Introduction
You want to break into the closed world of Hollywood, but you face endless rejection, conflicting advice, and opaque industry rules. Lawrence Turman explains that movie producing is not a mysterious club, but a grueling profession built on specific operational skills and personal grit.
A veteran Hollywood producer reveals that lasting success in the film business demands uncompromising personal integrity, impeccable taste, and relentless tenacity.
You will learn how the industry actually works by exploring the core duties of a filmmaker from initial concept to final release.
- How do you find and secure the rights to compelling source material?
- What steps ensure you attract top talent and sufficient financing?
- How do you survive the intense pressures of physical production and post-production?
1. What Does a Producer Do
The producer is the central creative originator and entrepreneurial self-starter who runs the show and causes a film to be made. Unlike line producers or executive producers who handle specific narrow tasks like physical production or financing, the true producer initiates the project and guides it through marketing.
The true producer initiates a project, selects the story, arranges financing, partners with the writer, chooses the director and actors, and guides the film all the way through production and distribution.
Lawrence Turman initiated projects like The Graduate, The Flim Flam Man, and Caveman, guiding them from books or original ideas all the way to theatrical distribution. David Brown noted that a producer knows less about specific crafts than anyone else on set, yet dreams up the movie and guides its long production process.
A producer is a generalist who oversees every phase of a film from conception to delivery, acting as the initiating force that makes a project happen.
- Conceiving of the underlying concept of the story, or selecting and securing the rights to the material on which the story is based
- Selecting the writer(s)
- Supervising the development of the script
- Securing initial financing and serving as the point of contact with the financial entity/studio/network
- Preparing (or supervising the preparation of) the preliminary budget
- Selecting the director and other key technical personnel
- Selecting the principal cast
- Approving the shooting schedule
- Providing in-person, on-set consultation with the director, cast, and department heads
- Supervising the day-to-day operations of the shooting company
- Viewing dailies and providing in-person consultation on them
- Consulting with the editor and director on initial cut(s)
- Selecting the composer and supervising scoring and recording sessions
- Supervising all titles, opticals, and visual effects
- Delivering answer print or edited master to distributor
- Consulting with distributor/studio/network on marketing and publicity plans
Working on multiple projects simultaneously increases your statistical odds of actually getting a film made, avoiding an all-or-nothing trap. Relying on a single project creates a high-stakes do-or-die scenario. Managing several projects concurrently expands your net and raises the probability that at least one will successfully move into production.
2. Finding and Developing a Story
Producers must trust their own inner-directed taste to discover unique source material, secure exclusive option rights, and shepherd the script through collaborative development.
Successful storytelling stems from personal resonance and authentic emotional response. Following your own inner compass ensures genuine passion and commitment during difficult times. You should choose stories based on personal taste rather than trying to follow mainstream trends or external advice. Paul Brooks of Gold Circle Films green-lit My Big Fat Greek Wedding by backing his own instincts without relying on formulas.
Novels, particularly obscure first novels, serve as a rich source of inspiration because authors pour their raw guts into them. Alan Pakula noticed To Kill a Mockingbird consistently on the bestseller list and turned it into an award-winning classic.
You can find unique source material through specific habits:
- Check local newspapers and libraries for current bestsellers.
- Ask local librarians or bookstore clerks for their favorite past and present books.
- Poll friends who read.
- Leaf through book jackets at bookstores to read summaries of stories and characters.
Securing exclusive legal control of a property through an option is essential before investing time and money into script development. An option requires paying an upfront fee for exclusive rights over a specific timeframe. Larry Turman paid $1,000 of his own money for an option on The Graduate novel after the publisher refused a free option. Twentieth Century Fox paid $1 million for the rights to The Great White Hope before spending $8 million to make the film.
You must handle legal protections and deal terms carefully:
- Put every deal in writing no matter how much you trust the other person.
- Cover film, television, home video, and future transmission rights in every country.
- Negotiate an option for a couple of years, or at least one year renewable for a second year.
- Offer a modest upfront payment, customarily 10 percent of the ultimate purchase price.
- Register original ideas with the Writers Guild or send a registered letter to yourself.
