Low pay. Long days. Stressful working conditions. Uncertainty about your
next job. Why would anyone choose to become a producer?
"I think it's incredibly satisfying," says Mark Moran. He's a film producer.
"I actually like that lifestyle."
When Moran was a computer game programmer, he worked 51 weeks a year and
often worked around the clock. He loved the industry but it was all-consuming.
He would often work weekends and would be in front of his computer for 16
or 17 hours a day.
"In the movie industry, I much prefer to work intensely for three months
and then have a month or two off," says Moran. "And I like the fact that your
day is not spent in front of a computer, it's spent all over.
"I go back and forth between being in an office and being on location.
You're all over the place; you're traveling all over the world. I just made
two movies in Romania earlier this year. I like that lifestyle of work hard,
play hard. And [I like] traveling for work, and with every single movie you
meet 100 new people."
Moran says hard work and tenacity are essential for aspiring producers.
"When you get started, you produce everything you can, you get on as many
projects as you possibly can."
Making a full-time living as a producer just isn't a reality for many aspiring
filmmakers. Lola Davidson has seen a lot of people give up after a while.
Davidson is a documentary film producer. "I think a lot of people give up
because it's really easy to, because the money is very bad," says Davidson.
"You're basically living below the poverty line.
"It's a very difficult industry and it's not for the faint of heart," she
says. "You really have to be tough, in a lot of ways, because you're working
16-hour days."
"That lifestyle is very difficult for a lot of people -- the fact that,
a week out you may not know where you're going to be, and you're going to
be gone for three or four months," says Moran. "It makes it very hard to plan
vacations and it's also, for a lot of people, very stressful when they're
not working."
Despite the challenges, Davidson says aspiring producers should follow
their dreams. "If that's your dream, and it's what you really want to do,
then don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do it," she says. "If it's
what you want to do, then make it happen.
"This is one of those professions where you have to make it yourself,"
she adds. "You can't expect someone to offer it to you, because they won't.
You'll figure it out on the way and meet people. That's the big thing -- go
to film festivals, go to talks, and start meeting people, because once you
start meeting people you'll realize how small the world is."
Producers deal with innumerable details and constant uncertainty. They're
always putting out fires. It's an incredible juggling act to produce a finished
film. But usually, somehow, it all comes together.
"It's really hard to make something good," says Moran. "I know firsthand
how easy it is to start with what seems like a great script or a good idea,
but because there are so many things that can go wrong, it's very tough to
make something good. But because of that, it makes it so satisfying when you
do. When you watch the dailies, or you're watching a movie, and you think,
'Hey this is something I made that has the potential to live long beyond me.'
"If you make a great movie, in 100 years people will be watching it."