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Q: Why does the Oscar recognize producers when a movie wins Best Picture? What exactly did they do?
There's a good reason you're confused. Because it is difficult for the producers themselves to explain their work.
“I would do the impossible for an ungrateful person,” one cracked when I asked. “You can learn it, but you can’t teach it,” another person told me, quoting professional wrestler Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, who often said about his profession. Said. One of my long-time producers advised me to abandon this job completely. “Forget it, Jake, this is Chinatown,” he says, using a classic movie line to illustrate how difficult it is to demystify this piece.
She is truly a drama queen! Okay, I'll admit it: Producing is a complex and underrated job. But there are ways to think about gigs that help explain why producers, and not directors, win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
What is a producer and what is not?
For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to throw out anyone who is credited as an “executive producer” on a film (someone who plays a big role early on, usually by securing funding or key rights). Only those credited as “producers” have a chance of winning a small gold statuette at the end.
Producers oversee the entire process from planning to screening of a film. They identify movie ideas, sometimes by reading books or news articles, and work with screenwriters to develop the script. They convince the director. Some help secure funding and find the right leaders for various departments, such as casting, production design, and wardrobe. The producer also manages the budget, location scouting, and schedule. Once the film is completed, we will discuss the marketing campaign.
“Everyone has their own way of working,'' says the filmmaker, who was nominated for Best Picture last year for “Past Lives,'' and whose recent works include the erotic thriller “Baby Girl'' and the epic immigrant drama “The Brutalist.'' said producer David Hinojosa.
“However, the work is basically the same,” Hinojosa continued. “You're downloading every aspect of the project into your DNA: financially, logistically, emotionally.”
Many (though not all) producers spend a lot of time on set.
“I show up on the scene with hoses and oxygen and an ax and I'm ready to fight any fire. I'm going to do whatever I have to do to protect the project,” said Veritas Entertainment, one of the production companies. said founder Peter Jasen. “A Complete Unknown” depicts the rise of Bob Dylan.
It can be a long distance. Jasen said Veritas began work on “A Complete Unknown” in 2018, when HBO decided not to move forward with a different version of Dylan's origin story.
How many producers do we need…
Independent producers don't always win Best Picture. In the early decades of the Academy Awards, that honor (then called Outstanding Picture) went to corporations. Studio bosses such as Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner usually agreed to give speeches.
The first time an independent producer was nominated for an Oscar was in 1951. Records in the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library show there were “long discussions” among Oscar organizers about the adjustment, but do not give the exact reason for the change. It probably had something to do with the collapse of the post-war studio system. Three of the previous four Best Picture winners have been independent production companies or foreign filmmakers.
Another rule change, how many producers can win the top Oscar, was prompted by Harvey Weinstein. In 1999, a record five producers ran on stage to collect the Best Picture trophy for “Shakespeare in Love.” Among them was the jailed Miramax co-founder Weinstein, who elbowed a colleague in the way during a fight over a microphone. An embarrassed Academy then limited the number of producer nominees to three.
To narrow it down, the Academy first turns to the Producers Guild of America. Which producers were most involved? The Guild has an elaborate vetting system that includes an appeals process. You can tell which producer was chosen by looking at the on-screen credits. There will be a “producer's mark” next to your name, consisting of a lowercase pga.
The Academy's producer department will then make a final decision, including changes to the three-candidate rule. “Maestro,” one of the 2024 Best Picture nominees, had five producers allowed to receive hardware. (I lost to “Oppenheimer”.)
And Oscar…
The job of producer has a bad reputation because the job definition is vague and many people on the periphery of the film industry call themselves producers when in reality they are just charlatans.
But producers, real producers, have overarching responsibility for the film and stick to their guns no matter how many doors slam shut (and work without much compensation until relatively late in the process), so they're the ones who get the Oscars. Their case for the award is strong. One.
“Producers are filmmakers,” producer Minette Louis (“Land Ho!”) wrote to Bluesky in November. “We're not investors, managers, managers, agents, etc. We're creative and we also happen to be good at leadership, organization, logistics, business, and math.”
“Speak up,” she concluded. “We've been doing this for over 100 years.”
