The Producer's Business Handbook by John J. Lee Jr. & Anne Marie Gillen

Author:John J. Lee, Jr. & Anne Marie Gillen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Producers’ Perceived and Real Value of Completion Guarantors

The entertainment industry has a uniquely demanding production process. Producers create distinctively new products, one at a time. A producer cannot learn about producing one project (even franchise projects) and then use this experience to produce the same project again. Every project is exclusive in its production chemistry. Production techniques are sometimes similar from project to project, but changes in the above-the-line talent (even if they are the same people), the below-the-line crew, locations, and production demands cause these components to perform in a substantially different manner for each project.

Each project’s unit production manager (UPM) is responsible for planning and quantifying the physical production process in schedules and costs. Producers sustain an often-painful balance between each project’s creative options and associated costs. Producers seek production managers who will plan and budget each project in a manner that will fulfill the producer’s vision. Consequently, producers seek and value UPMs who understand and employ economies that allow more production value to be delivered at less cost. This is a challenging balance to maintain, with many offsets negotiated and often renegotiated for exceptions throughout development and production.

Because of often intense give-and-take planning, negotiating, and budgeting, some producers may initially begrudge the cautious scrutiny their production plans and budgets receive during their initial completion guarantor reviews. It isn’t that these producers lack confidence in producing according to their preparations. They take meticulous care to achieve a delicate balance between a project’s production quality and its schedules and budget. The concern comes in exposing the producer’s sophisticated planning and budgeting work to independent completion guarantor review, whose bonding criteria typically challenges, if not alters, the project’s tightly woven economy.

Although tradition has it that the only reason a completion guarantor participates in the production process is to facilitate financing (and that is its central purpose) guarantors often are and should be invited to contribute more. Each project’s guarantor is the second set of careful eyes (after the UPM), confirming that the production team, plan, schedules, and budget are sound and achievable. Almost always the guarantor’s observations and suggestions substantially contribute to the project’s overall production and success.

The guarantor has a fresh evaluation advantage. Guarantors have no financial, political, or creative relationships influencing them, so they evaluate solely from a business position. Because they often have substantially deeper production review experience than even their most prolific producer clients, they are more current in their references of primary production and performing talent, as well as global costs.

Guarantors should be included in the producer’s determination of each project’s director, principal cast, and even department heads. They keep current on the personal stability and relative performance capacity of all substantial talent. For those about whom they do not possess internal information, they can obtain it from other uniquely expansive and reliable sources. There is no cost for this assistance, and it is exceptionally helpful throughout the planning process. The guarantor will eventually evaluate the bondability of primary talent anyway. It is better for

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