Development takes up about sixty percent of a producer's work and is both the most fun and the most difficult phase. Adapting a novel requires selection and compression to transform literary interiority into cinematic action and dialogue. Ninety percent of the screenplay for The Graduate came verbatim from Charles Webb's book, yet Buck Henry's adaptation completely shifted the protagonist from a whiny pain in the ass to a vulnerable, sympathetic figure. William Rose took a full year to deliver the script for The Flim-Flam Man, while Lorenzo Semple wrote Pretty Poison in just six weeks.
You can guide screenwriters effectively by following practical steps:
- Read samples and contact agents to find writers whose work strikes you as apt for your movie.
- Ask for a brief outline to see who is doing what to whom, and why.
- Inspect each act as the writer finishes it to ensure the story does not go down an unwanted road.
- Address unwieldy or untoward narrative situations directly in the dialogue.
- Evaluate whether a novel's length requires heavy whittling down.
- Convert internal character thoughts into explicit, subtle dialogue and action.
- Look for a fresh sensibility to improve upon the source material rather than hiring the original novelist.
Every scene in a script must serve as a dramatic arrow propelling the audience into the next scene. Ernest Lehman advised that each scene should function as an arrow into the next scene, converting simple arguments into active pursuits. Hollywood screenplays rely on the classic three-act structure. You must set up a trouble in act one, introduce complications in act two, and bring about a solution in act three.
Suspense created through dramatic irony engages audiences more deeply and for longer than mere surprise. Alfred Hitchcock illustrated this by contrasting a funny surprise with suspense, where the audience is shown a banana peel in advance.
You can strengthen narrative cohesion with diagnostic tools:
- Examine every scene to ensure it acts as an arrow into the next scene.
- Put your character up a tree in act one.
- Toss rocks at your character in act two.
- Bring your character down from the tree in act three.
- Incorporate dramatic irony by letting the audience know something a character does not.
- Build suspense by previewing impending danger or outcomes before the characters encounter them.
- Have the writer draft a paragraph explaining the story from the point of view of each main character.
- Cross-examine these paragraphs to verify that the separate narrative arcs intersect cohesively.
- Outline the script in shorthand after it is written to assess who is doing what to whom, and why.
3. Financing and Assembling Talent
Securing studio backing or alternative funds requires leveraging major star power and matching your creative choices to the precise financial demands of the budget.
Raising money is the hardest hurdle in producing. Studios fund pictures entirely or through joint financing, negative pickups, and foreign pre-sales. To unlock money, you must use cheese in the trap: mega-budget or mid-level stars, acclaimed directors, and high-concept premises that match the required budget.
Kathleen Kennedy and Saul Zaentz both emphasize how exceedingly difficult it is to secure development and production money. Financial hurdles persist even at the pinnacle of the industry. Major studio films requiring joint financing can cost upward of $100 million. Top-tier movie stars command a stratosphere salary range of $20 million for three months of work.
Studios and distributors rely on top stars to get a movie green-lit. The more expensive the film, the bigger the required names. Securing these actors demands a stunning, unique script and substantial financial offers, often accompanied by extravagant perks and high-fee management demands.
Elizabeth Taylor commanded multiple round-trip first-class transportations during her agent days. Marilyn Monroe caused severe production delays on Some Like It Hot while still driving the film.
991½ percent of the people in Hollywood spend all of their time chasing the other half-percent of actors who can get a picture financed. A $40-$50 million movie can get off the ground with mid-level stars. An $80-$90 million film requires top-tier names like Russell Crowe or Leonardo DiCaprio.
Choose options carefully:
- Match the star power and director stature to the financial requirements of your budget.
- Explore one-stop studio shopping, foreign sales pre-sales, or private equity funding.
- Hang out with the right connected people to secure introductions to capital sources.
Choosing the right director is the single most important hiring decision you make. Directors act as the kings of the hill who reinterpret every sentence of the script. Prioritize raw talent while ensuring compatibility of vision. Micromanaging a director is counterproductive. If you make a wrong director choice, you must encourage heavy coverage to salvage the project in the editing room.
Lawrence Turman hired Irv Kershner for The Flim-Flam Man based on his gritty documentary style. Because Kershner struggled with comedy, they clashed constantly. Turman had to cut an entire sequence from a three-hour rough cut and heavily re-edit the footage during post-production.
A professional casting director brings in actors who fit the roles precisely and introduces options you might never have considered. Great casting creates a natural sense of realism even in the smallest parts. Woody Allen repeatedly uses casting director Juliet Taylor. Taylor brought actors like Beverly D’Angelo, Swoozie Kurtz, and John Heard to their first film roles in First Love.
