Rust movie shooting: Alex Baldwin on Trial

[Manfred Belheim]

As mentioned, the producer is responsible for everything to do with a production, regardless of whether they're personally involved.

A producer sure, but being a [qualified] producer is just a way to get your name on the books to get more money right? If you look at almost any long-running TV programme then you nearly always see the main actor(s) credited as "co-executive assistant producer" or something. In this case I would expect that Alec Baldwin was just cashing in and not really taking any sort of active production role. At least that would be my starting assumption. For anything other than "Producer" then just making some script suggestions is probably enough to snag you a "something producer" credit, and more money (if the financers sign off on it of course).

 

[Klaus Hergersheimer]

I also very much doubt many actors-turned-producers really oversee the goings-on at a movie/TV set...

 

[Gorbles]

I like how the level we're at now is "well shouldn't we expect them to be bad at their job?!".

 

[Valka D'Ur]

A producer sure, but being a [qualified] producer is just a way to get your name on the books to get more money right? If you look at almost any long-running TV programme then you nearly always see the main actor(s) credited as "co-executive assistant producer" or something. In this case I would expect that Alec Baldwin was just cashing in and not really taking any sort of active production role. At least that would be my starting assumption. For anything other than "Producer" then just making some script suggestions is probably enough to snag you a "something producer" credit, and more money (if the financers sign off on it of course).

I also very much doubt many actors-turned-producers really oversee the goings-on at a movie/TV set...

From a legal point of view, actual duties, if any, are irrelevant. If they have the job title, they're legally accountable for the job's duties. Someone has to be in overall charge of TV, movie, and stage productions. That person isn't the director. It's the producer, who has the thankless job of dealing with the endless paperwork and bureaucratic crap that goes on.

Yes, it's possible to get an Executive Producer title that's essentially meaningless. Margaret Atwood, for instance, is one of umpteen Executive Producers for The Handmaid's Tale TV show. I suspect she was given the title partly as a courtesy and partly as a convenience so the writers, directors, and more hands-on producers would have an easier time getting access to her and she would be able to give her input into some aspect of whatever they were writing or shooting.

But she's not the one who deals with the multitude of mundane paperpushing chores that any production has. I rather suspect that's split among two or three people, one of whom is Elisabeth Moss - who is also the lead actor. If some accident happened on that show's set and someone was killed, she and the other producers would be held accountable, along with whoever was actually involved.

 

[Lexicus]

I thought the primary role of any [Qualified] Producer was "taking a cut of the profits", rather than actually doing anything or being expected to do anything?

In this case I would expect that Alec Baldwin was just cashing in and not really taking any sort of active production role.

You are grasping your way, slowly, towards the vicinity of the point

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I rather suspect that's split among two or three people, one of whom is Elisabeth Moss - who is also the lead actor. If some accident happened on that show's set and someone was killed, she and the other producers would be held accountable, along with whoever was actually involved.

Is the "she" here referring to Margaret Atwood or Elisabeth Moss?

You are grasping your way, slowly, towards the vicinity of the point

Marvellous and enlightening interaction as always.

 

[Lexicus]

Marvellous and enlightening interaction as always.

Happy to be of service. My advice is to think a little about the sentences "I get a cut of the profits of this film" and "oh no I'm not actually responsible for anything that happened during the production".

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Is the "she" here referring to Margaret Atwood or Elisabeth Moss?

Elisabeth Moss. She wears multiple hats for this show: Executive producer, actor, and she's directed a couple of episodes. I doubt anything happens on that production that she doesn't know about.