Proposal samples?

I love it when people cite things that are not even close to related and then act like somehow they proved you wrong.

Craig, Lucas financing the Star Wars movies isn't even CLOSE to saying that a WORKING PRODUCER finances his own films. It just doesn't happen. Lucas was the writer-director of the prequels, and they were made from his production company, not to mention he has billions of dollars, why would he need to finance them from the outside when he has the entire empire to do that? But the average producer doesn't put a dime forward on a project they work on. They put elements together, they put financing together based on that package of elements (script, cast, director, whatever), and then they make the film, and find it distribution. You aren't going to find good producers who are putting up their own money for every project. Sure, if they reach a certain level of wealth they may end up doing some of that (still doubtful if it's $100M films they're doing often), but producers are not financiers. They are producers. That isn't up for debate or my opinion -- it's the reality of the industry.
 
I love it when people cite things that are not even close to related and then act like somehow they proved you wrong.

Craig, Lucas financing the Star Wars movies isn't even CLOSE to saying that a WORKING PRODUCER finances his own films. It just doesn't happen. Lucas was the writer-director of the prequels, and they were made from his production company, not to mention he has billions of dollars, why would he need to finance them from the outside when he has the entire empire to do that? But the average producer doesn't put a dime forward on a project they work on. They put elements together, they put financing together based on that package of elements (script, cast, director, whatever), and then they make the film, and find it distribution. You aren't going to find good producers who are putting up their own money for every project. Sure, if they reach a certain level of wealth they may end up doing some of that (still doubtful if it's $100M films they're doing often), but producers are not financiers. They are producers. That isn't up for debate or my opinion -- it's the reality of the industry.

Hmm...

See I think "producer" is too vague a term. There are so many different kinds of producers working on any one given film. On an indie film someone might be a "producer" because they were able to supply locations, another person might be a "producer" because they were able to get free food services, and still another person might be a "producer" because they, yeah, gave 100K to the project and is getting back the first 100K the film makes plus 40% on all proceeds after that.

I think the person who typically never puts their own money into a project is the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. The title pretty much defines the role. This is the person who is getting funding (with or without screen credit to the person or company investing the money), coordinating with the locations and food services, agents, talent, etc. In most indie films, the executive producer is the indie filmmaker (or a really awesome pal of theirs who likes to talk fast and make lots of friends, right?) I look at the executive producer as promoter, banker and, essentially, the guy who is steering the business side of the film boat while the director steers the creative side.

That's my interpretation of the position, anyway.
 
I think the person who typically never puts their own money into a project is the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. The title pretty much defines the role. This is the person who is getting funding (with or without screen credit to the person or company investing the money), coordinating with the locations and food services, agents, talent, etc. In most indie films, the executive producer is the indie filmmaker (or a really awesome pal of theirs who likes to talk fast and make lots of friends, right?) I look at the executive producer as promoter, banker and, essentially, the guy who is steering the business side of the film boat while the director steers the creative side.
In most Indie productions the Executive Producer is the "money man." While producers of many varieties: Producer, Co-Producer and Associate Producer, can be listed on the copyright, the US Copyright office doesn't accept the Executive Producer as a creative role and therefore reject them on the copyright. On our movie, we had to list one of the partners in the film (the Executive Producer) as a Co-Producer to be able to have him listed on the copyright with the other partners.
 
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