Crediting an actor as a Producer as well?

DecadenceFilms

DecadenceFilms

Active member
Hi, I was wondering if any of you had ever felt the need to credit your actors with some kind of Production credit as well, due to the excellent work they'd done behind the scenes?

Would this be unusual in any way?

The actor in my new film has been a tremendous help in sourcing other cast and crew and I feel like he deserves a mention. He's not bothered about it himself, but it sort of feels right to me.

What says the DVX crowd?
 
Producer puts up the money. Producer owns the picture or a piece of the picture if there are other producers involved.

Actors get more credit as actors when they are only mentioned as actors.

It's best not to get in the habit of throwing "producer" credits around. If you're in this line of work for the long haul, you'll thank me for this piece of advice.
 
DecadenceFilms said:
Hi, I was wondering if any of you had ever felt the need to credit your actors with some kind of Production credit as well, due to the excellent work they'd done behind the scenes?

Would this be unusual in any way?

The actor in my new film has been a tremendous help in sourcing other cast and crew and I feel like he deserves a mention. He's not bothered about it himself, but it sort of feels right to me.

What says the DVX crowd?
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I'm doing the same thing -- one of my actresses has helped put together the entire cast, helped put me in touch with several crew members (gaffer and production, post-production sound, and wardrobe), saved me money, etc. She became a co-producer early in the process.

And no, a producer doesn't put up the money. Where did YOU learn film?! Producers rarely ever put their own money into a project. Yeah, sure, the producer of a short film, but in reality the producer isn't the money person. Executive producers, sometimes yes, but if you see "Jerry Bruckheimer" was the producer do you think he personally put up the $100M to make this film? No.

Also, who the hell cares about passing out producer credits? If that's a good way to get things done, and get someone involved who can really help, why not? A producer credit is not even a big deal on a short film anyway, I only care about writing and directing credits. I produce out of necessity. Nobody is going to be like, "Oh my god, you produced 15 short films, wow you're hired to produce Transformers 3!" No, I don't think so. As long as I get my sole directing and sole writing credits (even then I'd probably be ok with a co-writer), then I'll gladly be just co-producer.
 
Well, if you take your cue from Kevin Smith, he has no problem being a Credit whore as Writer, Director, Actor, whatever he can get his name on.
 
Haha, I'm not a credit whore, which is why I have no problem reducing "producer" to "co-producer" for me if it gets my film made the best way possible. I do want to be sole director, as obviously I'm trying to use shorts as a vehicle for my directing career / reel. Besides that, I produce because I have to, I don't care about producing credits, haha.
 
Credits don't mean anything. They're just credits. It's not like there aren't already at least 2 or 3 producers already on most (feature length) films anyway. And, I really don't understand why some producers have issues trading credits for underpaid (or non paid) contribution to a film.

On a low budget or no budget film, credits are currency to some extent. Use them when you have to. There are purists who balk at giving a credit to a crew member who officially didn't function in that role, but it certainly doesn't hurt the film and it doesn't take away from crew who are credited for work they did.

Consider giving an "Associate Producer" credit to an actor who helps out with production.

.
 
Chris Santucci said:
Credits don't mean anything. They're just credits. It's not like there aren't already at least 2 or 3 producers already on most (feature length) films anyway. And, I really don't understand why some producers have issues trading credits for underpaid (or non paid) contribution to a film.

On a low budget or no budget film, credits are currency to some extent. Use them when you have to. There are purists who balk at giving a credit to a crew member who officially didn't function in that role, but it certainly doesn't hurt the film and it doesn't take away from crew who are credited for work they did.

Consider giving an "Associate Producer" credit to an actor who helps out with production.

.
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Yeah exactly, when you don't have a lot of money but you need someone's help to make the shoot as good as it can be, at least you can offer to make them an associate producer or co-producer or something along those lines to help get things on track. In my case, this actress got me some name talent for actors, saved me probably a week of audition time because it was just a lot easier to get people we already know are good, versus having to go through a long audition process, especially for a lot of roles that are only 2-3 lines.
 
JonathanLB said:
Yeah exactly, when you don't have a lot of money but you need someone's help to make the shoot as good as it can be, at least you can offer to make them an associate producer or co-producer or something along those lines to help get things on track.
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Or anything, within reason. You need a good stills photographer and you don't have enough to pay one? Pay what little you have to an up and coming DP and give him an "additional photography" or "2nd unit DP" credit.

You need a good location sound mixer that you can't afford? What else do you need that a potential mixer could provide that you'd need to pay for anyway? Sound package? Foley? Post sound work?

You need locations that you can't pay for? Ask a few of the crew or cast to help find you some and offer them some form of producer credit.

You need a driver to work for free? Find someone who wants to get into the "biz" and give 'em an Associate Producer credit.

When you have a small budget and you need a cast and a crew, you have to at least be flexible in what you can offer that won't cost you much (or anything) that might be an incentive for them.

.
 
So what do you call the man or woman who puts up the money for your movie and who hires the director, the writer, the DP, the actors -- in fact, all the cast and crew and then goes out and finds distribution for the movie?
 
I didn't ask "he who gives the most?"

I asked:


So what do you call the man or woman who puts up the money for your movie and who hires the director, the writer, the DP, the actors -- in fact, all the cast and crew and then goes out and finds distribution for the movie?
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filmman said:
So what do you call the man or woman who puts up the money for your movie and who hires the director, the writer, the DP, the actors -- in fact, all the cast and crew and then goes out and finds distribution for the movie?
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Someone who puts up the money for a film is generally called an investor.

Above the line personnel are possibly hired by a producer or maybe an executive producer while a line producer hires the crew and cast.

A producer is almost always the person who tries to get distribution with the help of a sales agent and/or producer's rep.

.
 
It would be of great help to me if anybody would explain how they got their feature film funded and with what money they made a feature film -- I'm asking from first hand experience. Please tell me: did you ever produce a feature film? How did you credit the person or persons who invested the money if you were the producer? Did you produce a movie that you also directed? How many other producers were involved?

I'm not interested in line producers and associate producers who were hired to do various jobs; I'm interested in the producers who put up money and what influence did they have on the feature film. Only feature films, whether film or digital.

There is so much to learn about the responsibility of raising money, investing in feature films and who calls the shots when it comes to hiring.

I'm excluding the director and the filmmaker roles. The director has artistic control and the filmmaker may end up putting up his own money and shooting the entire movie. I'm a one-man filmmaker for example. So the subject is of interest to me only from the perspective of who is the producer?

Thanks for your help in clarifying this question. I believe it's related to the original post, namely how to credit an actor who helps with a production.
 
filmman said:
It would be of great help to me if anybody would explain how they got their feature film funded and with what money they made a feature film -- I'm asking from first hand experience.
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While I don't have first hand experience doing a movie, the best story I have heard was Kevin Smith's about his first movie Clerks. His car got wasted, and he got a good chunk of cash from the insurance. That, plus what he got selling everything he had, and calling in favors, maxing credit cards, got it done for around $28,000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerks#Production
 
If you liked that, you need to rent An Evening With Kevin Smith. He's doing a College talk circuit, and somebody asks him how to get money to do a movie. He says to "Get a job at a Mom and Pop type store, where you will be able to answer the phone. Then you apply for a bunch of credit cards, and tell them you manage the place you work at. When they call to check out your references, you answer the phone like 'Yeah, he Manages the place. How much does he make? $40,000 a year...', and that is how you get all the credit cards. Then you max them out."
 
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