PRODUCERS AND THE PRODUCTION OFFICE

Job Overview

A music video producer is charged with marshaling all of the physical and financial resources necessary to realize the director's creative vision. They meet with record label executives, managers, and artists to pitch the talent and ideas of the director(s) they represent, devise a budget for the project, hire crew and talent, and oversee all operational aspects of the video production.

Special Skills

Producers must have a basic knowledge of filmmaking, the ability to hire and motivate crew members, and possess sufficient accounting skills to devise an appropriate budget and bring the production to completion within it.

Advice for Someone Seeking This Job

If you want to work in the film industry, producer Clarke Gallivan suggests going to a major film school in California. “Then you're connected with other people in the industry. Whether someone wants to be a director, sound person, or a producer, you need to learn the craft. Each position in each department requires a specific set of skills. Focus on learning the craft. It's like playing in an orchestra: you have to know your part and have respect for all the other parts.” Once you've gained some basic knowledge, begin looking for opportunities to serve as a production assistant. Try to find a producer who needs an assistant and volunteer to work for free so you can learn from that individual and gain some experience. “If you're going to be a producer, you have to work your way up from the bottom.”

Professional Profile: Clarke Gallivan, Producer and Partner, Ruckus Film

Although she enjoyed taking film study courses in college, Clarke Gallivan had never considered filmmaking as a career. It wasn't until after she had earned a degree in political science that she began to have second thoughts about going on to law school. Undecided about what to do next, she returned home to Nashville in the mid-1970s and took a job assisting a photographer who often worked with the music industry. The photographer introduced Gallivan to several filmmakers, who hired her to shoot production stills of their projects. Through this experience she discovered that she had more interest in film work than in still photography.

She began finding jobs as a production assistant on commercials and anything else she could get as a way to learn the business. She later apprenticed as a film editor under directors Jim May and Coke Sams. For the next several years, Gallivan worked as an editor of commercials, documentaries, television shows, and movies. When country artists began making music videos in the early 1980s, she found herself editing them by the dozen. Growing tired of sitting alone in a darkened editing room, she began directing videos as well. Later, inspired by the work of another video filmmaker, she decided she could be more creatively effective as a producer, and from that point focused her career in that direction.

In 1985, Gallivan became a partner with May and Sams in Studio Productions. The firm's video client roster ranged from Aerosmith to Johnny Cash. They branched out into developing projects for Disney, HBO, and Paramount and continued to produce commercials.

With Coke co-writing and directing and May behind the camera, Gallivan produced the 1997 independent film Existo, which won numerous awards at film festivals around the world. The company recently joined forces with Honest Images to form Ruckus Film, to develop and produce a wide spectrum of projects, including programming for cable and network television, feature films, music videos, and commercials.