Production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video. These groups consist of technical staff to produce the media, and are often incorporated as a commercial publisher.
Generally the term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating a particular product, regardless of where in the process their expertise is required, or how long they are involved in the project. For example, in a theatrical performance, the production team has not only the running crew, but also the theatrical producer, designers, and theatrical direction.
Tasks and functions
The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising the production or may accomplish this through a
Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a
The aforementioned publishing conglomerates distribute said creative works, but it is not uncommon for production companies to act as a publication. For example, The Walt Disney Company and Nintendo act as publisher for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development respectively. Self-publishing, in this case, should not be confused with a self-publishing vanity press which are paid services. Both large and small production studios have an editorial board or editor-in-chief, along with other forms of a command hierarchy.
Type
Entertainment companies operate as mini
Book to film unit
A book to film unit is a unit of a book publishing company for the purposes of getting books that they published adapted into film.
Background
Films have been using books as a prime source for films for years. In 2012, six out of the nine best picture Oscar nominees were originally books. Previously, publishers did not develop their books into movie nor receive any of the profits. Neither Scholastic or Little Brown, get any box office revenue from the
History
Publisher Simon & Schuster, though not involved with film and TV, shares possible film and TV deals with CBS (S&S is owned by Paramount Global).[5] Alloy Entertainment while not a unit of a publisher started using a book packaging to film model of film and TV development by developing the property in-house, hire authors for the books and films, so as to own the property. Random House was the first big six book publisher to establish a book to film unit, Random House Films, in 2005 with a Focus Features deal under a development and co-finance plan.[2]
Macmillan Films was launched by Thomas Dunne Books in October 2010 under the packaging model similar to Alloy while also moving to get film rights from Dunne's published author.[6] Also that year, Random House changed their strategy to film development and packaging only.[2]
Operation and profit
A production company is usually run by a producer or director, but can also be run by a career executive. In entertainment, a production company relies highly on
The entertainment industry is centered on funding (investments from studios, investment firms, or individuals either from earnings from previous productions or personal wealth), projects (scripts and entertainment franchises), and talent (
Small production companies will either grow to become a major production company, a subsidiary completely owned by another company, remain small, or fail. The success of an entertainment production company is centered on the projects it produces, the talent it can acquire, and the performance of the talent. Marketing is also a major factor. All films, as a tradition, are often marketed around the image and the performance of the actors; with an option of marketing the behind the scenes crew such as the directors and screenwriters. Unlike many other businesses, a production company does not rely on an ongoing revenue stream, they operate on ongoing investments; this often requires a parent company or a private corporate investment entity (see Legendary Pictures). Their only source of profit comes from the productions they produce. Because entertainment and media are currently in "high demand", a production company can profit if its management is capable of using its resources to supply good quality products and services to the public. Many entertainment production companies brand their entertainment projects. An entertainment project can either become a "one time hit" or an ongoing "entertainment franchise" that can be continued, remade, rebooted, or expanded into other sister industries; such as the video game industry (see Star Wars, Star Trek). Entertainment projects can be either an original or an adaptation from another industry.
In rare occasional cases, a few troubled major studios would also shed their distribution and/or marketing staffs, mainly due to reduced resources, and resort to co-investing and/or co-distributing film projects with larger studios, operating as virtual, production-only movie studios. Notable examples include legendary studio
Staffing, funds, and equipment
Because a production company is only operational when a production is being produced and most of the talent and crew are
Production
A production company is responsible for the development and filming of a specific production or media broadcast. In entertainment, the production process begins with the development of a specific project. Once a final script has been produced by the screenwriters, the production enters into the pre-production phase, most productions never reach this phase for financing or talent reasons. In pre-production, the actors are signed on and prepared for their roles, crew is signed on, shooting locations are found, sets are built or acquired, and the proper shooting permits are acquired for on location shooting. Actors and crew are hand picked by the producer, director, and casting director, who often use collaborators or referenced personnel to prevent untrusted or unwelcomed people from gaining access to a specific production and compromising the entire production through leaks. Once a production enters into principal photography, it begins filming. Productions are almost never cancelled once they reach this phase. Codenames are often used on bigger productions during filming to conceal the production's shooting locations for both privacy and safety reasons. In many cases, the director, producers, and the leading actors are often the only people with access to a full or majority of a single script. Supporting actors, background actors, and crew often never receive a full copy of a specific script to prevent leaks. Productions are often shot in secured studios, with limited to no public access, but they are also shot on location on secured sets or locations. Due to the exposure, when shooting in public locations, major productions often employ security to ensure the protection of the talent and crew working on a specific production. After filming is completed, the production enters into post production, which is handled by a post production company and overseen by the production company. The editing, musical score, visual effects, re-recording of the dialog, and sound effects are "mixed" to create the final film, which is then screened at the final screening. Marketing is also launched during this phase, such as the release of trailers and posters. Once a final film has been approved, the film is taken over by the distributors, who then release the film.
Other details
For legal reasons, it is common within the entertainment industry for production companies not to accept unsolicited materials from any other company, talent, or the general public. It is also common for
Deals
- Overall deal where a distributor has the rights to all the output of a production company.[9]
- First-look deal where a network has the right of refusal to all the output of a production company, after which the production company is free to shop the project to other distributors.[9]
See also
- Directors Guild
- Executive producer
- Film crew; Production team; Television crew
- Film distributor; Broadcast syndication
- Filmmaking; Video production
- Hip hop production
- Impresario
- International Cinematographers Guild
- List of film production companies
- List of television production companies
- Outline of film
- Film studio; Television studio
- Screen Actors Guild
- Stagecraft; Theatrical producer; Television producer; Film producer
References
- ^ "What is a Production Company and Why Do I Need One?". Production-Companies.net. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Andy (February 23, 2012). "How Publishers Bolster Their Bottom Line by Retaining Film Rights". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ^ Harvey, Ellen (November 5, 2013). "Why Hollywood screenwriters are detouring to books in quest for film work". Book Business. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ^ Hall, Gina (September 18, 2012). "Why Hollywood screenwriters are detouring to books in quest for film work". L.A. Biz. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
- ^ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (August 18, 2013). "Publisher Makes TV Play". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 4, 2010). "Macmillan Publishers Starts Film/TV Unit". Deadline. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
- ^ "Macmillan Expands Book-to-Film Unit". publishersweekly. November 1, 2013. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
- ^ Lewis, Andy (November 1, 2013). "Macmillan Publishers Expands Film Division". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
- ^ a b "What's the Difference Between an Overall Deal and a First Look Deal?". Filmescape.com. October 31, 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2017-09-20.