WE DON'T KNOW WHAT A KEY GRIP OR A BEST BOY DOES! HERE'S THE EXPLANATION OF "PRODUCER" FROM A PRO!

Jeff Sterns  0:00  
What is a producer? What is what is a producer producer tell us for those of us that see that title on the screen and doesn't know exactly what he what he or she does,

Unknown Speaker  0:10  
alright, so you have an idea, someone you can adapt from a book, or you can look at something like DNA. Or if you look at the space world where you can look at, you know, what we're talking about here racing or cars. And a producer, a good producer, creative producer will take a look at that. And they'll say, what's the story in that? There's got to be some story, some, something that's going to get eyeballs. And I say, the thing that I wrote up, that you got to find something of visceral feeling about stuff. I mean, is there something but you get people in their gut when they see it? You know, just connect on a different level. And you can do that with home video cameras and connect. Right? Where do you see the sizzle reel I have for my DNA show?

Jeff Sterns  1:07  
I can't wait. So But how about into the nuts and bolts? I mean, is that when you say executive producer? Is that something to do with the choosing of the team and budget? And yeah, low key? I mean, yeah, what do

Unknown Speaker  1:22  
you do hire me, or does a producer do the CEO of that production, you hire everybody. Everybody works to the producer, Executive Producer, if you're executive producer, you can also hire the producer. And he's gonna run around and hire the cameras, camera crew, and hire the assistants and the directors and all of the other people. So editors get to find the right editor for a pre show all that kind of stuff, not just anybody, it's got to be people have specialties and they've had experience in different areas. And you have to look and find those guys and what their experience level is, and you find them and you put them in into slots, that's a producer, and you build out a team that will work together really, really well, because everybody by that time, knows what to do. They know, they look at the guy across the desk that has been hired that never met each other before. But they've seen his resume, and they know, okay, I know that he can do it. So I'm gonna trust him. It's all about trust in this business, it's your going to trust, you know, the, the network was trusting me to deliver what I say I can deliver. And, in fact, I just went through this with my agent, you know, I was pitching this, this project about DNA. And my tendency is to make a deck, which is long, 1620 pages and explain everything. And it's this is going to be this, it's going to be there until this thing happened. This is connected over here, and all that you know, and you get to the end of that and you're either really unsure and thrilled, or you're exhausted. And he says, fuck that, get rid of all that stuff. You know, you've got one thing. He said, when I saw your sizzle reel, that blew me away. You don't need anything else because you're a journeyman experienced seasoned producers got hundreds of credits, but well, many years, and you've made a lot of money for a lot of people. That's all you need to say. Then I don't need anything else. You know, it's like, you don't explain yourself. And I was just I do that too much. I guess a little insecurity. I want to tell my whole story, everybody. But you don't have to do that.

Jeff Sterns  3:42  
No. And that's the beautiful thing about being sage in season. Sometimes we wonder as we age, are we as relevant as when we were young. But really what you bring to the table is your hundreds of credits and your reputation, and the ROI the provided. How did you know what you're looking at? And you know what you're talking about? And you made a phenomenal sizzle, which I can't wait to see.

Unknown Speaker  4:04  
Yeah, I mean, if I say I can do something, and I'm excited about it, you better believe I'll get it done. I'll figure it out. It's like an execute key to this as well as figuring it out. I always say those those three words, because nobody knows what it is in a creative project. It's like, it's not just, Oh, we're gonna take some cameras and crew out and shoot a bunch of stuff. You know? Now, it's not that at all. It's like, where's the heartbeat of this thing? There's that visceral feeling. And when I see it, it's going to hit me in the gut and make me you know, want to go to the bathroom or something. That's what it is. It's like you've got to be have the experience to know that's where the story is. It's that you know, and that will make the thing go and people will tap into that. And that's what I'm good at. That's what I've learned how to do

Jeff Sterns  4:59  
this In Jeff Sterns connected through cars

Transcribed by https://otter.ai