Executive Producer - Motion Pictures

Motion Pictures

An executive producer of a motion picture is often the person who found and bought the literary property that a film is based on, such as a novel or play. He might hire another producer to develop the project further. If the project gets the green-light to go into principal photography, he might hire a line producer to watch over the production day to day. Since the 1980s, however, it has become increasingly common for the line producer to be given the title of executive producer, while the initiating producer takes the "produced by" credit. On other projects, the reverse happens, with the line producer taking the "produced by" credit. So the two credits have become effectively interchangeable, with no precise definition.

The executive producer can also be a person representing a financial investor in a film project, such as a film studio or a distributor, but who is not directly involved in the day to day production. It can also be someone with other special interests in the project, such as the author of the book that the film is based on, or one of the film's key actors who has been instrumental in persuading the studio to do the film. In such cases, the executive producer credit is mainly honorary.