[Speed Gibson,
Monday April 4, 2005 at 10:41pm]
The Producers
If you've nothing better to do, try counting the "producers" of your favorite TV program. One of mine is Desperate Housewives.
In the fifties, there were only producers, at most two per program or picture. But the sixties soon featured executive producers like Sheldon Leonard, Quinn Martin, and Aaron Spelling. Another, Gene Roddenberry, insisted on being Star Trek's Executive Producer, because that's where the power to truly create truly resided.
So last Sunday, I noticed there were three "consulting producers" followed by two "producers" and a "produced by" listed, not mention its two or three executive producers and one or two co-executive producers, depending on the episode. Just how much producing does a show like this need? How did Cecil B. DeMille ever get along with just an associate producer or two?
Obviously, most of these people are not really producers in the classic sense. They are gophers and ankle-biters who imagine that these titles will shine brightly on their resume when they try to move up to Co-Managing Creative OberReichProducer on their next gig. And I bet they work for scale.
In the fifties, there were only producers, at most two per program or picture. But the sixties soon featured executive producers like Sheldon Leonard, Quinn Martin, and Aaron Spelling. Another, Gene Roddenberry, insisted on being Star Trek's Executive Producer, because that's where the power to truly create truly resided.
So last Sunday, I noticed there were three "consulting producers" followed by two "producers" and a "produced by" listed, not mention its two or three executive producers and one or two co-executive producers, depending on the episode. Just how much producing does a show like this need? How did Cecil B. DeMille ever get along with just an associate producer or two?
Obviously, most of these people are not really producers in the classic sense. They are gophers and ankle-biters who imagine that these titles will shine brightly on their resume when they try to move up to Co-Managing Creative OberReichProducer on their next gig. And I bet they work for scale.