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Career Description

Produce or direct stage, television, radio, video, or film productions for entertainment, information, or instruction. Responsible for creative decisions, such as interpretation of script, choice of actors or guests, set design, sound, special effects, and choreography.

What Job Titles Producers and Directors Might Have

• Artistic Director
• Director
• News Producer
• Producer

What Producers and Directors Do

• Plan details such as framing, composition, camera movement, sound, and actor movement for each shot or scene.
• Communicate to actors the approach, characterization, and movement needed for each scene in such a way that rehearsals and takes are minimized.
• Direct live broadcasts, films and recordings, or non-broadcast programming for public entertainment or education.
• Research production topics using the internet, video archives, and other informational sources.
• Review film, recordings, or rehearsals to ensure conformance to production and broadcast standards.
• Study and research scripts to determine how they should be directed.
• Supervise and coordinate the work of camera, lighting, design, and sound crew members.
• Confer with technical directors, managers, crew members, and writers to discuss details of production, such as photography, script, music, sets, and costumes.
• Perform management activities, such as budgeting, scheduling, planning, and marketing.
• Consult with writers, producers, or actors about script changes or "workshop" scripts, through rehearsal with writers and actors to create final drafts.
• Identify and approve equipment and elements required for productions, such as scenery, lights, props, costumes, choreography, and music.
• Establish pace of programs and sequences of scenes according to time requirements and cast and set accessibility.
• Conduct meetings with staff to discuss production progress and to ensure production objectives are attained.
• Compile scripts, program notes, and other material related to productions.
• Resolve personnel problems that arise during the production process by acting as liaisons between dissenting parties when necessary.
• Coordinate the activities of writers, directors, managers, and other personnel throughout the production process.
• Obtain rights to scripts or to such items as existing video footage.
• Write and submit proposals to bid on contracts for projects.
• Compose and edit scripts or provide screenwriters with story outlines from which scripts can be written.
• Cut and edit film or tape to integrate component parts into desired sequences.
• Write and edit news stories from information collected by reporters and other sources.
• Choose settings and locations for films and determine how scenes will be shot in these settings.
• Review film daily to check on work in progress and to plan for future filming.
• Negotiate with parties, including independent producers and the distributors and broadcasters who will be handling completed productions.
• Perform administrative duties, such as preparing operational reports, distributing rehearsal call sheets and script copies, and arranging for rehearsal quarters.
• Develop marketing plans for finished products, collaborating with sales associates to supervise product distribution.
• Hire principal cast members and crew members, such as art directors, cinematographers, and costume designers.
• Hold auditions for parts or negotiate contracts with actors determined suitable for specific roles.
• Select plays, scripts, books, news content, or ideas to be produced.

What Producers and Directors Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Producers and Directors Should Be Interested In

• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
• Artistic - Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

What Producers and Directors Need to Learn

• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.