What is a producer’s job? On a fundamental level, it’s to put all the pieces together that allow for film and television to be made. Maybe it’s pairing the right material with the right director. Maybe it’s location scouting. Maybe it’s having 10 dinners with that one actor who won’t commit. The role of the producer is every-changing, but there are certain constants the best in the business have learned to adhere to.
Whether it’s Christine Vachon using Celine Song’s script for “Past Lives” as a selling point for the project or Ram Bergman advising Rian Johnson to make “Brick” on a smaller budget than he intended, the greatest producers in cinema today know that setting a project up for success means pinpointing its value. This isn’t just on a financial level, but in terms of popular culture as well. Keep reading below to find out how these producers stay on top.
Christine Vachon Always Looks for an Angle
“One of the things that’s difficult about putting together a movie,” said Vachon in a 2024 interview with IndieWire’s Anne Thompson, “is how do you assign value to a project? You have to take all the various elements, the director, the script, and the attachments, and the only real thing that you can assign value to is a director with a track record. Right? But if they choose to do something artful or that’s deemed uncommercial then all you have are the actors. And getting those lists that we all get, and that we keep quiet, that one’s worth X in Taiwan. It’s bananas. You toss around these names like they are items of clothing. That’s A list. That’s a B. That’s C, that’s not even worth it. But it’s a way to get a movie made and still maintain a modicum of true independence over the material.”
Of the basics to making a film happen, she added, “Figure out the financing, see the path to makability for these movies. What are the elements necessary for them to go forward? Know how to elevate the material and help a director make the absolute best version of what they want to do.”
Jonathan Wang Wants to Connect as a Creative and a Human
“There’s the production side of it — operating the business, talking to the agents, getting the money,” Wang said in a 2023 interview with IndieWire’s Eric Kohn. “The middle side of it is the creative space. They like to throw out ideas to invoke a reaction. I try not to think like the studio executive and worry about the rating or target audiences. I just try to hear it from a creative standpoint. Then the third lane is the philosophical and ideological side of things. I’m trying to stay caught up on what they’re reading, thinking about socially, and then feeding them podcasts, books, articles that will by default influence them.”
Of breaking norms to get ahead, Wang added, “Our whole system in Hollywood is set up by scarcity. You have to call an assistant to set up time to talk to an agent to talk about the actor. That system is meant to build this sort of Greek mythology of all these people so you can’t just talk it through together. At the end of the day, it’s just humans trying to figure out life. I’ve always held onto that.”
Ram Bergman Knows When to Control and When to Let Go
In a 2022 interview, while discussing how he convinced Rian Johnson to make his directorial debut “Brick” for a smaller budget, Bergman told IndieWire’s Katie Rife, “I said you want to make the movie for the least amount of money so you can control making it and you can control the distribution.”
He added of how he sees his role as a producer, “My job is to advocate for the movie. I’m loyal to the movie, so of course that means I’m loyal to Rian. But sometimes what I think is not how he thinks, at the same time or at the same point. But because our relationship is such that we just want to make the best movie, it’s not about ego.”
Mary Parent Focuses on Cultural Appeal, Not Budget
“At the end of the day, it depends on what the idea is, who the people are, who are involved,” Parent said in a 2025 interview with Thompson. “It’s about ideas that, regardless of budget, can get into the culture and break out. We just saw it with ‘Terrifier.’ Incredibly inventive horror films are being made, and it’s a genre that, when it’s working on all levels, has something to say about the moment in time, and can be made on a smaller scale. Regardless of budget, it’s trying to tell stories that can connect with people in ways that they feel compelled to go to the theater. Just because you make a big-budget film doesn’t mean people are going to go to the theater.”
Will Packer Treats Every Project Like His First
“You can’t think that you know it all,” Packer said in a 2020 interview with Tambay Obenson for IndieWire. “You can’t think that because you had past success, that is a harbinger for future success. I think personally, I need to attack each project as if it’s my first. I have to attack it as if I need to learn the audience, pay attention to the audience, listen to the audience. I’ve got instincts and credibility that I’ve built up, and a brand that I’ve built up, but if I sit back and rely on that, I’m going to lose. I guarantee you. So I have to learn every time I go out, whether it makes a ton of money or little money. If you’re not constantly progressing, then you’re stagnant and the end is near.”
Amy Pascal Always Looks to Expand What’s Worth Seeing
“Not necessarily everybody in a movie needs to be likable,” Pascal told IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio during an interview in December 2024. “They need to be understandable. You need to understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. Likable is very boring! The interesting thing is that television really understands how boring likable is, and all the best television, whether it’s ‘Breaking Bad, ‘Succession,’ yada yada, ‘The Sopranos.’ You don’t like those people, but you are fascinated by them… television really understands that because they can take their time with you understanding the truth about human nature… movies, in the modern world we’re living in, seem to have forgotten that complicated people are more interesting than good people. Movies used to get that but they don’t [anymore]. Maybe we can bring that back.”
