TV producer

The TV producer or line producer is a profession in the entertainment industry. The TV producer is responsible for the smooth content and organizational handling of almost all areas of a production. He is often simply called the producer , but should not be confused with the television producer , who is also called a "producer" in English-speaking countries, or more precisely, the executive producer . The TV producer, on the other hand, is the executive "right hand" of the producer or the television editor.

Job description

TV producers are either freelancers who are hired on a project basis or employees of television stations , studios or production companies. Producers are used in almost all television programs. In the case of series or serially produced show formats, two or three producers can sometimes work together, with each being jointly responsible for individual seasons or episodes.

In contrast to the executive producer or film producer , the line producer is not the overall financial and artistic director of a production, but is responsible for the content and organizational implementation. Since a producer is almost always on site, in contrast to the producer or executive producer, he usually works exclusively on one project.

TV producers usually have several years of practical experience as production assistants, film production managers or editors . You develop content, create calculations and deal with all development phases of a program from planning to editing. Most of the time, they specialize in a certain genre such as game shows , news , current magazine shows , sports shows , TV series or TV movies .

You often have a lot of room for maneuver with regard to the development of ideas and topics, the scripts, the choice of the director, the selection of actors and the approach and handling of each individual production and make many fundamental decisions on your own responsibility, but in close consultation with the editorial team, Production manager or producer.

The area of work lies in the “creative” and “artistic” area of production as well as in its implementation and monitoring. A TV producer, for example, makes sure that a program matches the goals of the broadcaster and that the interests of the audience are met, that the budget is not exceeded and that the schedule is adhered to. He prepares contracts with the actors, supervises the administration of the funds, orders technical equipment and schedules rehearsals and filming. He oversees the work of the director and is, in rare cases, a director himself. For talk shows, news and documentary programs, he sometimes chooses the subject of the program instead of the editor-in-chief .

Education and career prospects

In Germany, the producers of the private broadcasters have so far mainly come from commercial professions, while producers from production companies often have a degree in the humanities or communication sciences, theater, film and television studies or journalism. Various academies offer certified qualification measures for film and television employees, which are audited by the chambers of industry and commerce, for example "Producer / IHK" with a focus on "Fiction" or "Entertainment" in Cologne and Berlin. The share of producers with specialist training is greatest in the news sector and lowest in the entertainment sector.

The position of producer is highly sought after by most production companies and broadcasters, and competition for positions is fierce. Of the production companies, only the larger ones have several permanent producers who - often only for a limited period of time - take on special tasks or work on a certain program. The rest of the work falls back on freelancers if necessary.

New producer positions are still being created. However, the acceptance of the broadcasters to include the producers of the production companies in the calculation - i.e. to pay them - is not very high, especially in the fictional area. The career prospects for producers in the television sector vary greatly due to the high demands, the great competition and the sometimes unclear job description and depend on one's own personality.

Classification in the German media landscape

The term producer has not grown organically in the German film and television landscape. From the establishment of the private broadcasters in the 1980s, professions under this name were increasingly incorporated into the German system, which was rich in its own tradition, which initially led to ambiguities in the delimitation of tasks and competencies: In the creative area between producer and editor , in the organizational area between producer and Production and manufacturing management .

Furthermore, the work areas of a producer differ considerably in the various production branches and often even from format to format and company to company. In practice, this has led to the differentiation and specialization of the job description, namely in the form of the development of different categories and hierarchies within the producer profession.

In addition, many other designations and structural changes were introduced in Germany with the word producer - for the most part based on the Anglo-American organizational and production structures.

Producer occupations

Film producer (financial and artistic handling of individual film productions)
TV producer (executive financial and artistic handling of individual television productions)
Executive Producer (mostly: preparation, development and production of films, television series, lavish programs and special productions)
Line producer (implementation and monitoring of individual film or television productions)
Creative Producer (development and content planning of one or more television productions)
Associate Producer (partner producer of the Executive Producer )

Assistant producer (support of the producer or executive producer in productions and related administrative tasks)

Field producer (support and implementation of individual contributions or parts of a news or entertainment format)

Visual Effects Producer (producer for post production in the VFX area, often part of VFX houses)

Commercial producer (producer in an advertising film production, represents directors, pitches for orders from advertising agencies and produces them)

Service producer (producer in a service production)

Other names

Assistant to the Producer is the assistant of a producer, analogous to the job of the editorial or production assistant.

In the case of several producers, the supervising producer is ultimately the responsible or lead producer, for example in the case of co-productions.

The term supporting producer is often used synonymously for associate producer .

Bidding Producer : a producer who only creates offers and supervises pitches, but leaves the implementation to a production manager.

literature

Everett Chambers: Producing TV Movies . Los Angeles: EC Prod., 2nd ed. 1988
Diana Iljine / Klaus Keil: The producer. The job description of the film and television producer in Germany . Munich: TR-Verlagsunion 1997 ( Film Production Series , Vol. 1)
Bernd Klepin: Producer - a foreign word . Cologne: Aim 1999 (Nemoqua seminar scripts)
Nemoqua (Ed.): Producer Symposium 21./22. June 1997 . Cologne: Aim 1997 (manuscript)

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