Professional casting directors offer specific advantages:
- Give you suggestions/ideas that never would have entered your mind.
- Save you time by bringing in a handful of choices close to the mark, rather than dozens of actors who are totally wrong for the role.
- Be skillful in negotiating deals favorable to the production.
You must scale a film's production to match available financial resources while recognizing that budgeting and scheduling are inexact sciences. Adapt your scope depending on the budget provided. Squirrel away hidden financial cushions within the budget to handle inevitable emergencies during shooting.
Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola would approach the same script with drastically different schedules and methods. Corman shot rapidly while Coppola aimed for grand artistic scale. A completion bond requires a negotiable fee typically set at 5 percent of the budget. A 10 percent over-budget contingency is typically required before a bond company can contractually take over a film.
Follow this rule:
- Cut your garment to fit the cloth.
4. Production and Crisis Management
During actual production, your primary role shifts to crisis management and protecting the director from external distractions. While other crew members have specific technical tasks, you solve unexpected problems quickly and efficiently. Effective producers maintain constant communication and review dailies privately with the director to keep the tone and style on track.
During actual physical production and post-production, a producer must act as a master crisis manager who protects the director and shapes the film through editing.
On I Could Go On Singing, Lawrence Turman had to manage Judy Garland's severe emotional instability, including hiding her passport to prevent her from leaving the country before completion. Garland's manager had demanded $25,000 to fly to London.
Post-production and astute editing can dramatically clarify storylines, alter the energy and pace of a film, and even enhance actor performances. While a film cannot be entirely saved from a fundamentally broken script, creative editing can rescue it. Mike Nichols and editor Sam O'Steen inserted almost all of Dustin Hoffman's charming whimpers in The Graduate during editing and sound mixing rather than during principal photography.
Preview screenings offer an unfiltered look at how an audience experiences a film, often forcing necessary, targeted changes to save a picture. You learn this the hard way if a test screening goes poorly, as happened on Pretty Poison.
On Pretty Poison, after a disastrous test screening where half the audience walked out and a disastrous preview screening revealed the audience hated that the murderer went free, Turman convinced Twentieth Century Fox to fund a one-day reshoot for a new ending showing the killer would be caught. The 95 minutes length of the film required only 1 single day for the reshoot.
5. Career Survival and Professional Ethics
Surviving decades in the film industry requires unwavering personal integrity, thick scar tissue against rejection, and strict adherence to written agreements.
Maintenance of strict personal integrity and keeping your word is essential for long-term career success and personal self-respect. Although some people in Hollywood believe unethically aggressive tactics are necessary, honoring verbal commitments builds a lasting reputation. Lawrence Turman turned down a powerful package deal offered by Mike Ovitz representing Creative Artists Agency because he had already given his word to commit to Jack Lemmon for the movie Mass Appeal.
Survival in the film industry requires immense tenacity, resilience against frequent rejection, and the ability to pick yourself up after defeats. Even highly successful producers experience more script rejections and commercial failures than outright blockbusters. Turman experienced numerous scripts he believed in that failed to secure financing, yet built a forty-five-year career through survival and persistence across more than forty movies produced.
You must always secure formal written contracts for your producing deals because verbal agreements or friendship deals leave you vulnerable to being pushed out. Turman developed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with William Goldman on a handshake agreement. After Goldman's agent maneuvered another producer onto the film and Turman was left out in the cold, he learned that verbal promises are worthless in Hollywood.
When verbal deals are made, sending a thank-you letter that explicitly details agreed terms creates a strong record. Alan Pakula obtained a verbal option on Flight from Ashiya with Harold Hecht. Turman wrote Hecht a thank-you letter reiterating the financial and creative terms, which forced Hecht-Hill-Lancaster to honor the deal and pay Pakula when Hecht tried to walk away.
Reliability, clarity, and consistency are vital traits that allow collaborators to trust you and function at their best. Following a personal moral compass means doing what you say you will do when you promised. You must cultivate specific professional habits:
- Do what you say you are going to do, and do it when you say you are going to do it.
- Be clear about what you want and how you go about getting it.
- Be consistent within that clarity.
- Admit you are wrong when you make a mistake.
- Say 'I don't know' when you lack the necessary skill or information.
