Beware Fake Producers

BEWARE Fake Producers

by joannefilm | Jan 9, 2024

Recently, one of my clients had to fire a producer.

Her film had been gaining momentum and gathering more attention.  She had an enthusiastic team and things were going well.

The day after she fired him, she said to me: “This is where you can say: I told you so.”  Although she quickly retracted and said: “I know you’re not the “I told you so type.”

The reason she said that though is that for weeks and weeks, I had been pointing out lots and lots of red flags.  He had no credits.  He seemed awfully sure of his ability to raise money. But worst of all from my perspective, was that he made her feel insecure about her skills and ability to raise the money she needed and to get the film made. It’s my job working with my clients to teach those skills and motivate them to get out and have the conversations that result in bringing the money on board.

Over the past 6 years that I have been coaching filmmakers, this is not the first time someone has had to get fired.  On each occasion, I have suggested firing someone long before my client comes to the same conclusion.

There are so many reasons why this happens but nearly always the first red flag is some form of negativity. Some form of putting someone else down.  Some form of becoming a negative and critical voice.

Many years ago, I was working with a group of friends, including my first film teacher.  We were making a feature documentary about Trinidadian artist, genius, and international star: Peter Minshall.  No one else in the group was Trini except me. No one else in the group had been aware of Minshall’s incredible work except me.  But having shot the feature, and created our first sizzle, my former film teacher stole the film, stored it under a bed, and threw me off the project.  His argument for doing this was that the sizzle was no good. My producing partner friend tried for two years to get the film back, but to no avail.

Years later, I learned that when given the opportunity to host a retrospective of his work at Miami’s largest Art Museum, he showed that sizzle as part of his body of work.

Part of my job working with my clients is to ensure that nothing like what happened to me can happen to them.  There are so many ways that legal, financial and other elements can go wrong, that I am able to provide another set of eyes to help prevent problems down the road.  There are certain paperwork errors that can result in a filmmaker who has apparently completed a feature film, having no film.

Out of just over a hundred clients, about 4 or 5 have had to fire someone.  So it’s not that it’s the majority of producers having to fire people, but it’s a significant rite of passage that many have to experience and learn from. And what I see is that once a filmmaker has gone through the experience of being forced to fire someone, they never have problems with hiring again.

joannefilm is Joanne Butcher, a film business coach with a roster of clients that have over 143 feature films in various stages of development and over 21 clients with feature films in distribution, as well as one client with a series on PBS. She has experience consulting on over 40 successful crowdfunding campaigns. She uses her decades of experience as a fundraiser in multiple sectors through her business, Filmmaker Success, where she runs The Film Box Office S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Formula™ and The Virtual Fundraising Team to help filmmakers and non-profits change their way of thinking, raise money, and achieve their goals.