Documentary Producers: Overview

Documentary producer like a film producer has the toughest job out of any who works in documentary and whether the documentary succeeds or fails can be down to them. So what does a documentary producer to those who aren't in the know well this post is all about that.

What do they do:

• A documentary producer is the person who makes a documentary film happen, meaning they act as banker, manager and financier of the film.

• Generating the money to make a film is one of the most important parts of a documentary producer's job. The producer has to secure all of the funding for the documentary which results in the producer being in charge of hiring any and all things that relate to the documentary such as gathering the crew and ensuring that the documentary finishes on time.

• "Being a producer means you have to do everything if you want to see the project through,"  says Christine Venegas a documentary producer from Las Angeles "you wear many hats while working on a project 

• Money doesn't easy for this film type due to mainly documentaries almost never being a commercial success, finding funding can be a tough fight.

•  Producers spend a great deal getting their finances for their film from donors, foundations and agencies.

• "You have to have perseverance," says Alex Krasilovsky an award winning producer "I know one filmmaker who spent seven years raising the money for her film."

• This job involves a lot of responsibility. Anything that goes wrong during filming i.e. running out of money, conflicts with crew or uncontrollable situations when say filming a nature documentary eventually all will involve the producer.  

• Depending on what kind of work they're doing, documentary producers may have to travel to work on the film. The hours can be long and the work will be intense.

• "When I'm making a film, I live with it 20 hours a day," says Krasilovsky "It takes over my life."

• In addition to all the other duties. producers must stay on top of the sea of paperwork. Producers handle all business details, and they're often busy with applications.
• After finishing the paperwork, producers are able to be involved in the creative process. In small companies producers often double up as directors due to producer role and its many different hats and in some cases when funding dries up producers have to work with little to finish the product.