Rejection in the film business will not kill you, and increasing your number of attempts drastically improves your odds of success. Turman learned that rejection is harmless and perseverance is essential while working in his father's textile business. By making a larger number of cold calls or sales pitches, you multiply your statistical likelihood of securing a deal. You can apply this concrete method:
- Call on six customers, then sixteen, then twenty-6, and thirty-six to increase your statistical chances of making a sale.
A successful producer must develop thick scar tissue against professional rejection while maintaining strict personal boundaries against disrespectful behavior. Turman advises anticipating a negative response from agents, studios, and actors so that rejections do not cause emotional distress. You should follow strict rules to protect your self-respect:
- Anticipate a negative response or rejection to avoid emotional shock.
- Never telephone any individual more than twice without receiving a return call.
- Request the return of your script if you do not receive a prompt, respectful response to establish personal boundaries.
When standard industry gatekeepers block your access to an actor or talent, you must find alternative entry points. If an agent fails to forward your script to the desired star, you must bypass them using these methods:
- Submit through the actor's own production company
- Reach out via their personal manager
- Contact their publicist or lawyer
People skills and being tuned in to others with tact are more valuable than specialized technical skills. Acknowledging kindnesses and avoiding pernicious emotions like jealousy or anger smooths your professional path. Sam Goldwyn, Jr. shared his father's advice to be nice to everybody because you will meet them all twice, once on the way up and once on the way down.
6. Case Study of The Graduate
The creation of The Graduate demonstrates how an independent producer can acquire an overlooked novel, partner with a brilliant director, and triumph over studio resistance.
You can secure underlying material for a film on a modest budget by identifying overlooked books and aggressively putting up personal capital when necessary. Lawrence Turman read a New York Times book review for Charles Webb's novel The Graduate. He recognized its unique tone and memorable imagery. He acquired the movie rights by putting up his own money for a one-year option because the book had few sales and no competing bidders.
Turman paid $1,000 for a one-year option against a $20,000 purchase price for The Graduate in 1964. This was a significant risk and the first and only time he used his own money.
Attracting a fresh and talented director without a studio deal requires offering an equal partnership sharing all fees, profit percentages, and creative control. Turman submitted the book to director Mike Nichols through his agent. Lacking any studio backing or financial deal at the time, Turman proposed a clean, fifty-fifty partnership to align their interests entirely.
Turman met Mike Nichols at a party at Richard Avedon's apartment. They shook hands on a fifty-fifty partnership before Nichols became an established superstar director.
Initial rejections from every major studio can be overcome by securing independent financing, attaching a strong director, and casting the right talent. Every major Hollywood studio turned down The Graduate, claiming the book was not funny and rejecting Turman's taste. Turman and Nichols ultimately secured funding through Joseph E. Levine of Embassy Pictures by committing to a low budget. They later used their completed script and cast to prove the studios wrong.
Studio heads like Mike Frankovich at Columbia, Jack Karp at Paramount, and David Picker at United Artists all rejected The Graduate. Joseph E. Levine of Embassy Pictures agreed to finance it on a $1 million original budget promised to Joe Levine, which grew to a $3 million final budget before shooting.
10 Key Ideas
- The true producer is a generalist who initiates a project, selects the story, arranges financing, partners with the writer, chooses the director and actors, and guides the film all the way through production and distribution.
- Producers must trust their own inner-directed taste to discover unique source material, secure exclusive option rights, and shepherd the script through collaborative development.
- Securing exclusive legal control of a property through an option requires paying an upfront fee for exclusive rights over a specific timeframe before investing time and money into script development.
- Hollywood screenplays rely on the classic three-act structure where every scene must serve as a dramatic arrow propelling the audience into the next scene.
- Securing studio backing or alternative funds requires leveraging major star power and matching your creative choices to the precise financial demands of the budget.
- Choosing the right director is the single most important hiring decision you make, as directors act as the kings of the hill who reinterpret every sentence of the script.
- During actual physical production and post-production, a producer must act as a master crisis manager who protects the director and shapes the film through editing.
- Surviving decades in the film industry requires unwavering personal integrity, thick scar tissue against rejection, and strict adherence to written agreements.
- Rejection in the film business will not kill you, and by making a larger number of attempts, you multiply your statistical likelihood of securing a deal.
- The creation of The Graduate demonstrates how an independent producer can acquire an overlooked novel, partner with a brilliant director, and triumph over studio resistance.