A film producer creates the conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, coordinates, supervises and controls matters such as raising funding, hiring key personnel, and arranging for distributors. The producer is involved throughout all phases of the filmmaking process from development to completion of a project.
So I know what a producer is, but the question still remains: "How does one become a film producer?"
Why do I ask? I love film and video, and I want to plan my future according so. I may not be the greatest artists (directing and all) but I am confident in my ability to manage others. So I ask, What does one need to do in order to become a producer? If possible, school recommendations and etc would really help. Or if its just a matter of knowing people, I'ld like to know that too! ?:)?
Find good scripts, find people with money, find people who can make good movies, and bring them all together.
If you're good at persuading people to help you, you could start off by trying to put together some low-budget movies on little money, which would at least prove that you can produce something worth watching. Then raising money to produce bigger movies would be easier than if you were trying to do it with no track record.
I believe some producers also started out as readers at production companies, reading the scripts that are submitted. That should at least give you some idea of how to pick a good script. I'm not sure where the others worked up from, though I'd guess more hands-on producers probably did on-set work.
There is no single path to becoming a producer other than doing it. Finding the money is always the biggest hurdle to get over. If you have money ($millions) then you won't have any trouble producing films. We all wish we had money! Without it then you have to learn to hustle to get what you can with what you have.
The low-budget producer has to know how to make films. If you don't have unlimited funds then you need to know how to plan, schedule, shoot and edit films so you can keep things rolling forward.
Get on as many shoots as you can to learn the process.
Why not make a few short films to start? Get a few friends together, a camcorder and try that out. I used to do that all the time before I started trying large, time-consuming projects.
Since you'll have a limited staff, you'll get in on all aspects of film making. That way, you can see not only if producing is what you really want to do in the field, but also you'll get a good perspective of everything that needs to be done to get a film going, from finding lighting, actors, and crew. I'd certainly try a few of those before even considering film school. To be honest, I didn't know there was film school for producing. It's kind of a broad field, like being a CEO. Heck, I could be wrong.
