Advocating for a sustainable future for Career Producers in Film and Television
Advocating for a sustainable future for Career Producers in Film and Television
Producers United is a collective of Career Producers advocating for the sustainability of dedicated producing in film and television and to ensure its future. Founded in June 2023, the collective is organized around tangible activations enabling studios, streamers, networks, financiers, agencies, unions and our creative collaborators to become partners in correcting the systemic degradation of career producing. The collective seeks fair treatment, wages and accreditation for Career Producers, as well as much needed pathways for the next generation of Career Producers to establish sustainable careers.
Producers United members are working pro bono to aggressively organize around activations designed to make lasting, positive systemic change for Career Producers.
Producers United is promoting a series of fair and reasonable, future-facing proposals to the studios, streamers, networks and entertainment financiers that will help to support dedicated career producing and ensure ongoing quality for film and television product.
Producers United is addressing destructive industry customs and practices that have become entrenched or outdated and need to be revised, rethought or discontinued.
Producers United is working to establish sustainable best practices for Career Producers and the well-being of the industry as a whole.
Producers United is dedicated to forging sustainable pathways for next generation and diverse career producers to establish successful and livable careers in the field of producing.
Basic Rights for Producers
Producers United is asking our Employers to commit to fair, responsible and respectful treatment of Career Producers. This includes 1) payment for all services rendered while they are being rendered, which is a basic labor right and 2) making proper contributions to healthcare insurance for career producers, who are themselves responsible for the health, safety and well-being of entire casts and crews.
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What do you call the main producer on a set? The lead producer? The producer producer? We have settled on “Career Producer.”
Career Producers originate film and television projects by creating and/or identifying original ideas and Intellectual Properties from and for writers, as well as identifying and selecting director and actors (“Elements”) and “packaging” these elements together, most often speculatively, before presenting such packages to networks, streamers and/or financiers (“Employers”) for finance and distribution consideration; and/or Career Producers are sought out by talent, agencies and Employers for their focused expertise in all of the stages of content creation, production, and exploitation.
A Career Producer provides the necessary oversight on behalf of Employers, balancing the financial and creative needs of the project while also serving as the lead liaison between the creative team and the Employer during development, pre-production, production, post-production, marketing and distribution. Career Producers are also contractually responsible for the delivery of the finished content to the Employer and/or its assignees.
Shifts in technology and distribution have dramatically changed the economics of film and television for Career Producers. While Career Producers have long accepted many of these changing realities—which have affected everyone in Hollywood—for too long the issues facing Career Producers have not been widely publicized or addressed with one voice. Producers United is working to reverse entrenched, destructive industry practices to strengthen the career of producing for those who will enter this profession and to prevent producing from becoming a fading career path.
Producers United advocates for all Career Producers, whether or not they are members of Producers United.
Producers United is funded by its membership. Producers United members are working pro bono to address these issues.
Career Producers:
• Have invested in the necessary training to gain the experience needed to be experts in the field of producing.
• Provide crucial oversight of film and television productions while balancing the financial and creative needs of the project.
• Provide responsible leadership for casts and crews to keep productions safe and well managed.
• Oversee and sign budgets, taking responsibility for the (often massive) content investments by film and television Employers.
• Hold the responsibility of delivering content that is technologically and artistically complete to film and television Employers.
• Maintain the quality of premium film and television entertainment content for audiences at a time when competitive consumer choice for non-filmed entertainment (social, gaming, live) is at an all-time high.
• Most often originate projects.
• Drive development and “packaging,” arrange financing, oversee pre-production, production and post-production.
• Actively participate in marketing and distribution decisions and strategies.
• Provide training and apprenticeship for upcoming Career Producers.
Producers United is not a union but is advocating collectively as a group of concerned professionals who are passionate about the work they do and feel strongly about the value that Career Producers provide to deliver world-class product to the major studios and streamers. Producers United supports the unions and guilds that represent other entertainment industry professionals and work forces.
The industry is different today than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Producers were once able to be true entrepreneurs, sharing in the upside when films and television shows were profitable. That enabled producers to build companies, provide employment to many, and bring the next generation along. The shift to buyouts and capped fee producing has wiped that away. Even the most successful producers today are subject to capped fees, and the days of building companies and providing robust apprenticeships are mostly gone. Producers have continued to work within this degraded system due to a love of making movies and television. But where Producers are today is untenable, because basic rights for Producers are not being honored or provided, creating unprecedented challenges for Career Producers to continue working in their chosen field. At a time when the industry is relying on Career Producers more than ever for a steady hand while it absorbs technological shifts, rebuilds after a pandemic, and endeavors to recover theatrically, the Basic Rights of Career Producers must be supported so we can do our part to ensure the industry ecosystem continues to find its equilibrium for the future.
Producers United advocates for all Career Producers, whether they’re a part of Producers United or not. Initially formed by a group of producers meeting informally to address their shared concerns, Producers United has since grown organically and focused its mission into tangible activations that are managed by internal committees. The collective is now taking steps to accommodate those Career Producers who wish to add their voices, time and attention to the Producers United mission. If you are interested, please email inquiries [at] producersunited.com.
inquiries [at] producersunited.com
media [at] producersunited.com
