What Does a Movie Producer Do?

About 2 weeks ago I wrote an article about movie directors and what their roles are during the making of a film. Today, at the request of a reader (+Levi), I'm going to be answering a similar question: what does a movie producer do?

Basically, the producer oversees production of the entire movie from beginning to end. Specifically, he or she is responsible for managing the creation of a movie from the moment an idea for a film is presented, to the moment it hits theatres (and even afterwards they still have to work on advertising it, distributing it on DVD and Blu-Ray etc). They handle most of the business aspects of movie-making such as pitching ideas to studios (if the idea didn't come from within a studio), making sure the film doesn't exceed budget limitations and organizing salaries of cast and crew.

The producer is the person who hires crew members, a scriptwriter (if necessary) and other producers to work on the film under him or her. He or she also works with the director to pick cast members for the different roles of the movie.

What Does a Movie Director Do?

Have you ever asked yourself the question "what does a movie director do"? If you have, then this article is for you. I'll explain to you here what exactly it is that this person called "the director" does.

The director is one of the most important people that works on a movie. He or she is involved in the pre-production, production and post-production phases of creating a film. Basically, the director is responsible for making the movie enjoyable for the audience by organizing it's production at almost every stage.

The modern day movie director grew out of the historical play director. In general, directors of plays had (and still have) a lot of the same responsibilities as movie directors do today (e.g. picking actors, overseeing the production etc). Play directors were often the authors of plays, and they also acted in addition to directing. Movie directors today also have some responsibilities that play directors from centuries ago did not as you'll see below.

What is the Longest Movie Ever Made?

Have you ever watched a really long movie? Did you get bored or think to yourself “when will this movie be over”? Or perhaps you were glad that the film was long because it was really well made. You may have also thought of the question: what is the longest movie ever made? It's an interesting question and one which I'll answer for you today. 

Before answering however, it's important to clearly define what type of movie we're talking about. There are different kinds of movies out there and some of them are exceptionally long because they weren't made to be watched on a Friday night by the average person on the street. One example of this is the experimental film 24 Hour Psycho which was released in 1993. This movie is just an editted version of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho which was made to play at 2 frames per second rather than 24 frames per second like the original movie. The result is that the film ends up being 24 hours long.