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Q: Why do the Oscars honor producers when a film wins Best Picture? What exactly did they do?
You’re confused for good reason: Producers themselves have a hard time describing their work.
“I make the impossible possible for the ungrateful,” said one when I asked. “You can learn it, but you can’t teach it,” another told me, quoting something pro wrestler Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon used to say about his profession. For a long time, the producer advised me to abandon the assignment altogether. “Forget it, Jack — it’s Chinatown,” he says, using a classic movie line to describe how difficult it is to expose the work.
Such a drama queen! OK, admit it: production is a complex, underappreciated task. But there are A few ways to think about that gig help explain why producers — and not, say, directors — win best picture Oscars.
What is a producer, and what is not?
For the purpose of this discussion, throw out anyone credited as an “executive producer” on any film (someone who initially plays a major role, usually by securing funding and major rights). . Only those credentialed as “producers” ultimately have the chance to win the gold minifigures.
Producers shepherd films from inception to screen. They identify film ideas, sometimes by reading books or news articles, and work with writers to develop scripts. They persuade the directors. Some help secure funding and find the right directors for various departments—casting, production design, wardrobe. Producers also oversee budgets, location scouting and scheduling. After the film is completed, he consults on marketing campaigns.
“Everybody produces differently,” said producer David Hinojosa, who was nominated for best picture last year for “Past Life” and whose recent films include “Baby Girl,” an erotic thriller. , and “brutal“An epic immigrant drama.
“Basically, though, the work is the same,” Hinojosa continued. “You’re downloading every aspect of the project into your DNA — financial, logistical, emotional.”
Many (but not all) producers spend a lot of time on set.
“I show up with my hose and my oxygen and my ax ready to fight any fire, ready to do whatever it takes to protect a project,” Veritas Entertainment founder Peter said Jason, one of the production companies behind it. “A Complete Unknown,” about the rise of Bob Dylan.
It can be a long journey. Jaysen said Veritas began work on “A Complete Unknown” in 2018, after HBO decided not to move forward with a different version of Dylan’s origin story.
How many producers does it take to…
Individual producers don’t always win Best Picture. In the early decades of the Academy Awards, the honor (then called Outstanding Production) went to one company. The studio owners – Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner and the like – were usually the ones who accepted and gave the speech.
Individual producers were first nominated at the 1951 Oscars. Records from the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library show that there was “prolonged discussion” among Oscar organizers about the adjustment but do not specify the exact reason for the move. Perhaps this had to do with the breakdown of the post-war studio system. Three of the previous four Best Picture winners came from independent production companies or an overseas filmmaker.
Another rule change – how Many The producers could be awarded the top Oscar – was encouraged by Harvey Weinstein. In 1999, five producers, the most ever, took to the stage to collect best picture trophies for “Shakespeare in Love.” Weinstein, the since-imprisoned co-founder of Miramax, was among them, and he edged out a colleague in the race for the microphone. After that, an embarrassed Academy limited the number of producer nominees. Three.
To top it off, the Academy first relies on the Producers Guild of America: who were the producers Mostly Involved? The Guild has an extensive vetting system which includes an appeals process. You can see which producers were selected. On-screen credits; They get a “producer’s mark” next to their names consisting of the lowercase letters pga.
The Academy’s producers’ arm then makes the final decision, including turning over three nominees. In 2024, a Best Picture nominee, “Maestro,” had the option of five producers getting the hardware. (It lost to “Oppenheimer”).
And Oscar goes…
Production gets a bad rap because duties are so vaguely defined and because so many people on the fringes of the film world call themselves producers when they’re really just charlatans.
But since the producer – real Producers—imposing such universal responsibilities on films, maintaining faith even as doors slam in their faces (and working relatively long hours without pay in the process), the Oscar for Best Picture. But their claim is a strong one.
“Producers are filmmakers,” producer Manette Loy (“Land Ho!”) wrote on Blusky in November. “We are not financiers, executives, managers, agents, etc. We are creators who are also good at leadership, organization, logistics, business and mathematics.”
“Straighten it up, please,” he concluded. “We’ve been doing this for 100 years.”