​

​

Hey Reader!

It’s Renny here.

When I first started booking work regularly as an actress, I realized something pretty quickly: the producer had all the power on set.

In fact, one of my first crew jobs was assisting an Oscar-winning producer on a feature film. That was the first time I said to myself, “I want to be a producer.”

The only problem? I had no idea what that actually meant.

Let’s be honest, “producer” can be a pretty loose term, and there are a lot of different kinds of producers out there. I Googled, took people to lunch, and even became an assistant to an executive producer. But honestly, where I learned the most was by jumping into the deep end and figuring out by doing.

Now, after hundreds of commercials, campaigns, and one feature film later, I can confidently tell you the top three skills a producer needs to get the job done.

In this week’s YouTube video, I break them down in detail.

The question I get asked most is: What’s the budget? Or, What is this going to cost?

And really, there are two ways to build a budget: you either build it from the ground up, or you start with a fixed number and work backward from there.
For example: We have $100,000. Can you make this project for that amount?

Skill #1: Learn how to break down a script and allocate money accordingly.

The second skill is understanding the craft of filmmaking, or at the very least, knowing the right questions to ask so you can actually accomplish what’s on the page. In the video, I take one simple line of action from a script I produced — Dazaroth is under the bed — and show the ripple effect of what that one line actually cost.

Skill #2: Learn WHO to hire.

And finally, a producer has to know how to call the shots, or simply say no, even when that means being the bad guy. If there’s a problem on set, we’re running over time, or we’re not going to make our day, there’s usually a moment when the director or 1st AD pulls me aside and I’m the one who has to make the call on how to proceed.

Skill #3: Learn how to CALL THE SHOTS.

Pro tip:​
A Hollywood executive once said to me, “Being a producer means you’re a problem solver. You’re constantly putting out fires.”

That completely changed how I saw the job. It helped me shift from the frustrated feeling of, I don’t know how we’re going to get this done, to a much more useful mindset: OK, let’s figure out how to get this done.

There's a reason why in the Indie Film world especially, if you're a writer, director or actor, you usually end up a writer-producer, director-producer, or actor-producer. To "produce" literally means to make," so if you want to be a filmmaker, you need to learn how to be a film producer.

Help Choose Our Next Film!

Please take a moment, if you can, to read the descriptions of the next three films I’ve been working on and cast your vote for the one that intrigues you the most. Not only do I want to make something that connects with you, and yes, I mean you, the person reading this right now, but I also want to involve you in every step of the process. And right now, this very first step is choosing what we work on together. It only takes a couple minutes to read the descriptions, or watch the video, and vote for your favorite.

VOTE HERE: