It does not take a genius to do it and you can have two left feet too what you one needs is some sense of direction even though that may be no direction at all. Today there are awards for the worst book on the market might as well gear yourself up to the worst film of the year or period if you don’t have any plan at all. Does that encourage you?Were you expecting some ready made formula that would fit all sizes and shapes like a pair of stretchy leotards?
Frankly having done some acting work helps the novice director understand the acting process from the inside. If he has a technical side and is a keen observer he may observe where the lights go for a certain scene and how the sound man stays out of picture frame during the shoot. He may also see the importance of getting the actors off script before the shooting date and how the location should be ready well in advance before filming. All this and much more is what a film producer can benefit from. If the film requires a theatrical set like the one used in a Death of Salesman, then the producer can also benefit from prior knowledge of how such a set can be used to develop an artsy theme. The producer can count on a number of life experiences to get his project off the ground especially if he has to rely on other people.
So a producer can be a person who has a wide knowledge base but he may also be a creative artist as well. This does not mean that producing film is not an art, it requires a bunch of creative aspects that can be tapped and communicative skills that are usually honed by the successful artist. What if his communicative skills are not the best? Well the product may be out there but nobody knows about it. The producer might also be an opportunist capitalising on whatever the market wants so that he develops a name regardless of what quality his piece has. Among certain circle that is accepted; many producers are actually interested in making a simple low budget film independent of whether it has quality or not. In the business the use of poor talent, an inferior script or bad filming techniques and other issues have resulted in box office flops.
One film which actually spelt out the advent of how a flop can turn out as a success was the producer; although the film referred to a poor play production. Today if the acting is shody, if the directing is poor and there are numerous technical faults the film is not going to be considered a work of art but a work of failure. There will be film buffs that will exaggerate on these elements to create some kind of farce and have obtained notoriety for that.
