The Independent Film Producer

Freedom and control
I enjoy a lot of autonomy in my job, especially in the early stages of finding and developing projects. Once money comes into it, more people have a say. By production it’s also about who owns the rights as to who has the final decision, plus you are working in a team with a Director from pretty early on. As Producer, you should still have a lot of control and autonomy. If you don’t, then you’ve screwed up.

The hours
They vary a lot. Day-to-day is regular - 37 hours a week. In pre-production the hours start getting longer, and when I’m shooting I can be working 72 hours or more a week. When I’m not filming, I can slope off quite easily.

The cash
At the moment I’m earning under £20,000. I don’t think I’m paid enough. But I will be I hope. I did my first feature production on a shoestring, to get into the industry and get the experience. From now on I’ll charge or pay myself a decent fee.

On a £3-5 million budget the producer would get paid about £60,000 for the job. It varies. That also has to cover the years you’ve been in development with the project. It takes a minimum of two years to make a film.

Gender split
There are more female producers than female directors, and both are on the increase. It’s about an equal split of men and women in producing and there are lots of good, successful women producers. I think women are often very suited to producing – we are good with people and can juggle lots of things at once. But I wouldn’t say women were better at the job – it depends on the individual completely.