At the upcoming Super Bowl in Miami, 22 players are absolutely necessary to play the game. Apparently, 22 producers are absolutely necessary to make “Hesher” – an independent film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival (and just picked up for distribution by Newmarket) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman.
There’s a fixed joke in Hollywood that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a screenwriter. It seems, for those of us inclined to throw rocks, you can’t throw a rock at Sundance without hitting an independent film producer.
What happens if, by some chance, “Hesher” gets nominated for an Academy Award next year. Only three producers are allowed on the ballot and actually receive the award. What happens to the other 19 and what is the process for weeding it down to three? Wouldn’t that be a great reality show?
And “Hesher” is not an isolated case. It appears to be a trend.
Here are three films that were at the Sundance Film Festival and the number of Producers that were necessary to produce them.
Hesher (22 Producers – including “Executive” and “Co”-Producers)
- Lucy Cooper
- Matthew Weaver
- Scott Prisand
- Natalie Portman
- Spencer Susser
- Johnny Lin
- Win Sheridan
- Jonathan Weisgal
- Wayne Chang
- Aleen Keshishian
- Annette Savitch
- Scot Armstrong
- Ravi Nandan
- Aaron Dowing
- Rob Ortiz
- Scott Kluge
- Jeff Davis
- Jay Rifkin
- Ari Ackerman
- Jay Franks
- Happy Walters
- Gina Kirkpatrick
The Kids Are All Right (starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo – 13 Producers)
- Gary Gilbert
- Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
- Celine Rattray
- Jordan Horowitz
- Daniela Taplin Lundberg
- Steven Saxton
- Ron Stein
- Christy Cashman
- Anne O’Shea
- Riva Marker
- Andrew Sawyer
- Neil Katz
- J. Todd Harris
The Romantics (starring Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel – 11 Producers)
- Daniela Taplin Lundberg
- Jennifer Todd
- Suzanne Todd
- Michael Benaroya
- Taylor Kephart
- Galt Niederhoffer
- Katie Holmes
- Riva Marker
- Celine Rattray
- Pamela Hirsch
- Ron Stein
Look, I’m sure all these people played a vital role in their respective films’ journey to the screen… or not (only those on the production really know what’s going on here). But a Producer credit used to be highly-coveted and very difficult to get – in most cases after years of paying dues and working up the cinematic ladder.
Today, it seems, the credit is handed out like film festival swag. Now, when I meet someone who says they are a producer on an independent film, I am inclined to say “Oh, really, what, did you deliver the food?”
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
Do you think they all got paid? I thought independent films were low budget. Maybe they got credit instead of being paid.
Most of those are a joke. Some of them are probably with the company that financed it and wanted to get their names on the movie. Probably others have ties to the actors in a manager or lawyer capacity. Others may have had rights to the script in previous years. It’s really a joke the Producer credit thing. It needs to be fixed. There were probably 2 out of the 22 that did most of the work.
I agree with Hollywood Producer. Most of them probably belong in the “thank you” section and not given a Producer credit. Whenever I think of a Producer, I think of Dustin Hoffman’s role in “Wag the Dog.” He was hilarious in that!
I agree, Marty, that they probably aren’t producers and it is more of a gift – but they are given credit. I wonder if they are going to be willing to give it up if, for whatever reason, the producer’s guild or the Academy gets in involved. We’re talking about removing 19 producer credits off of a film. Granted, from what I hear, there is no way in hell this movie gets nominated for anything – but, wouldn’t it be funny if it did?
Hell, yes, I delivered the food and it was fucking great. My credit is deserved!
1 of the Credited 22 Producers