AboutTroy Smith Expertise I can answer questions on professional or amateur filmmaking and questions on Final Cut Pro, video cameras, lighting, sound recording, scriptwriting, storytelling, directing, producing, editing, multi-camera productions, shooting sports, picture to video, using DTE hard drives, using video cameras and editing in a very creative way and some 16mm filmmaking. I can't answer too many questions on 35mm filmmaking.
Experience I have been a professional filmmaker since 1995 and a film teacher since 2000. I am publishing a textbook for beginning filmmakers called "the New Filmmaker's Adventure". I have experience in the area of low-budget feature filmmaking, Iam the co-owner of the production company called Imminent Entertainment LLC, I have worked on hundreds of videos, TV shows, multi-camera events and low budget, professional productions, corporate and consumer videos, Final Cut Pro, scriptwriting, directing, videography and cinematography, sound, lighting, editing, and producing.
Organizations Independent Feature Project - Chicago
Education/Credentials Western Michigan University '95 BS in film production Magna cum Laude
Maine Media Workshops '02-07
Expert: Troy Smith Date: 5/11/2008 Subject: poducers
Question hi iam lisa....13yrs old and really interested in film making...i just have a few questions on the film making crew....what exactly is the diffeence between an executive producer and producer? what does an executive producer do? and if i want to be a producer/Director then will i earn more than the cast? for example in tomb raider: cradle of life....Anglina Jolie earned abt $12million ....and the director earned abt $4million the producer earned another exceeding amount ....so my question is ...if i were the producer and the director of tomb raider would i earn more than her(anglina Jolie)? or would it depend on the factors? thank u
Answer Hi Lisa. An Executive Producer usually has very little to do with making the movie except providing money for it to be made. They usually like the idea enough to invest in it but are pretty hands off in the creation of the film.
A producer is in charge of the business side of "show business." They may find a story idea that they like, hire a writer to turn the idea into a script, find a director to make it, find SOME of the key actors (maybe), get the money, make the contracts, work with payroll and plan, plan, plan. If you are a good planner, you would rock in this position. If you are a creative person, you may look at directing or something else. A producer's job is to make sure all the business stuff goes smoothly so that the creative people can do their job as freely as possible.
The reason big stars get so much money (often more than the director) is because they are what will sell the movie to millions of people, thus creating (hopefully) hundreds of millions of dollars (if only if were that simple all the time). The director may be awesome, but very few people pay to see a movie because of a director versus say... Angelina Jolie! So the stars get more because they are what attracts people to pay $10 for a movie even though it may be lousy.
The producer produces the movie as a product because they make movies for money just like farmers produce corn to make money (but I think movies are way more fun to do!). Those producers, along with others, get paid for being a producer (salary) AND also get paid a percentage of how much the movie makes (profit points).
To answer your official question, as a producer/director of tomb raider you would earn less salary than Angelina, but you would also get a huge chuck of money if the movie did really well, which could add up to way more. Hope this helps!
