would ask me to come in on shoot days and help the script supervisor. I did that on my own.” The company had no paying positions available when Grace graduated, so she took a job working for a record promoter, but stayed in touch with her Landsburg connections. When production for Science Times began staffing up, she was offered a job as production secretary series.

Shortly after Joan Barnett joined the Landsburg company, Grace was recommended and hired as her assistant. “She was vice president of movies and miniseries for NBC for four years under Brandon Tarticoff, and then her contract was up. Joan was the first female vice president at a network. I started working for her and it was the greatest thing of my career. She taught me everything. Not only would she develop scripts, but she would executive produce them and I would work with her on them.” Over the next several years, Grace gained experience working on a variety of projects, including the Kennedy miniseries with Martin Sheen, Adam with Adam Walsh, Parent Trap II, and the series Bluegrass.

Newly married, Grace relocated to Nashville with her husband in the late 1980s, leaving the Landsburg company after seven years. Upon arriving in Nashville, contacts at the William Morris Agency and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) introduced her around town. One person she met was Kitty Moon, who would later offer her an opportunity with Scene Three Media Works. Before Grace could settle into a new job, her friends at Landsburg called to offer her three months’ work on two movies and a television pilot they were shooting in South Carolina. “It was a six day week, 18 hour day life,” she recalls. By the time Grace returned to Nashville, she was burnt out on filmmaking and stayed home for a few months before accepting work at a nonprofit organization.

A few months later, she received a phone call from Kitty Moon, leading to an interview with partner Marc Ball. “The timing couldn't have been better, because I was ready to get back in the business. I came in and met with Marc for three hours.” Grace joined Scene Three in 1990 and has been with the company for just over a decade. During that time she has produced numerous music videos, commercials, and television projects, including the series CeCe's Place starring CeCe Winans, an Emmy-nominated campaign for Nashville Public Television, “Tracy Lawrence: In the Round,” a one hour special for CMT/TNN, and the CBS special “A Day in the Life of Country Music.”