Producing a Story, Step 3: Find an Executive Producer

The third step on the journey of producing a story is finding an executive producer. 

The first two steps of producing a story are authoring the work and hiring a writer. Those are the originators and gatekeepers of the story. The executive producer is the head of the project.

In the search for an executive producer, the first question you should ask is, “Is it me? Am I the executive producer?” It’s very possible to self-produce work if it's on a small scale and you can afford the potential loss. However, if this is your first production and you (honestly) think it’s a grand enough story to attract multi-million dollar attention, you’ll need to start a search for the right person. To determine who that might be, you need to understand the role. 

In general, the role of the executive producer (henceforth known as “EP”), is the senior-most producer of a project and acts as the liaison between the project and its investors. Their biggest objective is to ensure the project has enough funding and manages that process. In movies and theater, the EP might actually finance the show whereas in television the EP simply manages the budget and tends to be more involved in content production. The EP is the strategic brain behind keeping a project on brand, promoting it, and presenting it in the best way to make the most money at the lowest cost while not requiring the creatives to sacrifice too much quality of the project. They do this through finding the right talent, hiring producers and key creatives, and hawkishly watching the bottom line.

In her book, Bossypants, movie, television, and theater executive producer Tina Fey wrote, “In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.” The EP is the boss. In order to hire the right people for a project, they need to know the industry and understand the market specific to the show they’re producing. Knowing their industry and market will come with the development of a large network of connections, which is the key to a producer getting things done. Knowing that each show is different requires them to have the managerial and budgeting skills to make the tough decisions productions require. 

Stereotypically, EPs have large egos grown and nourished by their many connections in influential circles. A large ego is not the measure of a good EP. A good EP has a proven track record for success defined by meeting the goals they set out to accomplish in their career. They produce good shows — targeting an audience, entertaining their audience, and making money for their investors. They are agreeable to work with and have proven to know when to make the tough decisions. Also, a good EP knows that you (as the owner of the intellectual property, the story) get the final say over if the story gets told, how it gets told, and who tells it. The public can’t experience the story without you saying “okay,” which means you have ALL the power, and a good EP respects that.

On the contrary, a bad EP thinks authors are a necessary hurdle to wine and dine until they get you to sign over the rights to your story. An opportunist EP knows when to buy the rights to a great story just to keep another producer from getting a hold of it, even if they don’t want to produce it themselves at that moment. It limits competition. So, how do you get through this? First, remember you should never sell the rights to a story you care about and think might be profitable.

To determine a good executive producer for your show, you need to ask a lot of questions. 

For example:

“Will this producer allow me to maintain ownership and creative control over the story?”

“Have they done this job before?” 

“Were they successful?” 

“Have they worked in the genre your story is written for?”

“Do I trust them to always protect the story?” 

“Do they have good business judgment?”

“Are they financially sound?” (You need to trust your money handler.)

If you can answer all those questions with “yes,” you have a good EP candidate and you should begin conversations with them. If you answer “no,” keep looking. After all, they have a lot of work to do on behalf of your project and they must get it right. 

But first, you need a contract. Step 4, next week.